NationStates Jolt Archive

I’ve had my wireless for a few months now, and I haven’t had a problem with it staying connected. But then the new neighbours move in.. About two weeks ago (on a Saturday), I noticed that a new wireless network had been set up near my house. The new neighbours are still living somewhere else, but come to their new house every weekend – and every weekend my internet fucks up. Saying it’s connected, but not letting me do anything that requires an internet connection. Then I noticed that the other wireless network wasn’t detected anymore..

Maybe I’m paranoid and have way too much time on my hands, but I think the neighbours turned off their router, forgot to turn it back on, and now think that my connection is their connection.

….

How do you set a key for a wireless internet connection (for linksys)?


.. or is there something else wrong here?

It's usually located in your router's manual or starting disk.

That may actually not be the problem but in any case you really SHOULD set up security on your wireless connection (unless you want to be a public hotspot)...

First, get into your router's setup page - to do that, point your browser at http://192.168.1.1

I'm going to assume you haven't changed the administrator password on your router - if you have, use the password you've set. Otherwise at the login, leave the User Name field blank and in the password field enter admin (this is the default linksys router administrator password - PLEASE change it when you can - leaving this alone is asking for trouble.

On the administraton page, click on the "Wireless Security" tab.

Where it has security mode, select WEP there (you can use a different one if you like, but WEP should be supported fine there - you'll need to be able to support it with the computers that you intend to connect).

Select number one for your Default Transmit Key there.

Select 64 bits (again, you can use 128 if you like but your computers need to support it - probably it does though) on WEP encryption.

put in a wireless network password then click Generate. This will give you a string of numbers and letters there. Make a note of the password AND the key generated.

Click on "save settings" to enable the security with that key on your router.

If you're doing this THROUGH a wireless network, this will probably knock you off. Reconnect to your network - if all is well, it will figure out your router is now using WEP and will ask you for the key - put that in there and you should be able to connect through a secure connection. No-one else who doesn't have the key should be able to login.

These instructions are pretty generic for most linksys wireless capable routers and should keep pesky neighbors out.

It is also possible that something they're running (perhaps their OWN router) is interfering on the channel that your router is using. You can change this channel by getting into your router's admin page, selecting wireless and changing the channel from the default (6) to something else. The recommended alternative channels are 1 or 11. Then save that and reconnect your computer to the network.

Hope this helps.

Either your router should say an IP address (on the bottom of the case), your manual should say this (you did keep it right?), or you have to find out your IP address from some website. Anyways, type this IP address into Firefox's location bar and press enter. Your router will ask you to login. The default login should be in your manual, but it is usually admin with no password. If you changed it, I hope you wrote it down. If you ever get logged in, somewhere you should see the heading wireless. Click it, and it should give you an option to set the security mode. Select WEP with Open Authentication, HEX keytype, and make up a ten character password using only the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, a, b, c, d, e, and f.

EDIT:But read Carterway's first, he seems to have a Linksys router.

Modern cards and routers should support WPA.

WEP can cause a massive speed decrease. You might consider just using WPA-PSK with a password that only you know. I'd suggest making it between 26 and 32 characters long. This means that you type in the password once and save it on the computers you wish to allow on your network and don't tell anybody else.

There's also another option of MAC address filtering, which would only allow MAC addresses you've allowed onto your network. Determining your MAC address is fairly simple, and you can employ the filter directly on your router without any real hassle. Both of the options I've suggested can solve the problem you described.

WEP can cause a massive speed decrease. You might consider just using WPA-PSK with a password that only you know. I'd suggest making it between 26 and 32 characters long. This means that you type in the password once and save it on the computers you wish to allow on your network and don't tell anybody else.

There's also another option of MAC address filtering, which would only allow MAC addresses you've allowed onto your network. Determining your MAC address is fairly simple, and you can employ the filter directly on your router without any real hassle. Both of the options I've suggested can solve the problem you described.

Both good points and worth checking out. The WPA setup is pretty much the same process on linksys routers as WEP and should be supported by just about anything you have - and is more secure to boot. MAC filtering is also a good idea - if you don't have guests who you want to allow, but setting the security should work fine for you. I wasn't aware of massive speed decreases with WEP though I know there is a speed hit you take.

Both good points and worth checking out. The WPA setup is pretty much the same process on linksys routers as WEP and should be supported by just about anything you have - and is more secure to boot. MAC filtering is also a good idea - if you don't have guests who you want to allow, but setting the security should work fine for you. I wasn't aware of massive speed decreases with WEP though I know there is a speed hit you take.

It increases response time between workstation and router, and can cause confusion in the WEP packets, decrypting them in the wrong order, etc. Being a gamer, I notice things like increased response time and immediately stopped the WEP, changed it to WPA-PSK and set up my MAC filter, it's been a tremendous help in reducing drive-by users.

Personally, I stick with MAC blocking. It's simple enough to add another address. People want you to be paranoid about these things, but if they're spoofing MACs, they can probably crack WEP.

Wired equivalent my ass.

You might also think about changing the channel your router uses. If you were having connection problems even when they were using their own router, it's possible that you were also getting interference. I've got nearly a dozen personal networks in range of my card. I feel sorry for the people on 6... it's pretty busy.

EDIT:But read Carterway's first, he seems to have a Linksys router.


(In his best Gollum voice)

Yes, I have a linksys router! It's my precious! It's my friend, yes my friend!

(Bad Carterway) Your friend? You don't have ANY friends - NOBODY LIKES YOU!

(Good Carterway) Uh, uh uh.... Cisco likes me!

(Bad Carterway) CISCO? CISCO is a f'ing HACK! A KLUDGE!

(Good Carterway) Not listening! NOT LISTENING!

(In his best Gollum voice)

Yes, I have a linksys router! It's my precious! It's my friend, yes my friend!

(Bad Carterway) Your friend? You don't have ANY friends - NOBODY LIKES YOU!

(Good Carterway) Uh, uh uh.... Cisco likes me!

(Bad Carterway) CISCO? CISCO is a f'ing HACK! A KLUDGE!

(Good Carterway) Not listening! NOT LISTENING!
...LotR nerdified...

*dies*

*scratches head*

No one even considered going to the neighboors and talking to them?

*scratches head*

No one even considered going to the neighboors and talking to them?

No... Of course not. These are fixes that he should be putting into place anyways to be honest, so might as well put them in before going over and kicking down the doors (joke of course).

*scratches head*

No one even considered going to the neighboors and talking to them?

Why talk to the neighbors when they don't know anything about wireless networking? It's their kids!

WEP can cause a massive speed decrease. You might consider just using WPA-PSK ..any kind of added security will slow down things..

the more security.. the slower is everything.
WPA tend to slow you more than WEP... but is still better security.

Why talk to the neighbors when they don't know anything about wireless networking? It's their kids!
What if his neighbour is Alan Cox?

any kind of added security will slow down things..

the more security.. the slower is everything.
WPA tend to slow you more than WEP... but is still better security.

WPA verifies the connection to begin with, but only keeps a parity bit with each byte of information carried, while WEP causes greater processor load because each packet is encrypted and has to be decrypted to be used. This can cause router heat issues, and extra CPU load, which can be interpreted as lag in high end games. The best bet is MAC address filtering, IMO, because it requires less resources, and is easy to do.