Need Encryption Set-up Advice

Hi, I orginally had a gateway router used with PC and laptop which quit
working after a couple years. I recently bought Lynksis Wireless-G broadband
router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
encryption set-up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set up.
Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself? I'm pretty novice. ISP
is SBC DSL. Can anyone guide me with set up? I'm positive SBC won' t offer
any assistance and not sure if Lynksis will. Thanks for any help! Much
appreciated! Lisa

"sacljr" <u19857@uwe> wrote in message news:5d808cc76eedd@uwe...
> Hi, I orginally had a gateway router used with PC and laptop which quit
> working after a couple years. I recently bought Lynksis Wireless-G
> broadband
> router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
> encryption set-up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set up.
> Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself? I'm pretty novice.
> ISP
> is SBC DSL. Can anyone guide me with set up? I'm positive SBC won' t
> offer
> any assistance and not sure if Lynksis will. Thanks for any help! Much
> appreciated! Lisa

Read the instructions you got with it as they give detiled information. If
you have no intention of learning then you might aswel pay.

sacljr wrote:
> I recently bought [a Linksys] Wireless-G broadband
> router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
> encryption set up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set [it] up.
> Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself?

Reminds me of an old joke. Guy drives into a mechanic's shop in a car
that's running like it's on its last legs. He asks the mechanic if he
can do anything, and the mechanic picks up a screwdriver, lifts the
hood, and gives a screw in the engine compartment a quarter-turn,
whereupon the car starts purring like a kitten.

"Gee, thanks" says the astonished driver. "What do I owe you?"

"That'll be $20" replies the mechanic.

"What? $20 just for turning a screw?" the driver protests.

The mechanic answers "No, I only charged you a nickel for turning the
screw. The other $19.95 was for knowing which one it was."

As for how this applies to your situation, well, it depends on how dirty
you're willing to get your hands (figuratively, of course). If I were
like you and I'd never done this before (by the way, does this mean you
*didn't* have encryption enabled on the router you bought this one to
replace? Shame on you!) I think I'd invest maybe one quiet evening
perusing the router's owner's manual and then perhaps taking a shot or
two at actually enabling encryption on the router and your computer's
wireless adapter to see if I could get it working before throwing in the
towel and calling in the geeks. I believe the odds are pretty good that
anyone smart enough to use a computer, and who can read at maybe an
eighth-grade level, can do it.

If you decide you'd rather pick up the phone and pull out the credit
card, well, it's your money, so it's your choice. Just remember that
you'll be paying the geeks that $160 not for actually turning the
screwdriver-or, more correctly, banging on the keyboard, but for
knowing-and having taken the time to learn-what to bang out.

Incidentally, the Geek Squad guy is right that you need to do this,
especially if you're going to use the router to access your broadband,
since anyone within range of your router can use your connection if you
don't. So if you decide you really don't want to slog through learning
how to do it yourself, it's best that you bite the bullet and hire the
job out. Either way, get it done *before* you fire up the router with
the broadband modem plugged into it.

Jonathan L. Parker wrote:

> Incidentally, the Geek Squad guy is right that you need to do this,
> especially if you're going to use the router to access your broadband,
> since anyone within range of your router can use your connection if you
> don't. *So if you decide you really don't want to slog through learning
> how to do it yourself, it's best that you bite the bullet and hire the
> job out. *Either way, get it done before you fire up the router with
> the broadband modem plugged into it.

I'd add the caveat that if they're not prepared to configure WPA (& then
tell you how to set your own keys), then you might as well not do it. WEP
is simply too easy to break.
--
derek

In article <5d808cc76eedd@uwe>, "sacljr" <u19857@uwe> wrote:
>Hi, I orginally had a gateway router used with PC and laptop which quit
>working after a couple years. I recently bought Lynksis Wireless-G broadband
>router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
>encryption set-up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set up.
>Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself?

No, the booklet that was included by linksys with your new WAP has pretty
good instructions on how to do this. In this case it isn't rocket science.

> I'm pretty novice. ISP
>is SBC DSL. Can anyone guide me with set up? I'm positive SBC won' t offer
>any assistance and not sure if Lynksis will.

Actually linksys is very helpful, but the wait on the phone is long. You
really can do this yourself. No need for a Geek nor do you need to become
one.

> Thanks for any help! Much
>appreciated! Lisa

First suggestion, just get everything wired up per linksys instructions (in
booklet) and make sure with no encryption that you have everything working.
Then once you have a good known point of reference, add in the encryption.
Note you do need to do this or have it done. Also make sure you alter the
pasphrase to log into the Wireless Router. At first it will be " admin ",
the reason is EVERY one who would want ot 'break' into your network knows
the factory default, so change it. Pick something easy for you to remember
or even jot it down somewhere that you won't misplace it (i used a sticky
note and have it taped to the bottom of my router).

The router can be contacted with your web browser, use an ethernet cable
- looks like the cord from the phone to the wall, but connectors on the end
are bigger - to connect to the router to do this stuff, at
http://192.168.1.1 leave the user name blank and put admin in for the
password.

Try it this stuff can be fun to learn, and vastly cheaper then Geek Squad.
Even if you mess this up, it is easy to undo and try again. Just follow the
instructions step by step.

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

"sacljr" <u19857@uwe> hath wroth:

>Hi, I orginally had a gateway router used with PC and laptop which quit
>working after a couple years. I recently bought Lynksis Wireless-G broadband
>router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
>encryption set-up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set up.
>Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself? I'm pretty novice. ISP
>is SBC DSL. Can anyone guide me with set up? I'm positive SBC won' t offer
>any assistance and not sure if Lynksis will. Thanks for any help! Much
>appreciated! Lisa

Actually, it's quite easy to setup. The problem is that you do have
to read the instructions. As others have mentioned, select WPA-PSK
encryption if possible.

Some Linksys models come with one-button setup (SecureEasySetup),
which takes care of the wireless setup if you have a compatible
wireless card. The instructions are in the setup guide that came with
your unspecified model Linksys router.

If you do elect to have the Geek Squad guy do the installation, be
sure to have him also upgrade the firmware on your unspecified router.
The models on the shelf a the store are often somewhat old firmware
and updates usually fix any firmware related bugs.

You will need to have your SBC DSL PPPoE login and password handy. I
get rather irate when the customer can't remember or find it and I
have to phone SBC support for a "password reset".

Light reading:

Linksys Secure Easy Setup
| http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

What you're actually paying the Geek Squad to do for you:
| http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

Also, if you go to the Linksys home page at:
http://www.Linksys.com
and dig through the "Learning Center" pull down near the top, there's
quite a bit of basic stuff that might be useful. You might wanna save
or print the acronym list at:
| http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper
to help decode the technobabble.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Rico" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eTATf.18$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <5d808cc76eedd@uwe>, "sacljr" <u19857@uwe> wrote:

> Also make sure you alter the
> pasphrase to log into the Wireless Router. At first it will be " admin ",
> the reason is EVERY one who would want ot 'break' into your network knows
> the factory default, so change it. Pick something easy for you to remember
> or even jot it down somewhere that you won't misplace it (i used a sticky
> note and have it taped to the bottom of my router).


Why do I want to change the "admin" password for the wireless router?
Because it can be broken into by someone physically at my keyboard or
because it can be broken into by a hacker? Where does the threat come from?

Von Fourche wrote:

>
> "Rico" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:eTATf.18$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In article <5d808cc76eedd@uwe>, "sacljr" <u19857@uwe> wrote:
>
>> Also make sure you alter the
>> pasphrase to log into the Wireless Router. At first it will be " admin ",
>> the reason is EVERY one who would want ot 'break' into your network knows
>> the factory default, so change it. Pick something easy for you to
>> remember or even jot it down somewhere that you won't misplace it (i used
>> a sticky note and have it taped to the bottom of my router).
>
>
> Why do I want to change the "admin" password for the wireless router?
> Because it can be broken into by someone physically at my keyboard or
> because it can be broken into by a hacker? Where does the threat come
> from?

Anyone who connects to your network.
--
derek

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 02:47:11 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless , "Von
Fourche" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Why do I want to change the "admin" password for the wireless router?

Its scary that people ask this question. Its like saying "why do I
want my own front door key?"

>Because it can be broken into by someone physically at my keyboard or
>because it can be broken into by a hacker? Where does the threat come from?

Because router default passwords are public knowledge, and therefore
anyone who connects to your router can hack into it. If its wireless,
physical access won't even be required.

Mark McIntyre
--

sacljr wrote:
> Hi, I orginally had a gateway router used with PC and laptop which quit
> working after a couple years. I recently bought Lynksis Wireless-G broadband
> router at Best Buy. The Geek Squad guy there told me I should have
> encryption set-up and they could come out to my house for $160 to set up.
> Would it be that difficult for me to set up myself? I'm pretty novice. ISP
> is SBC DSL. Can anyone guide me with set up? I'm positive SBC won' t offer
> any assistance and not sure if Lynksis will. Thanks for any help! Much
> appreciated! Lisa
I have found Linksys phone support patient and helpful and
generally, pretty knowledgeable. As another poster said,
sometimes you wait, but almost never more than 30
minutes....and it would certainly take me 30 minutes+ to
figure out whatever it is I'm asking them.

support is 24/7 and is one of the reasons I stay with all
Linksys products.

Louise