Is it okay to swap a wireless router in and out?

[Xarick]

I was at goodwill and I found a wireless wrt54g linksys for $13 so I picked it up. I have since hooked it up to my computer and it works like a charm. I only need it to connect my Nintendo to the internet periodically. So I was wondering if it was okay to pull it and only hook it up when I feel like connecting up my wii.

Thoughts?

 

[0roo0roo]

try and see...

 

[JackMDS]

Are you using it as a Main Router, or as an Access Point in Client Mode?

Please describe better you regular arrangement.

 

[Xarick]

It is setup as a gateway. So my onboard nic is wired with cat5 into the router and then the cable modem is wired with cat5 into the modem. The wireless portion is only going to be used to connect my game systems.
Prior my onboard nic was wired directly into the modem.

 

[JackMDS]

You posted, "I have since hooked it (the router) up to my computer and it works like a charm?.

You created your own conceptual problem.

The Router is Not Hooked to the computer. The Router is hooked to the Modem, and the computer is hooked to the Router.

Wireless Routers usually have four ports for wired computer, and can provide connection to many Wireless computers.

Each computer connects to the Router on its own, so whether a computer or a game Box is connected or Not does not matter for the rest of the computers.

It is like the water in the house. It comes through a Main faucet (the Router) and from there goes to the water locations in the house. You do not need the water in the kitchen (computer) to be open and running in order to have water in the Bathroom (GameBox) and vice versa.

 

[Xarick]

semantics. I am wondering whether there is any positive purpose to leaving the router in place or only placing it when I need it. I do not wish to worry about my network security nor do I desire this device sucking power for no purpose.

 

[ViRGE]

The power consumption is trivial, the security concerns are real. You shouldn't be wired to the internet without a router or a software firewall in the first place. Even if you have a software firewall, there's just no practical reason to not have the router always plugged in, it's not hurting anything.

 

[Madwand1]

Default, open or poorly secured wireless are also vulnerabilities. Ideally you should set up wireless security with WPA and a long randomized passkey at minimum. If for some reason you have old/poor hardware which doesn't support it, and you can't replace it, the next level would be to disable the wireless when you don't need it.

 

[Xarick]

The router is setup for wpa2. I thought that no router would be more secure... because then there is no wireless connection someone can invade. so I am wrong here?

 

[Madwand1]

If you have WPA2, the odds of a neighbor cracking it are very low (practically nil).

Not having an active firewall would be a much greater risk.

 

[JackMDS]

http://www.ezlan.net/routers1.html

 

[Xarick]

Okay jack.. you got me there. So it looks as if leaving my router in actually increases my security instead of decreasing it.
Might as well just leave it in then.