[txusa03]

Guys/Gals, I just got att dsl w/ wireless router (att 2WIRE router). My questions concern security/encryption. I think the att 2WIRE comes default with a firewall. The wireless connection is secure. I also have another firewall (PC-cillin Internet Security) running. Is this overdue or can I delete some firewall? I like to be able to do online banking and I just want to make sure I do not make it easy for any sniffer to grap my info.

I am using 64-bit HEX value WEP encryption and is it good enuf? What is WEP anyway? Anyone use att 2WIRE and how you set your encryption up?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[just4kickz]

you can never have too many firewalls... and plus all firewalls are made to be broken so dont sweat it... the average person with a firewall on the router and a firewall on the computer should be fine.

[Ninjaneer]

If you're sure it has a good firewall and you're not getting hit with random junk then you might be ok. If you have XP then you could just use Xp's built-in firewall if you don't want to deal with PC-cillin.

Personally I have a LinkSys and its firewall has served me pretty well, and I don't run any extra firewall s/w beside it.

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption at 64 bit should be alright. Apparently WEP is easy to crack but it's still widely in use and is good enough to deter simple snooping. Something I read up on Wikipedia heh...

Generally the higher bit encryption you go with, the longer the key and harder to crack, but more encryption means less speed performance. It might not make that big of a difference on a home network for you to notice. I use WEP 64bit at home and it's done a good job.

If you can set up your own SSID and network name these help too rather than keeping them at default settings.

Maybe someone else has more detailed info / experience to offer

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by just4kickz

you can never have too many firewalls... and plus all firewalls are made to be broken so dont sweat it... the average person with a firewall on the router and a firewall on the computer should be fine.

Well the draw back to firewall is it slow down network. I am getting 54 Mbps and that is slightly better than 56K. But I can feel the firewalls are causing a slight delay when I surf my favorite e90 forum. I also forget to attached this pic.

[just4kickz]

uhh how is 54mbps slightly better than 56k... 54mbps is just the highest possible speed for your internet transmission... if your on dsl or cable which is like 200kps+ it shouldnt matter that much. 56k is just ur modem max speed... but most people wont get 56k anyways

[bimmer4me]

56k = 0.054mbps. So yes, 54mbps is 1000 times fast than 56K speed.

Most cable internet speeds run around 0.9mbps - 1.4mbps. That is going to be your bottleneck. There definitely is a some performance hit when doing WEP, but you really want to do it nonetheless.

You only need 1 firewall at home. The firewall in your router is hardware based and therefore faster. Turn off the Windows firewall you'll see a speed improvement with no downside in security.

[bimmer4me]

Typically, you have to tell the router what the WEP key is and then put the same key on your computer. From the screenshot, you know how to enter in this key on you computer. Look in the router's user manual for a web address that will look something http://192.168.1.1. That should bring up an admin screen where you can fish around for the WEP key setting.

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by just4kickz

uhh how is 54mbps slightly better than 56k... 54mbps is just the highest possible speed for your internet transmission... if your on dsl or cable which is like 200kps+ it shouldnt matter that much. 56k is just ur modem max speed... but most people wont get 56k anyways

I dont know that is what someone told me. I did not understand it either because it was like night and day going from 56K modem to DSL. There are different dls packages that you can get from att as well. I got the cheapest package. Att offer a faster dsl for those who run business at home.

Originally Posted by bimmer4me

Typically, you have to tell the router what the WEP key is and then put the same key on your computer. From the screenshot, you know how to enter in this key on you computer. Look in the router's user manual for a web address that will look something http://192.168.1.1. That should bring up an admin screen where you can fish around for the WEP key setting.

Thanks, I will look into this. But, I just want to point out that when I first connect to the wireless, its prompted me to enter the web key that att already provided to me. So my guess is that att already set this wep key in their router before they shipped their router to me. Hope that makes sense. Lol, btw, att does not have much of a manual on their router.

[SGxi]

I believe there is a default WEP key in the 2WIRE router (at least in the old one), but you can change it anytime.

[just4kickz]

why did u get a 2wire? jw i have one at home... i dont like it much... but at my apt i jus use the cable reciever from comcast + a linksys wireless + ethernet hub w/ encryption n' stuff

[txusa03]

It was a cheap route to take. They sent me a wireless router. I hook it up to phone jack, voila, I have dsl. I dont need anything fancy but at the same time I want some level of protection cuz I have wireless and I don't want anyone sniffing around for packages.