Problem with Netgear Router

ahll

yes I am sure I have put the identical password in...

ssis broadcast is not disbaled
I am not sure what mac address filetring is ?

Is that the list you can have with the Mac addresses in it..if so I have added my laptops into that list

Chippy_Minton

See if Connecting to Wireless Networks with Windows Vista helps.

albertross_2

Id try disabling the mac address filtering, just in case that is the problem,

ahll

thanks alot albertross for your time and patience. I entered the details again in the Mac Filter and this time it let me connect...phew

I assumed it was better to use the mac filter as doesnt that means it is more secure so other people can't just connect items to my network ?

Chippy_Minton

MAC filtering is 99% redundant if you have WPA-PSK encryption as they have to guess/work out your network key first.

albertross_2

As Chippy says, the security is coming from your encryption, it is a good idea to have a wpa key of 20 characters or more, and not a dictionary word btw, but I won't complicate things now it's working.

Mac address filtering would stop 99% of the public getting into your network, but all someone has do to override it is sniff what your mac address is out of the airwaves, run a program to spoof your mac address, and they are in. But wpa stops that, and it stops people sniffing your emails and surfing habits out of the air.

ahll

ok thanks all I will leave it like it is at the moment as it seems to be as secure as I can make it without buying a new router.

ahll

Or should I Disable SSID broadcast ? However when I do Diable SSID I loose connection as I can't see the connection anymore. How can you do this so you are still connected ?

ahll

No it defo doesnt work..when I de-select the Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID) and apply. Then the connection on my laptop is lost. There is nothing appearing in the 'Network and Sharing Center' screen (Vista) and when I try to connect to a network of course my doesnt appear in the list to connect to.

So I dont understand how to get my laptop re-connected to my LAN ! Can anyone explain this to me ?

albertross_2

There is a setting somewhere in the vista wireless to connect to non broadcasting networks.

Also see the bit beginning with assuming here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2471408&postcount=37

once you tell it to connect to your ssid when within range, it will remember it whether it is broadcasting or not.