Wireless Internet connections...good bad or indifferent?

[Cyndie]

Recently got a laptop with wireless internet connectivity, of course this is right after the office was wired with cat5 cables...but the porch wasn't and long hours make the porch a great retreat. The wireless works well there, because I can still plug it into the wall for power, but don't need an ethernet cord for net access.

However, the guy who installed it said something about encrypting it, so not everyone in the neighborhood could hook into it, and a friend said that he could walk all over the area and find a wireless connection.

Are they secure enough for regular use for gaming? Or should I just give up the porch for anything but email, and use a regular ethernet cord at other times?

[lorinda]

Is this part of your "extensive research"?

Lori

[stripsqueez]

i have been wireless for about a month now - everything gets done whilst i play - sitting on the porch, making dinner, ironing shirts for work, going to the toilet - it all happens while i play - i can no longer imagine life without wireless internet connection

i am computer illiterate but was also strongly advised to do the encryption thing which i did - cost me very little in addition to the other stuff i needed - i was ensured that there was now no security problem

[Cyndie]

Well Lorinda, it is usually the case that we have already done the research and know a lot of the answers or where to get the answers, before we start to ask questions in public.

The techie we had install this suggested the encryption, and since not everyone does know, this is a way of passing on information, while getting some more.

Would you like to know that the encryption is frequently the phone number of the office or residence, and that it is used to stop just the things that were mentioned...having other people pickup on your connection.

However, it usually works better to share information when you ask questions to see what people know or want to know, before sharing what you have learned. It has a name too...it is called Socratic method. Has been around for a while. Might work, who knows.

[yct]

You can configure your wireless card/router to 128 bit encryption. It is not very easy to crack.

[Guy McSucker]

Switching on the 128-bit encryption (using WEP, wireless encryption protocol I suppose) shouldn't be too hard to set up and will prevent people from easily connecting to your wireless network and/or seeing the data you're sending and receiving.

WEP encryption can be cracked in about ten minutes by someone that really wants to break it though (I believe the 128-bit keys are not really 128 bit, so it's easier than it sounds). Still I would switch it on if you can. Why not?

As for security while playing poker, this is going to be okay anyway. The data you send and receive from your computer to the poker server is encrypted anyway, so even if someone can intercept the data, they can't find out what cards you're holding, what your login password is, etc. WEP would just add a second layer of encryption while the data flies between your laptop and the wireless router. Once it gets out onto the big bad internet, where presumably there are more crooks than there are within 50 metres of your porch, the WEP encryption will have been stripped off and we're back where we started.

Hope that made sense.

Guy.

[Cyndie]

Wonderful post, but are you selling wireless routers, or laptops, or electrons?

Thank you, the tech who set up the connection for me knows all sorts of stuff about computers, but he didn't explain the poker stuff as well as you did.

[jek187]

[ QUOTE ]
However, it usually works better to share information when you ask questions to see what people know or want to know, before sharing what you have learned. It has a name too...it is called Socratic method. Has been around for a while. Might work, who knows.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find "Hey guys, here's what I know:" to be an effective method of sharing information.

[Cyndie]

Would you agree that the sun will be up tomorrow, at least very probably?

Or would that be making an unwarraned assumption that you could find fault with if you didn't happen to like someone?

[lorinda]

Would you agree that the sun will be up tomorrow, at least very probably?

Yes, although that is based on my beliefs, which are in turn based on my experience.
If I were to read a post by you explaining that the sun was coming up tomorrow, I would have to wonder how much you wanted for this information and also modify the probability of it happening downwards by an appropriate percentage.

Finally I would search all my old posts and probably find that you had got the information from me in the first place and had now found a way to market that information.

Lori

[Cyndie]

Maybe the price would be worthwhile.

But you flatter yourself, unless you can come up with some examples of where you have donated all this information or it has been taken, we would appreciate it if you would cease using the same trite accusations.

However, thank you for your tribute to marketing skills, but your judgement is clouded by hatred, so it lacks impact.

[jek187]

[ QUOTE ]
Or would that be making an unwarraned assumption that you could find fault with if you didn't happen to like someone?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the post I made I had nothing to do w/unwarranted assumptions (there weren't any) or my like/dislike of you (of course, that heavily leans towards dislike.)

It was merely a caustic way of pointing out that your posts are too damned long and convoluted. So, instead of all the obtuse question asking, just state what you want to state. This should help you some. Also, once you've finished writing a post, proof read it, then shorten it by 50%. This will help make your posts a lot more coherent.

[Cyndie]