[thelist] Wireless Networking Advice

[Ken Schaefer]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: "Joel Canfield" <joel at spinhead.com>
Subject: RE: [thelist] Wireless Networking Advice


: --
: [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
: > He he, at work we have a few computers on a wireless network.
: >  The last week now my laptop has been switching from our
: > network (the access point is one room over from my office) to
: > a network in a department store three stores over.  We still
: > don't know why it's doing it or how to make it stop.
:
: Depends on your equipment, but you should be able to set up encryption on
: the access point and NICs, and although it won't really keep anyone else
: from hacking it, it *will* force your cards to respond only to a box with
: matching credentials.
:
: This *is* only an internet connection, right? Nobody uses wireless on
their
: private network, do they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why not? Most people use Wireless for their private network. The internet
connection is provided via landline (DSL over copper for example, or ATM
over fibre or whatever). Few people have a "wireless" internet connection as
such.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: I mean, with virtually no security on a WiFi connection, it's
: almost the same as printing your private documents in the
: newspaper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's what WEP is for...it encrypts transmission of documents between card
and access point.

I'd be more worried about someone connecting to your base station and
pinching your bandwidth...

Cheers
Ken