Security with wireless

I hope this is the correct group to be posting this question. I have
a Compaq WL510 and some WL110 compaq wireless cards. The system
worked fine, running without any security at all. The range of the
system was also very good, running this way.
Then i decided to run some security on the system, and entered a WEP
code. However, i immediately noted that the range of the system, and
the speed, degraded tremendously. I did not know why, until i
recently read an article about WEP encryption and the corresponding
disadvantages, including reduced range and speed.
So, now i'm searching for a better combination of security settings.
Ones that will give me ample security for the system, and at the same
time not degrade the system as with WEP.
Does anyone have some suggestions for this hardware package?

I'm puzzled about why WEP would reduce range. Can you provide a URL to this
article?

WEP may affect speed if the encryption is done in the host driver, and the
host has a slow cpu. This is more likely to be a problem with older 802.11b
equipment. Most recent 802.11g/a chipsets do WEP encryption in the chipset
itself. The new 802.11i security standard, soon to be approved (WPA is an
intermediate step to 802.11i), supports AES encryption, which is also
typically implemented in the chipset for 802.11g/a. AES would make a huge
dent in host compute if it were not.

I think the WL110 card is basically Orinoco Gold. There may be a firmware
upgrade to move encryption out of the driver - you should Google the net for
hits on Orinico Gold and WL110. Or, you could upgrade to 802.11g, or at
least an 802.11b using a newer chipset. Equipment using newer Broadcom or
Atheros chipsets should do the trick - I'm using DLink DWL-AG650, but
Netgear and others make similar products. Last option would be to either
upgrade your client PCs, or significantly reduce workload, if that's a
factor.

If you don't want to make any hardware changes, you could look into setting
up a VPN, but that is complicated, requires a VPN access server, and still
does RC4 encryption on your client PCs.

"TheStranger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I hope this is the correct group to be posting this question. I have
> a Compaq WL510 and some WL110 compaq wireless cards. The system
> worked fine, running without any security at all. The range of the
> system was also very good, running this way.
> Then i decided to run some security on the system, and entered a WEP
> code. However, i immediately noted that the range of the system, and
> the speed, degraded tremendously. I did not know why, until i
> recently read an article about WEP encryption and the corresponding
> disadvantages, including reduced range and speed.
> So, now i'm searching for a better combination of security settings.
> Ones that will give me ample security for the system, and at the same
> time not degrade the system as with WEP.
> Does anyone have some suggestions for this hardware package?

>WEP may affect speed if the encryption is done in the host driver, and the
>host has a slow cpu. This is more likely to be a problem with older 802.11b
>equipment.

I want to be clear that I have old eqipment and a slow CPU with no WEP
range problems. Or speed problems for that matter. WAP11 version 1.0
and WPC11 version 1.0 cards, both the oldest models. 200Mhz Dell
notebook. This setup way exceeds the 2Mb cable broadband connection
that I have. THE OP most likely needs new firmware and drivers which
are easy to get and install.

Right. I only mean to say that if you experience this, you are probably
using old 802.11b gear combined with a slow cpu.

"AndrewJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> >WEP may affect speed if the encryption is done in the host driver, and
the
> >host has a slow cpu. This is more likely to be a problem with older
802.11b
> >equipment.
>
> I want to be clear that I have old eqipment and a slow CPU with no WEP
> range problems. Or speed problems for that matter. WAP11 version 1.0
> and WPC11 version 1.0 cards, both the oldest models. 200Mhz Dell
> notebook. This setup way exceeds the 2Mb cable broadband connection
> that I have. THE OP most likely needs new firmware and drivers which
> are easy to get and install.

Hello, as i was attempting to set up a netgear wlan card (ma101) i
looked for hints on the netgear page. I found this information there
when searching for "ma101 wep key". Hiere is the link to the page
where you can following the entry:
http://kbserver.netgear.com/query.id...Form=query.htm

I've now turned off wep in my network and in fact the range is much
better! So, does anyone know why? And, more importantly, how can i
enable another security measure that does not reduce my range?

"gary" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<GRjNb.7986$(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> I'm puzzled about why WEP would reduce range. Can you provide a URL to this
> article?
>
> WEP may affect speed if the encryption is done in the host driver, and the
> host has a slow cpu. This is more likely to be a problem with older 802.11b
> equipment. Most recent 802.11g/a chipsets do WEP encryption in the chipset
> itself. The new 802.11i security standard, soon to be approved (WPA is an
> intermediate step to 802.11i), supports AES encryption, which is also
> typically implemented in the chipset for 802.11g/a. AES would make a huge
> dent in host compute if it were not.
>
> I think the WL110 card is basically Orinoco Gold. There may be a firmware
> upgrade to move encryption out of the driver - you should Google the net for
> hits on Orinico Gold and WL110. Or, you could upgrade to 802.11g, or at
> least an 802.11b using a newer chipset. Equipment using newer Broadcom or
> Atheros chipsets should do the trick - I'm using DLink DWL-AG650, but
> Netgear and others make similar products. Last option would be to either
> upgrade your client PCs, or significantly reduce workload, if that's a
> factor.
>
> If you don't want to make any hardware changes, you could look into setting
> up a VPN, but that is complicated, requires a VPN access server, and still
> does RC4 encryption on your client PCs.
>
> "TheStranger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> > I hope this is the correct group to be posting this question. I have
> > a Compaq WL510 and some WL110 compaq wireless cards. The system
> > worked fine, running without any security at all. The range of the
> > system was also very good, running this way.
> > Then i decided to run some security on the system, and entered a WEP
> > code. However, i immediately noted that the range of the system, and
> > the speed, degraded tremendously. I did not know why, until i
> > recently read an article about WEP encryption and the corresponding
> > disadvantages, including reduced range and speed.
> > So, now i'm searching for a better combination of security settings.
> > Ones that will give me ample security for the system, and at the same
> > time not degrade the system as with WEP.
> > Does anyone have some suggestions for this hardware package?