Wireless Router Security Problem

[jhl84]

I have a SMC2804WBRP-G wireless router. The router doesn't have any security settings. I need to set a password because there are unauthorized access to my network. However, when I set WPA pre shared key, all laptops keep disconnecting from the network. The connection gets really unstable. When I remove WPA, everything works fine. There are 5 laptops connected to the wireless router. How can I fix this problem? Please advice. Thanks.

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

Some wireless adapters have issues with connecting when using the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Tool. Are you able to use WEP? If so try setting up 128bit encryption, in ascii. You should still be able to use a passphrase.

[ess]

Using encryption is a good solution...but it is never the best solution as it affects performance...and there are cases where networks have been undermined even though encryption was in place.

Personally, I've not bothered with using encryption at all...as I have had many problems and decided to find another solution to keep my network safe.

I found that using MAC address Filtering was the best way forward...and doesn't affect network performance as much as encrypted connections do.

If your router supports MAC address Filtering, I would recommend using MAC addresses instead of using encryption.

Here is a good introductory article about MAC ADDRESS FILTERING.
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessproducts/qt/macaddress.htm

You should also check your router's manual...there should be information on how to utilize MAC Address filtering there too.

Cheers,
Ess

[jhl84]

Some wireless adapters have issues with connecting when using the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Tool. Are you able to use WEP? If so try setting up 128bit encryption, in ascii. You should still be able to use a passphrase.

yes i can use WEP. i'm actually in a company where there are 5 employees and I think I need to at least set a password to prevent others from using our wireless network. I checked the router and I found out there are about 3-4 intruders connected to our wireless network. I'm desperate to get rid of them as we don't want them to hog our bandwidth.

do you suggest WEP instead of WPA because it will not cause any problems?

thanks ess for your advice on MAC filtering. I will look into this when I get to work tomorrow.

[brad211987]

The router I have, supports WPA but has the same problems. Using WEP works flawlessly. Although WEP is less secure, it is much better than no security. You may want to check out some product reviews for your router to see if that is a common problem, as it was for mine. I would suggest setting up WEP and Mac address filtering if available. That is how I have mine set up because of the WPA issues.

[Jeroentje]

Sorry. WPA & Wep are done within 5 minutes with the right guy behind his laptop...

You proberly need to look for an better router then proberly this one, since it's handling over 5 units (laptops) on Wireless and they might not be build for this kind of use. Encryption comes with degrading performance, and quality requires better equipment. I think your better off with a Decent AP instead of this one.

[brad211987]

I agree that a new router would be preferable, but in the meantime, even 64bit WEP will steer off 95% of the would-be internet leechers. The average person doesn't know or care to know how to break WEP encryption, let alone how to spoof a mac address(or what one is). Since this is a business, I would opt for the best security you can afford, as a business can be a much more worthwhile target to the people that have the knowledge and the intention to break into your network.

[Jeroentje]

I've seen vids where it happens in less then 5 minutes. Anyone sitting for longer then 5 minutes in your backyard for example could meanwhile broke in.

It's not just your company, any connection can be abused, for example used as spam-run to send enormus spam on the active connection. Who do you think is held responsible ? Not the guy who was in your garden with his laptop lol

[jhl84]

I'm here for about 1 month so I'm not sure I'll want to suggest them to get a new router. So maybe I'll set WEP, better than nothing. I'll just hope others won't be bothered to crack it. MAC filtering is not an option because the router doesn't seem to have this option.

I guess the router we have is a pretty bad one huh?

[daniel_g]

If for some reason WEP gives you trouble, there is one more alternative.

If your router allows you to turn off DHCP Server, and manually set the IP pool, everyone would be forced to manually assign an IP address to their computers if they wanted to connect, and you could change the IP pool to something weird, so people(well, the average ones) who don't know the numbers won't be able to connect. Then just put a password on the router(not WEP, nor WPA, just the regular router password).

[jhl84]

I have another problem with the router. I am trying to connect the printer server to the router so we use it in the wireless network. I have assigned a static IP for the printer server. From the status in the router, the router shows a different IP for the printer server. The router doesn't seems to detect the printer server. Should I turn off DHCP server option?