Proper Wifi Config?


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Well, in order to do that, you'll need to know how many g rated devices will be connecting to it, (you'll be surprised art how many new devices still use wireless g)

on my e4200 I've left channel width on mixed for both bands

disabled ssid (optional) and manual disabled wps

only have my ps3 and 4 on the 5ghz via a bridge

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Well, in order to do that, you'll need to know how many g rated devices will be connecting to it, (you'll be surprised art how many new devices still use wireless g)

on my e4200 I've left channel width on mixed for both bands

disabled ssid and manual disabled wps

only have my ps3 and 4 on the 5ghz via a bridge

I have ps4, iPad 2, iPad 3, wii, amazon fire tv, ATV 3, iPhone 4, Lumia 920, 1 HP laptop, 1 Toshiba laptop. I have an ip assigned to everything on the network. I really don't mind just putting my fire tv and ps4 on the 5ghz and leave everything else on the 2.4. That being said still disable ssid and how do u manually disable wps?

Thanks

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I always just set mine to auto.  I live in the middle of nowhere, and the only other broadcasting device within range is my CB radio which broadcasts at ~27 Mhz instead of 2.4 Ghz, so it hasn't caused any issues with interference.

 

Mine does not have a 5.7 Ghz section since mine is just an E-800, but as a general rule of thumb, unless you are having problems with interference, I just leave it all at auto.

post-125978-0-46384300-1404781359.png

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I always just set mine to auto.  I live in the middle of nowhere, and the only other broadcasting device within range is my CB radio which broadcasts at ~27 Mhz instead of 2.4 Ghz, so it hasn't caused any issues with interference.

 

Mine does not have a 5.7 Ghz section since mine is just an E-800, but as a general rule of thumb, unless you are having problems with interference, I just leave it all at auto.

attachicon.gifwifi.png

Oh, ok so leave both 5 and 2.4 to auto. Interesting

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a lot of the factory settings don't need adjusting, unless you have a problem which needs a little fine tuning, leaving it on auto doesn't seem to affect anything in my house, and there's heavy wireless trespass in my house from up to 6 houses away, (some people have bt home hubs and they have some good signal in my house lol) and I still haven't needed to adjust anything beyond hiding my ssid and turning off wps :)

(personal choice on the ssid thingy)

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Oh, ok so leave both 5 and 2.4 to auto. Interesting

Obviously if you have problems you can try manually setting it to one channel or another after verifying what channel is quietest, like Texas mentioned in his post, but generally speaking yes I just leave it all on auto because I'm not close enough to any other access points to have to worry about it.

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Does hiding the ssid cause connection issues? Or once your connected your good?

once you're connected, you're good, no worries (it's just a 'peace of mind' safety measure so you don't show up on other people's wifi (or potential hackers, although if they're determined, they'll still get in, kinda like the car security argument, if they want in bad enough, they'll get in)

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I wouldn't bother with a auto channel setting for 2.4Ghz, there's only 3 usable channels (1, 6 and 11) so just pick one (Unlike 5Ghz that has 23 non-overlapping channels so any one is fine)

Does hiding the ssid cause connection issues? Or once your connected your good?

It does nothing for security and can actually make your network more visible and use battery power up in portable devices (Because it causes them to probe for the network)

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It does nothing for security and can actually make your network more visible and use battery power up in portable devices (Because it causes them to probe for the network)

Um, not when already paired, my devices have shown no difference in battery performance, ssid on or off...?

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get inssider see where the least amount of traffic/interference is and config accordingly

inssider doesn't distribute a free version anymore :( but it's good advice. just find an alternative channel scanner

 

Does hiding the ssid cause connection issues? Or once your connected your good?

Um, not when already paired, my devices have shown no difference in battery performance, ssid on or off...?

 

hiding the SSID is non-standard and should never be used. Usually the router broadcasts the name, so any clients can try to connect only when the hear the network in range. But if you hide it you force the client to constantly yell out on the off chance that the router is available and listening. This means not only at your own home, but at work, at school, at the park, and on your way everywhere. You're making your device literally yell out your home network name everywhere you go, instead of keeping it in one location where it actually exists if you just let the router broadcast the SSID. If any additional battery drain is noticeable at all, it'd be noticeable when you're nowhere near your network.

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inssider doesn't distribute a free version anymore :( but it's good advice. just find an alternative channel scanner

I use WiFi Analyser on my phone, works pretty well.

 

hiding the SSID is non-standard and should never be used. Usually the router broadcasts the name, so any clients can try to connect only when the hear the network in range. But if you hide it you force the client to constantly yell out on the off chance that the router is available and listening. This means not only at your own home, but at work, at school, at the park, and on your way everywhere. You're making your device literally yell out your home network name everywhere you go, instead of keeping it in one location where it actually exists if you just let the router broadcast the SSID. If any additional battery drain is noticeable at all, it'd be noticeable when you're nowhere near your network.

Exactly, and as a side affect the probes the devices send actually include the SSID of the hidden network, so people on the bus next to you could learn your network name (not that knowing the network name actually helps, which is why hiding it in the first place is pointless)

It's like putting a bit of tape over your house number, people still know you're there and can still workout who you are (But it doesn't mean they can unlock your door, analogies!)

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Turning off SSID broadcast is only a pain in the butt for you when you need to add more devices to your network (or guests). Having it set to disabled is not a "peace of mind" or security measure as any device that has connected to it will broadcast the name when looking for it. For some devices it also causes connection issues.

 

I would say if your area is less trafficked then you'll be fine on leaving it on Auto for channel width. Disable WPS as mentioned.

 

Besides that, set it and forget it is the name of the game when it comes to any router I consider being "good".

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Oh its great to see all the FUD smashing about hiding your SSID.. Music to my ears!!  Likes all around for people that chimed in about that FUD that will not DIE!!

 

It really should be removed as option in the firmware, it is NOT part of the standard and sure and the hell does nothing for security - as stated it can make your ssid even more spread around.

 

There is never a good reason to not broadcast it..  Make it unique and ambiguous if you don't want the people around you knowing its yours.  But there is never a reason to not broadcast it.

 

What do you think draws more attention - car driving around without plates or one that has them like every other car ;)

 

If you want to do it - fine, but when people ask about wifi tips, please leave that part out.. Is NOT doing anyone any good continuing to recommend that nonsense.

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Oh its great to see all the FUD smashing about hiding your SSID.. Music to my ears!!  Likes all around for people that chimed in about that FUD that will not DIE!!

 

It really should be removed as option in the firmware, it is NOT part of the standard and sure and the hell does nothing for security - as stated it can make your ssid even more spread around.

 

There is never a good reason to not broadcast it..  Make it unique and ambiguous if you don't want the people around you knowing its yours.  But there is never a reason to not broadcast it.

 

What do you think draws more attention - car driving around without plates or one that has them like every other car ;)

 

If you want to do it - fine, but when people ask about wifi tips, please leave that part out.. Is NOT doing anyone any good continuing to recommend that nonsense.

Ok, I didn't realise I was doing that, to me it seemed like good common sense, My home wifi is set up mostly the way I've read from your posts, the superhub operating only in modem mode, my router doing all the wireless work, the bridge connected as a 5ghz receiver then running wired to my devices I didn't want on my 2.4ghz band.

 

There are companies what would suggest, even recommend hiding ssid broadcast, so I assumed there must be a good reason for that and came to my own conclusions, Even after reading what I have read in this thread I'll be keeping mine hidden, none of my devices have any trouble connecting the way it's set up, so if it aint broke.... (I turn off the wifi on my phones when leaving the house so I'm ok there)

I am happy to take back what I've said earlier about the ssid broadcast purely as in the past if someone needed wifi help, I recommend they look into your post history as you've probably already addressed their issue in the past.

 

 

 

OP, the ssid broadcast, that's up to you if you wish it disabled, turns out I was misinformed about it, and if I've left confusion in your mind about this, I apologise, in my attempt to help I may have inadvertently hindered, sorry.

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Yeah anyone telling you that is full of it.. What companies are these???

Here is a quick little sample of what I mean. That you not hidden, and devices broadcast for their networks all the time, be it hidden or not..

post-14624-0-03282600-1404854610.png

See the Ryan SSID there - that was hidden, and then from someone connecting to it, that was searching for it - hey figured out what its ssid was. See all the ones on the bottom. Those are ssids that devices in the area are asking about, etc.

I have to run for beer time - but pictures are worth a 1000 words.. Here grab this FREE tool https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/wlan-software/wlan-scanner-acrylic-wifi-free/

Take a look see at sniffing wifi in your area, etc. Guess what your going to see your "hidden" wifi without any issue ;)

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Yeah anyone telling you that is full of it.. What companies are these??? ;)

Was in the instructions of a old belkin I used to use, (I don't remember if it was an old g or n model as I threw them away years ago) I vaguely remember something in the instruction leaflet recommending setting up a password then hiding the ssid (or words to similar effect)
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Again its FUD!!!  Yes the wireless routers recommended it, they put in the feature that should never even been put in.  Yes they spread FUD..

 

As to your comment that its not broken - I disagree, your just hurting your own performance and ease of use of your own network for nothing. Its bad practice period = broke!  You may turn off your wifi when your out of the house - I really really doubt that to be honest.  Does every device that has ever connected to you turn off their wifi?  You do know every device in your house while your using it is now probing for it so vs just the 1 AP sending out a beacon you have every wireless device that has ever connected to that network sending it out in probes like very 60 seconds.

 

Is it easy for people to connect to your network and put in a psk, or to have them manually create a network and put in all the info?  And then tell there system - I don't care what the specification says, connect anyway - what do you think that little check box is?  Windows 8 even warns you that its a privacy concern connecting to non broadcasting ssids.  Here is MS statement on it

 

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http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-are-the-risks-of-connecting-to-a-hidden-network

 

Since a hidden network doesn?t broadcast, your computer can't find it, so the network has to find your computer. For this to happen, your computer must broadcast both the name of the network it's looking for and its own name. In this situation, other computers ?listening? for networks will know the name of your computer as well as the network you?re connected to, which increases the risk of your computer being attacked. Whenever possible, always connect to wireless networks that are set to broadcast and have some form of security.

--

 

Its your network - all I can do is try and stop the FUD from spreading ;)

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Again its FUD!!! Yes the wireless routers recommended it, they put in the feature that should never even been put in. Yes they spread FUD..

As to your comment that its not broken - I disagree, your just hurting your own performance and ease of use of your own network for nothing. Its bad practice period = broke! You may turn off your wifi when your out of the house - I really really doubt that to be honest. Does every device that has ever connected to you turn off their wifi? You do know every device in your house while your using it is now probing for it so vs just the 1 AP sending out a beacon you have every wireless device that has ever connected to that network sending it out in probes like very 60 seconds.

Ok point one, I apologised for my mistake.

Point 2, this is reading a little like a personal attack as in essence you just called me a liar, I have admitted I was mis informed and apologised, I don't appreciate being called a liar, I happen to get bery ocd about some things, my wife could confirm this if she were a member here, and it's bothering me because you happen to be one of a handful of people here I do look for when I need advice, I do turn on and off my wifi on my device as needed, as a truck driver, I turn off all radios on my phone if I feel I'm running the risk of a dead battery (I still don't charge devices unless they're dead)

And to show you how quick it is for me to do so, here a screenshot from my phone, I slide down, I press a button, done.

post-354816-0-17317400-1404913051.png

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"I don't appreciate being called a liar"

Was not calling you a liar, and I apologize if you took it that way - just that it is unlikely anyone remembers to turn off their wifi every time. You never leverage a wifi at a pub or restaurant if cell signal is low or to save your dataplan usage? Really? Not calling you a liar, just what the vast majority of people do.

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Very well, I apologise for my misunderstanding

~snip~

~snip~

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you guys as well, if I was out of line in my replies.
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