The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Wireless Internet Connection in Apartment

Wireless Internet Connection in Apartment

I had posted in an earlier thread, http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=73608&ixReplies=17, the problem of getting frequently kicked out of my wireless network.

I posted the follow-up results below - for readers that have interests in the results or if they have similar problems. I also posted a question at the very end below.

My signal strength is 11 Mbps. My OS is Win XP (Pro)

Following suggestion posted on the thread, I treid a number of suggestions below and followed a number of permutations, in case some suggestion had a cascading effect.

A-Line of Sight (LoS) : I moved the Notebook to LoS of the base station. Problem still occured.

B-Turn off Microwave and/or Cordless telephone: I turn them off. Problem stiil occured even if Notebook was withing LoS of base station.

C- "The "Enable IEEE authentication" box under the advanced tab is unchecked."

The above suggestion "C" did the trick. The Notebook has been running for two hours and I have not been kicked out. I have experimented with turning on the Cordless phone and moving away from LoS of the base station - still works :)

I was wondering by "Unchecking" the "Enble IEEE Authetication" box, have I made my wireless network unsecured? Can others access the netowrk or surf from my base station?

Thanks again for all your assistance in the previous threads.

WiFi
Saturday, September 27, 2003

So, can you connect to your modem without authenticating yourself? Didn't you say you could? Wouldn't that mean anyone else could?

This might offer a small amount of safety. Can you set up the the router's DHCP so that only a certain IP address can access the network, have it give out completely different IP addresses, and then set up your computer to request that IP address? Then at least only one address works, you always request it, and if someone tries to gain access, you'll know something's up (unless you're not home at the time, but then what worry is that - your computer isn't on the network, as long as they don't download kiddie porn or share mp3's you should be ok).

Mark T A W .com
Saturday, September 27, 2003

I think the authentication reference is with respect to "IEEE 802.1X network port authenticaton" which is a method for key exchange, not encryption. In a typical home network, your keys are static (you enter them on the client and access point, and they don't change until you change them). Using "IEEE" the access point will authenticate a user and possibly provide unique keys to each user.

Anyhow, the short answer is "no, you are not compromised". The caveat, is "at least not any more than the rest of us using WEP".

The 802.1X auth/key mgmt would be a great method for future access points to create random cycpher keys and distribute them. Cisco has proposed similar methods (LEAP/Radius) for helping to alleviate the WEP vulnerabilities by changing cycpher keys often.

nat ersoz
Sunday, September 28, 2003

>"C- "The "Enable IEEE authentication" box under the advanced tab is unchecked."

It was giving problems when unchecked, or unchecking it solved the problem?

.
Sunday, September 28, 2003

The problem occured when the box was checked.

WiFi
Monday, September 29, 2003

I've had the exact same problems. The connection would be lost every 10 minutes. I've tried many things but the one that seems to do the trick is to uncheck the authentication box ("enable IEEE 802.1x....")

Nhat Tran
Sunday, February 29, 2004