Securing your wireless network

Is your wireless network secure?

An unsecured wireless network is very dangerous. Others may abuse your connection allowing your DSL connection can be closed by Scarlet. You also get a lower speed if others use your connection.
We therefore advise everyone to secure their wireless network .

What can I do to secure my wireless network?

You can secure your network using different techniques. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption, WPA (WiFi Protected Access) encryption. The most secure is WPA, WPA with your equipment as possible, we advise you this way.

What is the difference between WEP or WPA security?

When you use WEP encryption, data is exchanged with the same key 1 and encrypted.Each packet sent and received, must first be decrypted. With WPA encryption get therewith different keys which worked every 4 seconds exchange. This provides better security.

What is the difference between 802.11B and 802.11G?

The 802.11G wireless version is the successor to the 802.11B version. 802.11B Thetechnique is based on a 11 Megabit per second (Mbps) connection which is shared by all connected systems. When you type 802.11B router and you’re with 2 computersconnected, you have a theoretical speed of 5.5 Mbps.
Also, the distance to an 802.11b access point less than a 802.11G version. With the802.11G version you can get 54Mbps transfer speed. However, this is also shared and share the speed with other systems that are connected. If you have a wireless network (802.11b or 802.11g) protected, there is always a minimal portion of the speed. That bitis used to encrypt the data you exchange.

What is WiFi

WiFi is a way to wirelessly connect to a network. This network, the Internet, but also the PC next floor beside your desk stand. WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity

What do you need a WiFi connection

You generally need the following:

• a base station (or access point, hotspot or access point called). This base has a connection to the Internet (for example, happens at home via ADSL or cable);
• a WiFi card in each computer that you want to connect to the network;
• an Internet connection (your own or provided in the form of a public access point).
• The public dial-up points (hotspots) are often free to use, but sometimes you need a subscription or have a ticket. The prices of base stations and wireless cards for PCs are on the decline.

The distance between the base station and computer with wireless card can not be too large. It varies by situation, but surely the 100 meters and 30 meters is a maximum practical distance.

The advantages

The advantage of WiFi is that you anywhere without a set of cables from your PC (laptop) or PDA can connect to your network or Internet. However, you must ensure that you’re within range of a base station remains. In practice this means that you can connect to your network or the Internet when you’re in the living room or sitting in the garden, but also when you are on a large station or airport is where an access point (access point, hotspot) is installed. In short, from the garden surfing, email etc. For road workers and interesting individuals.

In terms of home WiFi seems to win the battle of competing Bluetooth technology. It is powerful and that means more bandwidth and a larger distance range.

The disadvantages

There are, a few drawbacks to the technology. The most important are:

• WiFi uses (especially when compared with other wireless technology of Bluetooth) quite a lot of energy. This is for mobile devices (such as a PDA or laptop) is not so favorable.
• There is a limit to accessibility. That depends on the strength of the base, but also any obstacles between the base station and wireless PCs (walls, ceilings, trees, etc.). The further away, the slower the connection. At a distance of several tens of meters you will notice that.

The safety

Characteristic of wireless connections is of course that the information is free ‘air’ flies.And hence also to others, more or less accessible. Security is thus an important point. It does not seem too difficult to walk down the street and picking up information from wireless networks in the houses in that street. It now seems, however, that a new, in 2004 defined standard of encryption (encryption) offer greater security. This standard is known as IEEE 802.11i (there are several WiFi standards that mainly vary in bandwidth: IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n).