Comments on: Convergence – only if you know more than the service provider

By: Ben Robinson

Ben Robinson — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:20:09 +0000

The reason for using WEP is unfortunately there’s a device (not mine!) that can only support WEP – and before you ask, it can’t be upgraded.

My other network uses WPA2

By: Will Park

Will Park — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:32:11 +0000

“At least change it when you change your smoke detectors’ batteries.”

Damn good advice there! I agree on the WPA comment, but I never really gave much thought to changing the password every now and then.

By: radiometric

radiometric — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:42:42 +0000

Seriously, to improve your security, use WPA (2) . WEP offers false security. Very false, like a 12 year old can crack it during commercial breaks while watching Hannah Montana. MAC Address filtering offers no more security, but makes it a pain every time you want to add a legitimate device to your network. WEP is like a paper guardrail on the highway. WPA and WPA2 are much more robust and offer real security. You still need to change your password once in a while though, as a hacker with enough patience can eventually crack even WPA’s implementation. Once every couple of months should be fine. At least change it when you change your smoke detectors’ batteries.

By: JonnyBruha

JonnyBruha — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:03:00 +0000

You could have just Googled how to set up your router’s security? Why are you trying to use WEP in the first place?

By: Will Park

Will Park — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:45:30 +0000

That’s why I try to refrain from calling any “technical support” helpline. I usually find that web resources are far more helpful than tech support – although it might take some research and time to find what you’re looking for.

By: Shiko

Shiko — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:55:59 +0000

That’s actually a very, very valid point. Having worked in tech support and also been on the receiving end of tech support, I can attest to how consumer unfriendly (and useless) the advice can be. The vast majority of the time support is advised to just carry out a simple set of pre-defined questions and answers to help and try to solve the problem; bad luck if you fall out of this category, and actually need advice with someone who is familiar with the product. And god forbid if you are dealing with a situation in which there’s even a hairs chance of blaming it on another product/service; you can guarantee that at some point, they’ll simply blame it on that.

Good luck with your setup, and hopefully you will be able to avoid the ‘help’ lines