Wireless Router

[no_pulse]

I'm new to setting up wireless router(s). I was wondering, is it possible to set it up so that no one can steal the signal and leech off the bandwidth?

[mklym]

You need to enable WPA encryption and use a strong (more than a few numbers & letters) key. Make sure you change the default admin username and password. Once setup, you can disable broadcasting, as your unit knows to communicate with the router. Hope that helps.

[sswilson]

Yep, 3 or 4 things in fact........ :)

1/ Set the highest possible security (WEP etc.......)
2/ Set it up to only accept the NIC addys you input (Usually called MAC filtering or something like that)
3/ Turn off SSID broadcasting once all of your personal computers have properly connected
4/ (most important) Change the default username & password for router access

[Lpfan4ever]

Yeah, I personally use the MAC filtering and disable SSID broadcast, because my 360 doesn't play well with my router when there's WEP or WPA enabled. Changing the password is also a biggie. I think I'm pretty safe without the encryption though, hopefully.

[no_pulse]

Thanks for the help guys :) I live my sister and her family, and her husband (my brother-in-law) bought a Berkin Wireless N router so he can use his laptop anywhere in the house. Can someone still steal your signal through the wireless router if you're hooked up to the LAN ports on the wireless router? Or can they only steal signals from computers using the wifi?

[mklym]

As long as the wireless access point is broadcasting, yes. Even if the computers are wired to the router.

[sswilson]

If it's set up to work wirelessly, and you haven't blocked unauthorized access they can not only steal bandwidth using wifi, they can also fairly easily gain access to the other computers on your network.

[no_pulse]

What a pain in the ass lol. First after resetting my admin password, it wouldn't accept my new one. Kept saying inccorect password lol. After enabling WAP2, lost connection with both wireless laptop and my desktop pc. Same thing when I enabled MAC filtering lol. Then suddently everything seemed to work fine. I could access the net with the wireless laptop and desktop pc. BUt now I've run into a problem again, after turning off SSID my laptop doesn't seem to want to find the router. Or maybe its just me. I'm a noob when it comes to routers and especially wireless ones.

Does it matter what you name your SSID? I have it named the same as my desktop PC

[3.0charlie]

Make sure your lappy wireless settings are configured to connect even though it is not broadcasting.

[no_pulse]

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

Make sure your lappy wireless settings are configured to connect even though it is not broadcasting.

I think that did it :) Thank you. It seems to take the lappy a few minutes to find the wireless network. Dunno if thats normal, even though the router is right next to it.

I have a couple of additional questions. Do I need to setup Mac Address Control, even though MAC Filtering is on? It says that Mac Address Control is the ability to set up a list of clients that you want to allow or deny access to the wireless network.

Also for WPA security, is that only setup for wireless devices that actually connect wirelessly to the router like the laptop? In other words I can't setup WPA for my desktop unless I have a wireless lan card correct?

Hopefully I set things up properly. On the settings screen it lists the following:

Firewall Settings Enabled
Security WPA-Personal ( PSK )
Data Encryption AES
UPnP Enabled
Remote Management Disabled
WPS Enabled

Are there any web sites or tools to test the security of your wireless router?