Question : Urgent Need Of Adviice...IBM R32 Laptop Wireless Network Security...Help Stop PPL Piggybacking Me

Hi,  I apologise for the long question title, but this is urgent and i needed to catch the attention of anyone who knows anything about wireless networking and its security particularly on IBM Laptops.

Well here is the problem.  I have recently bought an IBM Thinkpad R32 Laptop.  For the simple reason of accessing the internet from other areas of the house as my son has a PC in his room with NTL Broadband and i decided to buy a wireless router and set up a network so i can share his internet connection.  Everything was fine and i have access to the internet without a problem.  The thing is im sure im being piggybacked and i had my neighbour/friend to use his up to date laptop with wireless networking and turned out he could access my network from his.  He has his encypted and therefore no-one can get in his without knowing the password.  He offered to encrypt mines also as i dont have a clue about routers.  He tried the different security settings but when he did, the network was no longer available from my laptop.

My question is, my laptop being an old thinkpad, although it does have wireless networking, does anyone know if my laptop is incompatible with the security encryptions?  This was the conclusion my friend came to as HIS laptop could still detect my network, allthough instead of it being unsecure like before, it was now showing up as WEP enabled, and the same with the other types of encryption we tried.  The problem is that the only time the network will show up on MY laptop is when he sets the router to non encrypted.  My friend has written this question on my behalf.

So does anyone know for sure if it is incompatiblle with these security encryptions as my friends laptop picks up the signal no-matter what encryption is used and mines only picks it up when the security is turned off.  If this is the case, are there any other ways of securing my network?  I would appreciate any response as i have no experience in these matters although my friend is sure that the IBM Laptop is incompatible with the encrypted security.

Thank you.

Answer : Urgent Need Of Adviice...IBM R32 Laptop Wireless Network Security...Help Stop PPL Piggybacking Me

Hi BRODDYVIPER,

Not all cards support WEP, so its possible that the card in this laptop does not. Its unlikely though, as its fairly standard these days... It could jsut be a driver issue.

Take a look at this page:-

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-42683

If you cannot get WEP Enabled on the laptop then you may have us use MAC Address Filtering to enable certain network cards to access your router. This feature is available is most routers, apart from really cheap ones. You dont mention your router brand so I cannot check. Enabling this (and adding your laptops MAC address to the Allowed list, will prevent anyone else from accessing your system, WEP or not. You'll have to add the MAC address of any other devices you wish to use your network though....

TBH WEP and Mac lockdown are not 100% effective, they can both be broken given anough time and determination but it should stop the casual piggybacker.



RM