Issues with connecting to a Non broadcasted-SSID

[mooseracing]

I've done some googling but i'm not finding much help.

I turned off the SSID to limit the list of people conencting to the router. It isn't for security, just so only certain people know about it.

I've gone through manual network setup in XP and have entered the SSID name, and I have checked the manual config in the network settings but i still can't connect.

Should i turn SSID back on connect then turn it back off?

 

[dfnkt]

turning off the ssid does not hide your WAP from others, it turns off 1 of 5 beacons your WAP is sending out while it is communicating. In regards to your problem, anytime that I have connected and then disabled the ssid broadcast or made any other changes, the clients get kicked off, so I don't think that would work. I would try rebooting the router and double check your wep (hopefully not) or WPA key that you have entered. Try turning off wep or wpa for a minute while the SSID is turned off and see if you can connect.

 

[JackMDS]

I wanted to make my car Lighter so it would go faster. So I drained the gas tank and now the car would not run.

What should I do?

Let say that you do not run encryption, only MAC filter. Any one who know how to id and spoof MAC, knows how to find any Access Point whether the SSID is on or off.

 

[mooseracing]

I'm not trying to keep it from getting hacked or anyone screwing with it. Its mainly to keep all the freeloaders around my apt off of it. I have the signal turned down also to cut on transmission range as it only needs to transmit about 25 ft out.

I already have WEP and WPA off, as i want to eliminate the problems to get to the solution first.

 

[JackMDS]

So switch on the MAC filter, and put into the allowed MAC only the current "SSID people".

However, I really do not get it if you are using WPA give the encryption key only to the allowed people and be dome with.

 

[kevnich2]

You're making this much harder than it needs to be. Turn on SSID broadcoast, forget MAC filtering and turn ON WPA (the highest encryption that you're clients will accept) If you can do WPA with AES, go that route, if not, go TKIP, but at minimum go WPA (or if you have it, WPA2). If your neighbors don't have the encryption key, they obviously can't get on and breaking WPA is pretty much impossible as by the time anyone figures out what key the router is using, it's only a few minutes before it changes again, so it's pointless. But MAC spoofing is very easy to do.

 

[RebateMonger]

I recommend that your turn SSID back on and LEAVE it on.

Turning off SSID and turning on MAC filtering just makes life hard without any big security improvement. And unless you have encryption turned on, ANYBODY within radio range can read everything you send back and forth to your WiFi access point.

 

[spidey07]

Just another chime in that it is encouraged to broadcast the SSID for compatibility reasons.