WiFi: WEP vs WPA
Mon Jul 3 11:57:45 EDT 2017
I have a laptop from work. Some time ago it stopped connecting to my home WiFi, and I've had to use it on an Ethernet cable. This means I can't use it in the bedroom, bathroom, out on the deck, etc. ☹
It does work on Mom's WiFi. The difference? WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) here, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) there. WEP is no longer considered secure. Very likely work pushed out a configuration change that blocks WEP, although they didn't tell us.
So last night I decided to try WPA here. Long overdue, but when we got this router we still had older laptops that didn't support WPA. (I'm guessing that we've moved past those now, but I haven't checked.) The 3 Linux laptops I'm using are OK with WPA, although the connection-status pages are showing extreme fluctuations in the transfer speeds, and I'm getting erratic responses between my primary laptop and my web server. (I keep a window open tailing one of the logs, which gives me some idea what's going on usage-wise, as well as confirming that both machines are connected to the router.)
The iPhone says I should use WPA2, but our router doesn't support it (too old). The iPhone also complained about WEP, but it was OK with using whatever was available. (Really, if you're out and about using someone else's WiFi, you can't insist that they change their configuration.)
But the main objective was not met: the work laptop still doesn't connect to my WiFi. ☹
Maybe I need to buy a newer router, that supports WPA2?
I gave Brian the new password (pre-shared key), but I don't know whether he's put it into anniemal's laptop or I still need to do that. The router says it supports WEP and WPA together, so maybe I'll leave it set for that. I've got 6 addresses in the router's MAC filter for Brian's laptops, cell phone, etc; those would need the new shared key. And my Kindle, a 2nd tablet (because Amazon's walled-garden app store doesn't have all the Android apps, so the Kindle can't talk to my digicam), and my camera need the new key. Switching between WEP and WPA is disruptive.
The wired connections are, not surprisingly, much faster than wireless; even more so because I tend to use my laptop at the fringes of the WiFi range - my bedroom, the deck. I should move the webserver to a wired connection because that's faster and more reliable (not disturbed by using cordless phones and microwave ovens), but that would mean moving that laptop to someplace less convenient. (Or running a long cable.)
While we haven't been using the latest and greatest security, we've not been wide open. And we're not an attractive target. We live on a busy corner, so there's turn lanes here and no parking close to the house (other than in our driveway). Anyone hanging around would be noticeable; anyone far enough away to escape notice wouldn't be in range of our signal without a conspicuous high-gain antenna.
Tuesday 05:16
I've been up all night, fighting with the router and WPA. I broke my webserver for a while, but things now seem to be back the way they were. I need to move the webserver from WiFi to wired Ethernet at a static IP, but I don't think that's a project for today.
Twice I've gone upstairs and found the router without power - the power-supply plug was not making contact with the extension cord. Sorting that out is a reasonable project for today. It's a mess; the router and cable modem are high up on the stairwell wall (for signal propagation), and at some point anniemal took them off a power cord that went downstairs without being in anyone's way and set up a temporary cord across the dining room. It's been that way 2 or 3 months(?) now.
But you waste a lot of time trying to debug connection problems when you don't know equipment isn't turned on.
Annie's also been on the phone a lot this evening. (It seems she's trying to be less drunk for the holiday?) She's now aware that the cordless phones clobber the WiFi, but does she find a wired phone to use instead? No. That accounts for more of the Wifi's failures to connect that I was trying to diagnose; I thought she was talking to Brian. (But he's had headphones on; he's tired of her yammering too.) And this is more reason to move the webserver to a wired connection.
Before I left for work Monday Annie asked about getting her laptop connected after the WEP-WPA change. She said it hadn't asked her for the new password, and she'd restarted the networking several times. I enabled networking, enabled WiFi, and it prompted me for the new password (shared key). I don't know why, over and over, I can do exactly what she said she'd done - and I get different results.
Tuesday 23:13
Today was a holiday, and I spent most of it (once I got up, fairly late) on our network. I eventually put everything back on WEP, and things are working much better. WPA didn't fix anything, and it left many of the computers here unable to stay connected more than a few minutes, and unable to re-connect without rebooting the computer or the router. (And rebooting the router could break other, working connections.) And my webserver was mostly unreachable. ☹
Other things I might have been doing today?
Wednesday 14:26
We've been using this router 11 years ("back to wireless"). The power supply died in Oct, 2009 and I replaced it with a multi-voltage/multi-plug adapter we happened to have handy. Otherwise, it's worked fine, except for needing occasional reboots, and this recent fiasco with WPA and the absence of WPA2.
I was on the SMC website yesterday, and I couldn't find anything about this router. I was hoping for firmware updates - possibly even supporting WPA2, or at least making WPA more useable for us, but I didn't find anything there. I guess it's beyond after end-of-life.
I can't find anything on the D-Link website about Mom's router, either. I wanted to find out whether it supports WPA2, which might explain why the work laptop works with it, but not with my router here. That appears to date back to July 2009.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/901627.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I have a laptop from work. Some time ago it stopped connecting to my home WiFi, and I've had to use it on an Ethernet cable. This means I can't use it in the bedroom, bathroom, out on the deck, etc. ☹
It does work on Mom's WiFi. The difference? WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) here, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) there. WEP is no longer considered secure. Very likely work pushed out a configuration change that blocks WEP, although they didn't tell us.
So last night I decided to try WPA here. Long overdue, but when we got this router we still had older laptops that didn't support WPA. (I'm guessing that we've moved past those now, but I haven't checked.) The 3 Linux laptops I'm using are OK with WPA, although the connection-status pages are showing extreme fluctuations in the transfer speeds, and I'm getting erratic responses between my primary laptop and my web server. (I keep a window open tailing one of the logs, which gives me some idea what's going on usage-wise, as well as confirming that both machines are connected to the router.)
The iPhone says I should use WPA2, but our router doesn't support it (too old). The iPhone also complained about WEP, but it was OK with using whatever was available. (Really, if you're out and about using someone else's WiFi, you can't insist that they change their configuration.)
But the main objective was not met: the work laptop still doesn't connect to my WiFi. ☹
Maybe I need to buy a newer router, that supports WPA2?
I gave Brian the new password (pre-shared key), but I don't know whether he's put it into anniemal's laptop or I still need to do that. The router says it supports WEP and WPA together, so maybe I'll leave it set for that. I've got 6 addresses in the router's MAC filter for Brian's laptops, cell phone, etc; those would need the new shared key. And my Kindle, a 2nd tablet (because Amazon's walled-garden app store doesn't have all the Android apps, so the Kindle can't talk to my digicam), and my camera need the new key. Switching between WEP and WPA is disruptive.
The wired connections are, not surprisingly, much faster than wireless; even more so because I tend to use my laptop at the fringes of the WiFi range - my bedroom, the deck. I should move the webserver to a wired connection because that's faster and more reliable (not disturbed by using cordless phones and microwave ovens), but that would mean moving that laptop to someplace less convenient. (Or running a long cable.)
While we haven't been using the latest and greatest security, we've not been wide open. And we're not an attractive target. We live on a busy corner, so there's turn lanes here and no parking close to the house (other than in our driveway). Anyone hanging around would be noticeable; anyone far enough away to escape notice wouldn't be in range of our signal without a conspicuous high-gain antenna.
Tuesday 05:16
I've been up all night, fighting with the router and WPA. I broke my webserver for a while, but things now seem to be back the way they were. I need to move the webserver from WiFi to wired Ethernet at a static IP, but I don't think that's a project for today.
Twice I've gone upstairs and found the router without power - the power-supply plug was not making contact with the extension cord. Sorting that out is a reasonable project for today. It's a mess; the router and cable modem are high up on the stairwell wall (for signal propagation), and at some point anniemal took them off a power cord that went downstairs without being in anyone's way and set up a temporary cord across the dining room. It's been that way 2 or 3 months(?) now.
But you waste a lot of time trying to debug connection problems when you don't know equipment isn't turned on.
Annie's also been on the phone a lot this evening. (It seems she's trying to be less drunk for the holiday?) She's now aware that the cordless phones clobber the WiFi, but does she find a wired phone to use instead? No. That accounts for more of the Wifi's failures to connect that I was trying to diagnose; I thought she was talking to Brian. (But he's had headphones on; he's tired of her yammering too.) And this is more reason to move the webserver to a wired connection.
Before I left for work Monday Annie asked about getting her laptop connected after the WEP-WPA change. She said it hadn't asked her for the new password, and she'd restarted the networking several times. I enabled networking, enabled WiFi, and it prompted me for the new password (shared key). I don't know why, over and over, I can do exactly what she said she'd done - and I get different results.
Tuesday 23:13
Today was a holiday, and I spent most of it (once I got up, fairly late) on our network. I eventually put everything back on WEP, and things are working much better. WPA didn't fix anything, and it left many of the computers here unable to stay connected more than a few minutes, and unable to re-connect without rebooting the computer or the router. (And rebooting the router could break other, working connections.) And my webserver was mostly unreachable. ☹
Other things I might have been doing today?
- Mowing the lawn. (Finishing what was left from the weekend.)
- Going for a bike ride.
- Doing some bike maintenance.
- Adding comments and tags to photos for the website.
- Posting from my DW/LJ backlog.
- Learning my Pennsic music; starting to collect gear and garb.
Wednesday 14:26
We've been using this router 11 years ("back to wireless"). The power supply died in Oct, 2009 and I replaced it with a multi-voltage/multi-plug adapter we happened to have handy. Otherwise, it's worked fine, except for needing occasional reboots, and this recent fiasco with WPA and the absence of WPA2.
I was on the SMC website yesterday, and I couldn't find anything about this router. I was hoping for firmware updates - possibly even supporting WPA2, or at least making WPA more useable for us, but I didn't find anything there. I guess it's beyond after end-of-life.
I can't find anything on the D-Link website about Mom's router, either. I wanted to find out whether it supports WPA2, which might explain why the work laptop works with it, but not with my router here. That appears to date back to July 2009.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/901627.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]