Battleangel | Personal

Since I was rambling on about how WLANs needed to be secured, I decided to put my money where my mouth was and do the same locally. I.e. turn to WPA (instead of just WEP) and to disable SSID Broadcast. Two very easy ways of making Wardriving and such a whole lot harder.

Also, for the first time, I noticed another WLAN network in the neighbourhood. What do you know. Of course, that network ran in open access mode as far as I could tell.

And another thing, after enabling WPA I have noticed a couple of reboots on the dreaded Dlink 624 access point / router. Will have to keep my eyes on this. Since I have already turned off most of the unneeded features, and gained a measure of stability, the only solution if the problem persists will be to demand a replacement unit. Better late than never.
Never really understood why the unit is so flaky. Some have suggested a power deficiency. A bad transformer line. As I stated before, I turned off logging, turbo and turned down the WAN speed to 10mbps (from 100mbps). All are changes that would most likely decrease the pressure on the unit’s processor and the power drain. Go figure. Since the unit is operating 24/7 for weeks at a time, I can easily detect reboots and other inconsistencies. But after said changes, I’ve noticed nothing out of the ordinary. In fact the unit has been rock steady.
But since Dlink has a new 108mbps model out, I’m inclined to pressure them for a new unit. Wait and see.

Also, I’m still pondering bigger antennas. The signal strength is fine as it is but it can never hurt to extend the range and transmit capacity a bit.