[Nottingham] Wireless routers

[Alan Pope]

On 21/10/05, Ashley <ashley.arb at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am looking for advice and recomendations regarding wireless routers.
>  It is to be installed in an old three story house (solid walls) and
> needs to be powerful enough to reach all rooms.  I have never used a
> wireless network before.
>

Ooo, from the way you describe it, it sounds like you might get
reception problems in various parts of the house.

> I am a rather concerned about security.  What security features should
> I look for?
>

WPA or WPA-PSK, forget WEP.

> What is the best wireless secuity setup that can be used with XP home?
> (not my choice!!!)
>

Depends what the router will support, and the cards/drivers in the
Windows boxes will support. This is often detailed in the spec on the
back of the box for most wireless kit.

> Can I block access to all but specified mac addresses?
>

You can, but it's not very secure. WPA is the best of the bad bunch of
wireless security tools built into cards.

You can also setup a secure vpn over the wireless network which would be secure.

Cheers,
Al.