Wireless networking Question

[Johnbear007]

I am using a netgear MR814 v2 router

And a dlink dwl 122 wireless card

Connection is wonderful, very fast. I have it set up as open network (this is the only way it will work wit the card I have tried shared) with 128 bit WEP that cycles through 4 keys, as well as access restricted based on MAC address.

This all works wonderfully, however I can't get anything to connect to the router unless it is broadcasting the SSID. Now, if I turn off the SSID once other pc's are connected, they stay connected just fine.

And yes, I do have the SSID nake setup on the all PC's identically to what it is on the router, and it is a new SSID not the one that comes default.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

oh yeah WinXP pro on both machines. no service pack 2

 

[InlineFive]

Some devices require the SSID to be broadcasted in order to work properly. If this is the case there is (probably) nothing you can do.

 

[JackMDS]

Do not worry about the SSID broadcasting being On, it is Not a real security measure.

People who are into breaking MAC addresses and WAP would bypass the SSID in few minutes.

So as long as you are using WAP and MAC protection the SSID is really not a significant addition to security.

:sun:

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Do not worry about the SSID broadcasting being On, it is Not a real security measure.

People who are into breaking MAC addresses and WAP would bypass the SSID in few minutes.

So as long as you are using WAP and MAC protection the SSID is really not a significant addition to security.

:sun:

I'm using WEP and MAC protection, router doesn't support WAP unfortunately, but thanks for the advice. I guess I won't worry about the SSID so much then. Both PC's are running Zone Alarm as well, and I use NETBEUI for filesharing

 

[Thor86]

If you are using the native WinXP service "Zero Wireless Configuration", then it requires SSID broadcasts. If can go around this if you wireless nic has its own wireless configuration software.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: Thor86
If you are using the native WinXP service "Zero Wireless Configuration", then it requires SSID broadcasts. If can go around this if you wireless nic has its own wireless configuration software.

I am not using the XP software, i'm using the software from my nic