dsl wireless options

p2p

Feel free to move this but i think irelandoffline users would be interested also ...

I have a couple of questions regarding broadband
setup when i get it installed ..

1.) What is the best dsl modem/router to buy if i want to set up a wireless network in my house with 2 or more pc's both running windows 98

2.) What is the best netword card to get for the machines?
I have heard there is a difference between a network card for a LAN and one purely for a dsl modem.

3.) If i buy a certain standard of wireless router/network card eg T-10, should i really buy a T-100/ gigabyte ethernet card in case eircom ever decide to upgrade their service to 1MB/s or 2MB/s?
(i know its unliklely)

4.) Is it hard to set up a wireless network in the house once i have all the correct hardware installed?

5.) I have heard of conflicts between the wireless network and an any analogue walkaround phone you might have in the house. Is this true?

6.) What are the security implications of wireless? How good is the encryption etc. Does it use 3DES/AES?

DMT

This has "move me to Nets/Comms" written all over it.

Dustaz

I know someone with i-stream multi and a wireless router installed. According to him the biggest issue he has is security with it. He shares the connection with his neighbours because he cant stop them sharing it. Or something like that, i was a little worse for wear when he was telling me this


This is more a broadband post.

longword

Originally posted by Dustaz
I know someone with i-stream multi and a wireless router installed. According to him the biggest issue he has is security with it. He shares the connection with his neighbours because he cant stop them sharing it.

Putting some locks on it is dead easy. All the wireless cards and APs out there support WEP in either 40-bit (AKA 64-bit) or 104-bit (AKA 128-bit) strength. Now they kinda messed up the spec for WEP so it's really not secure at all against someone with a bit of skill, but it's rare to find such people in the neighborhood. Just turn on 40-bit WEP using a shared password, configured on both the AP and your client machines, and you're probably Secure Enough. There are lots of other strategies if that doesn't work - many APs support restricting access to a handful of listed network card numbers (MAC addresses), and turning off ESSID broadcasting for example.

longword

Originally posted by p2p
1.) What is the best dsl modem/router to buy if i want to set up a wireless network in my house with 2 or more pc's both running windows 98

Lots of choices out there, even all-in-one devices that operate as your DSL modem, connection sharing router, and wireless network access point. On the DSL side just make sure they support G.dmt and PPPoE. This model from SMC for example might be to your liking. Most companies tend to separate it out into two devices - one a ethernet ADSL modem, and the other the router/sharing/wireless access point. That way the ADSL modem could be easily swapped out later for a Cable modem or some future broadband technology.

2.) What is the best netword card to get for the machines?
I have heard there is a difference between a network card for a LAN and one purely for a dsl modem.

No difference. If you have a wireless DSL router/access point, all you need in your PCs is a wireless network card. You might like to consider a USB one rather than PCI - easier to install and easier to position it for better reception. Just make sure the wireless NIC conforms to same spec as the access point. If you want to go the wired route, any old 10/100 NIC will do.

3.) If i buy a certain standard of wireless router/network card eg T-10, should i really buy a T-100/ gigabyte ethernet card in case eircom ever decide to upgrade their service to 1MB/s or 2MB/s?

All the ADSL modems you see for sale now are good to at least 8Mbits/sec G.dmt standard ADSL download speeds. However it's likely that any future increase in speed, beyond the 1Mbit Eircom offer today, will use a different technology like a VDSL type thing which would require a different modem. If your modem is built into your access point, that might mean mothballing the modem/router/AP, but it'll still be perfectly good as a simple wire AP.

4.) Is it hard to set up a wireless network in the house once i have all the correct hardware installed?

No. If Mac users can do it, you can do it.

5.) I have heard of conflicts between the wireless network and an any analogue walkaround phone you might have in the house. Is this true?

There are three major wireless network standards - 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. 11b and 11g both live in the same part of the radio frequency spectrum around 2.4GHz. Some cordless phones do operate in the same area though many use 900MHz instead. Microwave ovens and bluetooth (the latest Must Have feature on GSM handsets) also operate in this frequency range. However wireless NICs are designed to deal with interference gracefully and I've never had much of a problem with it. In the setup you can select between over a dozen different channels within the 2.4GHz spectrum. One of them is bound to work for you. You can operate up to three, maybe four different 802.11b/g access points within range of each other.

802.11a operates above 5GHz and doesn't have much competition up there, though a few countries operate high power military radar up there.

6.) What are the security implications of wireless? How good is the encryption etc. Does it use 3DES/AES?

See above post. The encryption is based around RC4, the same algorithm used to secure much https web traffic - but it's badly implemented and fairly easy to hack if someone's bored/interested enough to sit outside your door long enough to sniff a gigabyte or so of traffic. If security really bothers you, look for VPN functionality in your wireless router/AP.

Coyote

Originally posted by p2p

1.) What is the best dsl modem/router to buy if i want to set up a wireless network in my house with 2 or more pc's both running windows 98

most people get a DSL modem/router and then get a wireless network base station
but there is one or two DSL routers/Wireless stations which would do both.

2.) What is the best netword card to get for the machines?
I have heard there is a difference between a network card for a LAN and one purely for a dsl modem.

any 10/100 network should do the job some are better than others. ie 3com/intel are better than "so cheep we don't have a name" network cards.
you will have to plug in your DSL in to the ADSL router and then your network cards plug in too a hub/switch (most dsl routers have small hub/switch bulit in to them)

3.) If i buy a certain standard of wireless router/network card eg T-10, should i really buy a T-100/ gigabyte ethernet card in case eircom ever decide to upgrade their service to 1MB/s or 2MB/s?
(i know its unliklely)

any network card you buy will have more speed than eircom ever
give internet access. there is no way you would need a gigabyte card. eircom = 1mb. network card = 10/100mb. wireless network card = 11mb (max)

4.) Is it hard to set up a wireless network in the house once i have all the correct hardware installed?

should not be too hard as long as you have all the right hardware.

5.) I have heard of conflicts between the wireless network and an any analogue walkaround phone you might have in the house. Is this true?

yes and no. 99% of the time you should not have any conflicts
but some wireless home phones use the same 2.4Ghz as 802.11b (the wireless network band) and can be a problem.

6.) What are the security implications of wireless? How good is the encryption etc. Does it use 3DES/AES?

WEP and you should use it at all times.
use not run a unsecured wireless access point.
you might never have a problem but your a lot less lighty to have one if your running with WEP on
(to crack WEP takes a good bit of skill and time)
if your running a bussness and want to be total safe you can run VPN over your wireless network (over kill in your case i would say)


you need a dsl modem that has
PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE, RFC 2516)
G.dmt (ITU G.992.1)
NAT might be usefull for your network

I hope that helps a bit


Coyote

p2p

Thanks for the advice guys

I think i'll go with 1 non wireless T-10 network card
1 wireless network card

and something like the Netgear Wireless Dsl Modem Gateway which has VPN support built in..

Then as i get more pc's/laptops in the house i'll just fit em with a wireless network card and add it in..

zz03

Originally posted by longword
Putting some locks on it is dead easy. All the wireless cards and APs out there support WEP in either 40-bit (AKA 64-bit) or 104-bit (AKA 128-bit)

Just like closing the 3 digit combination lock on a crappy plastic suitcase!

To open, you can try every combination from 000 to 999 manually.

Cracking crappy encryption systems is less laborious, because you can usually get software to "try out the combinations".

AirSnort typically takes about a second to crack WEP once it has listened to traffic exchanges in the background for a while.

You (or your neighbour*) can download AirSnort here. An alternative is WEPcrack.

The alternatives to WEP is either a WLAN that (preferably) supports AES or creating a VPN connection over your WLAN (using at least 3DES) or both.

zz..

PS "Neighbour" could be someone living several kms away from you if you use a directional antenna

longword

Originally posted by zz03
AirSnort typically takes about a second to crack WEP once it has listened to traffic exchanges in the background for a while.

A little propaganda control is required here I think. From the AirSnort introduction:

AirSnort requires approximately 5-10 million encrypted packets to be gathered. Once enough packets have been gathered, AirSnort can guess the encryption password in under a second.

5 million packets is roughly the same as the entire monthly cap of the I-Stream Multi package. Now ask yourself who's gonna be bothered listening to you for a month, dedicating a PC, wireless hardware, and a directional antenna to the task. Then ask yourself how silly they'll feel if you change your WEP password every month.

Yes if you're running a business and you have business sensitive information going across the air it would be prudent to use a cryptographically strong VPN. But for the rest of us it's probably not worth the effort.

zz03

AirSnort can crack a password with as little as 100 Mb of data analysis if the attacker is lucky.

People can make up their own mind what security they need if they are given the options.

They know their neighbours best. Someone who uses Linux as a firewall on an old machine could easily run AirSnort in the background at zero cost or inconvenience for as long as it takes to "do the job". On the other hand, the neighbours might be computer phobic OAPs.

People also know the value of the material on their HD and the sensitivity of their e-mails.

Nobody will bother trying to break the combination lock code on a suitcase that has a few pairs of jeans and a teashirt. On the other hand if it is full of €500 notes......!


zz..

longword

Originally posted by zz03
AirSnort can crack a password with as little as 100 Mb of data analysis if the attacker is lucky

If the attacker is lucky, the WEP password will come to him in a dream and he'll just type it in straight off without any of this AirSnort messing