Disabling WEP wheb Adding a Dell Laptop to My Airport Network

[Thomas D. Kearns]

I was able to get the Dell working on my Snow Airport network but it 
required turning off encryption.  My questions:  how exposed am I with 
encryption off?  Should I return the Dell and get a different Windoze 
laptop?  I don't do my online banking using the Airport - I do it on 
the iMac attached to the Airport by ethernet.  I live in apartment 
building so neighbors will be able to use my bandwidth.  Is that the 
only downside?  I use the network for home e-mail and web surfing.


   I found this on the Dell website:

"Why can´t my Dell TrueMobile wireless card connect to an Apple® 
AirPort wireless access point or wireless router?        Some wireless 
manufacturers add features that go above and beyond the scope of the 
802.11 specification.

Some manufacturers add features to their devices to make them more 
secure or faster than the 802.11 wireless specification. In some cases, 
these specifications are not fully compatible with the 802.11 wireless 
specification or are proprietary and may have to be modified and/or 
disabled. When this occurs, you may be unable to establish a conection 
using your Dell TrueMobile wireless network card and your access 
point/wireless router.

  NOTE: 
When configuring dual band wireless access points, obtain 
separate names for each Service Set Identifier (SSID). If the SSID for 
802.11a and 802.11b are the same, the client wireless card will not 
associate to an SSID.

 Disable Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) on the Apple® AirPort.

Disable WEP encryption.

  NOTE: 
WEP encryption will not work with the Dell TrueMobile wireless cards 
and the Apple AirPorts. For more information about Apple AirPorts and 
disabling WEP encryption, refer to http://www.apple.com/airport/."