I work at a "Verizon" store and I spent 30 minutes of my afternoon today watching two co-workers waste a woman's time trouble shooting her mifi. Since I'm new they think I don't know anything so I acted as such. The issue seems rather simple but I would like some clarification on a couple of things.
First off, the default security passcode printed on the back of her device was 14 digits in length. Her laptop isn't the newest and runs XP. Attempting to connect to the Mifi using xp's wireless utility generated an error stating the passcode was incorrect and needed to be either 10 or 26 digits in length.
My question here is what is the default security mode for the Mifi's wireless signal? Also is a manual configuration sometimes needed depending on the pc's OS and wireless card?
I was also wondering if configuration of the Mifi is possible via the usb cable?
From what I can tell the answer is no but I hope I'm wrong.
Sickboy254698 wrote:
My question here is what is the default security mode for the Mifi's wireless signal? Also is a manual configuration sometimes needed depending on the pc's OS and wireless card?
I was also wondering if configuration of the Mifi is possible via the usb cable?
Hello,
To answer your questions:
1. Default security mode of the MiFi 4510L is WPA2 Personal
2. Manual configuration should not be necessary unless her wireless adapter is out of date. Any device which can establish a connection to a B/G/N router will be able to connect to the MiFi right out of the box.
3. No. Configuration of the MiFi is not possible with a USB cable. The USB cable is for firmware updates only. You will not be able to communicate with the MiFi through a USB connection. Some threads have layed out steps to help people work around this feature to both charge and use the MiFi from a USB cable. The actual connection when going through this workaround is still via wireless, but the USB cable will provide a power source to charge the device simultaneously.
One more comment from your post:
Wireless passwords are goverend by the Wireless Security mode of the wireless device, not the computer or its software. Hence a WPA2 connection will require 8-63 characters in length for a password. WPA and WEP have different requirements. If the user is being prompted to enter 10 -26 cahracters to connect to the MiFi the requirement is not coming from the MiFi itself.
The simple answer is they were trying to configure the computer using WEP encryption (based on the length of the passkey) and the MiFi is WPA2 Personal. XP requires you to choose the encryption method; no sensible computer does; the computer should ask the router. Macs and later Windows computers don't ask; they know.
PDCLarry,
Im curious where you are being prompted to enter the Wireless Security mode with your WinXP machines.
Whenever I try to connect to a new hotspot all I do is go through the "view available wireless networks" icon in the system tray. From there I select the new SSID from the list and try to connect. XP prompts you to enter the Wireless Password (2x) and if you are successful then the connection is complete. Even with WEP mode enabled you are not required to define the Wireless Security mode. All you need to know is the Wireless Password that you configured on the MiFi and it will work.
The MiFi has two different WEP security settings, neither of which have a requirement of 10 or 26 character length passwords. The low end WEP requires 5 characters and the high end WEP requires 13. Perhaps we can both agree that there is no advantage to using WEP over WPA or WPA2. Unless your computer cannot connect to a WPA or higher networks you should never use WEP security.
I meant to come back to this thread sooner.
I can now see what PDCLarry was talking about in his post. Older versions of XP had more rigid requirements for connecting to wireless networks. If anyone experiences this problem in the future they should try to update to SP2 or greater before connecting to the MiFi.
My freshly reloaded (no Service Pack) XP desktop had the same issue when connecting to my home wireless network. I had to download the service packs on a different computer and transfer them via USB to my laptop to get it updated.
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