2 unrelated questions: Wireless network security, and how to use a second router

[BonzaiDuck]

I'd always added to my networking knowledge on an ad-hoc basis: "How to set up NetBeui or TCP/IP," "How to configure my router for wired gigabit," etc. etc.

I had only dabbled in wireless technology when I set up my cousin's business laptop to communicate with his router-switch in 2004. Then, my brother's computer in 2008, accessing the on-campus wireless at a school where he lived on site.

Our current wired network seems to be amply protected. But I've acquired a laptop system, for which I just recently configured our four-year-old CISCO "wireless N" router for wireless access. Easy. Done. [More or less, as I will explain.]

Now that I've activated our household wireless, I became aware of something I discovered in the two earlier projects: "Other" router devices in the neighborhood are picked up by my laptop. I identified the next-door neighbor by her last name -- the device or account-ID for her router. More alarming -- I discovered that I could successfully "connect" to that router or its "client-Guest" from my laptop, but I didn't pursue a further excursion to see if I had "real" access.

Even so, my concern grew because it works both ways. I've enabled WPA2 encryption.

But both the neighbor's router and mine -- name them "router-A" and "router-B" respectively -- show two entries on the network-icon pop-up: "router-A" and "router-A Guest" (!), and "router-B" and "router B Guest" (!). The little yellow exclam signs appear on these items. It was through the neighbor's "router-B Guest" that I was able to show myself successfully "connected."

First question: If I disabled or "turned off" all the guest accounts on every computer in the house, how can I disable the mere appearance of "Guest" listed on the active wireless routers in the pop-up?

Second question (unrelated):

Toward this end of activating the wireless feature of our CISCO, the friend who sold me the laptop urged me to pick up a Netis Wireless Router as a $14 Newegg bargain. He seemed to think it might be useful, because it was described as a wireless router, access-point and wireless extender. While I explained that the CISCO should be equal to the Netis, I followed his urgings and spent the chump-change on the Netis.

Now looking at the instruction booklet, I find nothing toward using the router as an add-on "extender" or access point for the CISCO -- only the usual simple steps to configuring the Netis toward its full usage. It defaults to the same subnet and 192.168.1.1 IP address as the CISCO.

There are currently four switches configured in the house -- two downstairs and two upstairs. I'm wondering how I can configure this second router to function as simply another access point with a wired connection through a switch to the first router, or if that is even possible.

I suppose my question is almost explicit in the last paragraph . . .

 

[nickbits]

Guest networks must be shut off on their respective routers. They have nothing to do with guest accounts on the computers.
The purpose of guest networks is to give your guests internet access but prevent them from accessing your internal network.

 

[JackMDS]

You can use any Wireless Router as an Access Point (connected via one cable to the main Router) by configuring it this way.

Using Wireless Router (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Guest networks must be shut off on their respective routers. They have nothing to do with guest accounts on the computers.
The purpose of guest networks is to give your guests internet access but prevent them from accessing your internal network.

I've scoured the features of my CISCO E2000 router and cannot find anything in there about guest networks. But you certainly relieved my concerns about client and server "Guest" accounts.

You can use any Wireless Router as an Access Point (connected via one cable to the main Router) by configuring it this way.

Using Wireless Router (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

Thank you for the link. I scanned through it once so far, but it seems perfectly reasonable. There is, however, one uncertainty I have about this.

Both you and the material in the link speak of making the router1-to-router2 connection from a router1 LAN port to a router2 LAN port directly. I'm wondering why there can't be a switch or two in between. Even so, now that I think about it, the cable drop from upstairs (location of the CISCO) to downstairs (where I want to add the NETIS) should allow me simply to replace one of my switches down here with the NETIS, and that fulfills the router-to-router prescription.

=== MORE STUFF ====

Meanwhile, I've ordered a couple Wireless N or Wireless AC dongles/adapters for my laptop. One of them was a $17 EDIMAX AC600. I disabled the onboard Intel PRO Wireless of the lappie and successfully installed the dongle. Network/Sharing Center reports a speed of 72 Mbps -- an increase of about 18 Mbps over the PRO. The CISCO is configured in "mixed" mode. Certainly, I don't think internet browsing is going to show the new dongle's capability, because of the limited speed even for high-speed household internet.

It "seems" faster. Perhaps I should reconfigure the router from "mixed" mode to "Wireless N" and reset the security feature to match.

 

[Cienja]

Hi. I've had the same questions and I think I even had (probably have with the rest of my PC storage) the same router.

First, the Access Point. Here is what I found on that:
Advanced Wireless (This is the area within the router admin setup where the AP is located)
AP Isolation The AP (Access Point) Isolation feature
isolates all wireless clients and wireless devices on your
network from each other . Wireless devices will be able to
communicate with the Router but not with each other . To
use this option, select Enabled . AP Isolation is disabled by
default.

I chose to "configure my router into an AP by turning off DHCP, firewall, all sorts of stuff. It worked ok, but I'm not a network guru, so I bailed and used a switch instead.

Regarding the Guest_Access, I found the following:

http://support.linksys.com/en-us/support/routers/E2000

That link is to the user guide, where, on page 13, it will tell you how to turn off guest_access. Note that you can have a password for guest access. It works similar to a hotel in that the password isn't requested until you request a URL or some other Internet protocol, then the password is recommended. Logged in the guest gives no access to the network, Internet only (your guest can't see the printer, your laptop and what you've shared, etc.

Hope this helps!

 

[JackMDS]

Both you and the material in the link speak of making the router1-to-router2 connection from a router1 LAN port to a router2 LAN port directly. I'm wondering why there can't be a switch or two in between.

Yes, you can connect Router 1 to a switch and then the Switch to the Router that is configured as an AP.

Every thing will be OK as long you you stay on the LAN side after the Output from the Main Router and every thing is on the same subnet.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yes, you can connect Router 1 to a switch and then the Switch to the Router that is configured as an AP.

Every thing will be OK as long you you stay on the LAN side after the Output from the Main Router and every thing is on the same subnet.

That's what I might have guessed, but guessing isn't any sort of certainty without second opinions from good folks such as yourself.

I suppose I can continue tweaking the laptop and router settings before I install the cheapo NETIS down here. I can't trust the Mbps reports from my laptop: The EDIMAX connection seems much faster than the PRO, but the connection reports a speed that doesn't match the "feel" of it. I changed the router settings to 5Ghz from 2.4. I'm new to trying to measure these things -- don't know what sort of benchies to download or quite how to do it.

 

[JackMDS]

Use this free version - http://www.totusoft.com/lanspeed1.html

Install it on any computer that you want to measure its connection speed and configure it to toward a computer's IP that is wired directly to the Router (or a switch that is connected to the Router).

You should also know that a computer with weak CPU and or Video card might feel weaker even if the LAN speed is good.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Use this free version - http://www.totusoft.com/lanspeed1.html

Install it on any computer that you want to measure its connection speed and configure it to toward a computer's IP that is wired directly to the Router (or a switch that is connected to the Router).

You should also know that a computer with weak CPU and or Video card might feel weaker even if the LAN speed is good.

That's just it. This is a refurb laptop originally sold around 2008. No HD-capable video; limited memory until Monday next week when the upgrade parts arrive; I replaced the hard disk with an SSD. The internet access, or even the access to my server -- seem really "snappy." I replaced the Wireless-G with Wireless-AC (and -N). It "feels" faster than it did with the Wireless G, but it's reporting about 10 to 20 Mbps less.

I'll sort it out -- no problem. All the time in the world, really . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hi. I've had the same questions and I think I even had (probably have with the rest of my PC storage) the same router.

First, the Access Point. Here is what I found on that:
Advanced Wireless (This is the area within the router admin setup where the AP is located)
AP Isolation The AP (Access Point) Isolation feature
isolates all wireless clients and wireless devices on your
network from each other . Wireless devices will be able to
communicate with the Router but not with each other . To
use this option, select Enabled . AP Isolation is disabled by
default.

I chose to "configure my router into an AP by turning off DHCP, firewall, all sorts of stuff. It worked ok, but I'm not a network guru, so I bailed and used a switch instead.

Regarding the Guest_Access, I found the following:

http://support.linksys.com/en-us/support/routers/E2000

That link is to the user guide, where, on page 13, it will tell you how to turn off guest_access. Note that you can have a password for guest access. It works similar to a hotel in that the password isn't requested until you request a URL or some other Internet protocol, then the password is recommended. Logged in the guest gives no access to the network, Internet only (your guest can't see the printer, your laptop and what you've shared, etc.

Hope this helps!

I'm sure it will .. . help.

The weird thing that happened after I started this thread: I went poking around in the web-utility for the E2000, looking for some indication about "Guest" or "Guest access." Couldn't find spit.

Then, I decided to change the frequency from 2.4 to 5.0. Which -- I did. I probably should've disconnected the laptop first, then made the change, then pushed the little button on the CISCO and then the little button on the EDIMAX net-adapter-dongle, but I didn't.

Of course, the connection to the laptop seems just as fast or faster than with the built-in Intel Pro Wireless-G, and it was just as reliable when I returned to the laptop after changing from 2.4 to 5.0. However . .

Suddenly, while the router is still shown as connected, the rest of the [g--damn] neighborhood's routers are shown, suddenly the "[router-name] Guest" items have disappeared from the list.

I had thought that maybe JackMDS had answered a fundamental question, or that y'all had given me some good feedback -- which ya did. But maybe this thread isn't dead yet. I've got to install the diagnostics that Jack provided and find out more about this.

I swear, tho . . . Another time, another place and less of a perfectionist urge -- I'd say my "connection is good" and call it a day."

I've still got the cheapo NETIS router to play with -- haven't got started on that yet. The cheapo $17 EDIMAX dongle arrived today and I'm trying to assess whether it's good-bad-indifferent. As I often do sometimes (people would say "throwing away money") I sometimes buy "extra stuff" -- two when one would do. So I'm expecting to receive the Hawking model in this link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833164057

I just thought to buy the Hawking and a cheapo alternative, and this EDIMAX is at least "working OK" -- how OK, I can't tell yet.

I've got my flagship desktop on a gigabit network. I know what "snappy" feels like. Honestly, if I weren't so nit-picky, I'd say this laptop with the cheapo EDIMAX dongle is great. But Windows doesn't seem to show the right numbers.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

So . . . I 'terminated' my connection at the laptop with the router, went upstairs and pushed the router button, came back, pushed the button on the dongle.

I started out with the Intel Pro "N" wireless showing a connection speed between 48 and 54. Then, at 2.4 Ghz, the EDIMAX showed about 74. When I changed the router to 5.0Ghz, the displayed speed was down to 29.

Now it's up to 90. Hmmm . . .