Hiding Wireless Routers?

I have just bought a dell wireless laptop.

im my house i am picking up 2 neighbours routers although it wont let me
connect to them, it gives my the name etc.

If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.

On 25 Nov 2005 15:36, "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
>signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.

It is possible to disable the SSID which is typically seen but you will see
comments here and in uk.comp.home-networking about software (netstumbler ?)
that will spot a wireless signal anyway, and to be frank, sending out that
SSID will at least mean someone else will know that channel is being used
so they should choose another, rather than have multiple signals going on
the same channel (frequency), which can work, but possibly affect both of
you with interference. All-in-all, I'd suggest you send the SSID, making
sure it is not the default, and perhaps something to indicate yours is a
private network (so no-one can suggest they connected as it looked to be
an 'open access' service). Peter M.

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On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:36:40 -0000, someone purporting to be "Mike"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have just bought a dell wireless laptop.
>
> im my house i am picking up 2 neighbours routers although it wont let me
> connect to them, it gives my the name etc.
>
> If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
> signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.
>

Yes it is possible depending on the router you buy - my SpeedTouch 716 has
a 'Broadcast Network Name' facility which when set to 'No' hides the SSID.

john

"JohnT" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:36:40 -0000, someone purporting to be "Mike"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I have just bought a dell wireless laptop.
>>
>> im my house i am picking up 2 neighbours routers although it wont let me
>> connect to them, it gives my the name etc.
>>
>> If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
>> signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.
>>
>
> Yes it is possible depending on the router you buy - my SpeedTouch 716 has
> a 'Broadcast Network Name' facility which when set to 'No' hides the SSID.
>
> john


out of interest how do you then connect the laptop if it cannot see the
SSID?

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:36:40 -0000, "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have just bought a dell wireless laptop.
>
>im my house i am picking up 2 neighbours routers although it wont let me
>connect to them, it gives my the name etc.
>
>If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
>signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.
>

Yes.

Almost all wireless routers have the option to "Hide SSID".

But while this will mean that casual passers by will not know about
it, this will not hide it from anybody seriously searching, as they
will have software that will still discover it.

Obviously, it is not possible for a wireless network to operate
without the router broadcasting its presence at all, because then the
computers you *want* to connect would not be able to see it.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:03:13 -0000, "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"JohnT" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:36:40 -0000, someone purporting to be "Mike"
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> I have just bought a dell wireless laptop.
>>>
>>> im my house i am picking up 2 neighbours routers although it wont let me
>>> connect to them, it gives my the name etc.
>>>
>>> If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out this
>>> signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.
>>>
>>
>> Yes it is possible depending on the router you buy - my SpeedTouch 716 has
>> a 'Broadcast Network Name' facility which when set to 'No' hides the SSID.
>>
>> john
>
>
>out of interest how do you then connect the laptop if it cannot see the
>SSID?
>

The laptop has to know what the SSID is.

You can connect provided you specify the network name (SSID), even if
that name is not displayed in the list of available networks.

Provided of course, security measures in place allow you to connect.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
The best defense against logic is stupidity.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:03:13 -0000, "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>out of interest how do you then connect the laptop if it cannot see the
>SSID?

As stated by a previous poster it's best not to do it. Leave the AP
broadcasting it's name and use WPA encryption with a decent (i.e.
complicated) key. SSID provides very little, if any, security benefit
and can considerably complicate things.

WPA provides a superb security benefit.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mike <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>
> out of interest how do you then connect the laptop if it cannot see
> the SSID?

Because *you* know what it is, and you *tell* it!
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005, Peter M wrote:

> On 25 Nov 2005 15:36, "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >If i buy a router is it not possible to stop the router sending out
> >this signal telling everyone that i have a wireless router?.
>
> It is possible to disable the SSID which is typically seen but you
> will see comments here and in uk.comp.home-networking about software
> (netstumbler ?) that will spot a wireless signal anyway, and to be
> frank, sending out that SSID will at least mean someone else will
> know that channel is being used

For what it's worth (which may not be very much), turning off the SSID
does not stop my AP from being visible in the laptop's wireless scan.
It just means that the SSID field is blank, and when I try to connect
to it "from cold", I'm asked to supply the SSID. (In practice, the
Windows software remembers the SSID in its profile, along with the
passphrase that I'm using for WPA-PSK. Similarly for the
wpa-supplicant daemon on linux.)

I'm assured that turning off the SSID is almost pointless, relative to
the other measures which I should take (and am taking), such as WPA
and locking the AP software to a few known MAC addresses. But if it
causes me little extra discomfort, I reckoned I might as well do it.

> so they should choose another, rather than have multiple signals
> going on the same channel (frequency), which can work, but possibly
> affect both of you with interference.

As I say: from where I'm sitting, turning off the SSID does not have
that effect. Are we talking about the same thing?

cheers

On 25 Nov 2005 17:35, "Alan J. Flavell" wrote:

>As I say: from where I'm sitting, turning off the SSID does not have
>that effect. Are we talking about the same thing?

We are, and I was going from memory and what I have read, but quite possibly
mistaken... you have at least one advantage over me as I have no wireless
kit here, at present, to experiment with, and it has been a while since I
helped friends with their networks. In any case, I see little point in
trying to make it invisible - just beef up security and the SSID may be
best used to let others know that channel has a user already. Peter.

--

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