how do I lock down the wifi network?

[gpg]

I just had fios installed today would like to upgrade the security to wpa or wpa2. Can someone please tell me the procedure on how to do this.

Thanks, Geoff

[tsauter1]

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@gpg wrote:

I just had fios installed today would like to upgrade the security to wpa or wpa2. Can someone please tell me the procedure on how to do this.

Thanks, Geoff

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There are 3 things you should do to "lock down" your network.

1. Change the default administration password. The default is password or password1.

2. Change the SSID and set to not broadcast.

3. Set the security to WPA-psk or WPA2-psk and pick a password key.

To do this, log in to the router by opening your internet program and type 192.168.1.1 in to the address bar. Type admin and the password into the login page. Once logged in, click on "wireless settings". Click on "basic settings". From there you can change the SSID and turn off WEP. Once that is done, click apply. Now click on "advanced settings".  From this page you can select your security type, set the password key (recommend a sentence that is easy to remember) and turn SSID broadcast off. You can also set mac filtering for extra security. When done click apply. You should be all set.

[jumpin68ny]

A few comments on your request. Tsauter had some good points but a few things to consider: The SSID name doesn't matter change it to something more meaningful to you. Some versions of windows (Vista) may not connect to an SSID that is not broadcasting. If you disable your SSID and can no longer connect to the SSID you will need to broadcast out the SSID. Disabling the SSID is NOT a method of security. Its very easy to connect to an SSID that is not broadcasting. WPA or WPA2 is the secure way over WEP. WPA2 is more secure. There are two encryption types: tkip and AES. AES is stronger and preferred to use over TKIP. MAC filtering is ok to use but anyone can spoof a MAC address. Is it ok to use, it may give a slight more protection. It MUST be used with WPA/WPA2 and AES/TKIP.

[tsauter1]

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@jumpin68ny wrote:
  The SSID name doesn't matter change it to something more meaningful to you. Some versions of windows (Vista) may not connect to an SSID that is not broadcasting. If you disable your SSID and can no longer connect to the SSID you will need to broadcast out the SSID. Disabling the SSID is NOT a method of security. Its very easy to connect to an SSID that is not broadcasting. 

MAC filtering is ok to use but anyone can spoof a MAC address. Is it ok to use, it may give a slight more protection. It MUST be used with WPA/WPA2 and AES/TKIP.

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What you say is true and that is why I put locked down in parenthesis. You can never truly lock down anything. You can only make it more difficult to connect. You are correct that disabling the SSID is not a security measure per say, it makes it more difficult for a casual user to find your network.

I personally have never had any problems connecting to a non-broadcasting network with a Vista machine. The most that has happened was I had to turn SSID broadcast on to initially build the network profile and then could turn it off and connected fine.

[gpg]

Thanks for all the responses. I think I am going to use a different router.

[jumpin68ny]

No matter which brand of router you decide to use remember the wireless security is all the same.