[P1] OT: Setting up Public Wi-Fi

[Mike Beede]

On Mar 12, 2004, at 11:50 AM, Harry D.Corsover wrote:

> On Mar 12, 2004, at 12:31 AM, Nikon's World wrote:
>
>> You probably don't have much to worry about but if you want to be on 
>> the safe side simply change the network name and password and stop 
>> the the router from broadcasting the SSID.
>
> Are there generic instructions about how to do this? In case it 
> matters, I use an SMC Barricade 2804WBR ("extreme"). It's probably not 
> an issue, since we are on two acres, set back from the road quite a 
> bit, and someone would have to drive or walk a few hundred feet up our 
> driveway or up a pretty steep hill to get near enough to the house to 
> get a signal. File sharing is not enabled, and Panther's firewall is 
> enabled.

Your SMC probably has a page in the management interface that allows
you to set the network name.  I don't see any advantage to changing 
that.
It also has someplace to set the WEP key.  That's what the writer
meant by "password."  If you haven't enabled WEP, do so.  You'll need
to either make up a passphrase or a string of hex digits (digits drawn
from the set "0123456789abcdef").  Each machine that uses the network
needs to have the key or passphrase set into it.  Be aware that when
you enable encryption you will lose your wireless connection to the
router until you enter the key in your computer.  If you didn't write
down the key you may have to do a factory reset on the router.  Don't
forget to write it down.

	Mike Beede