Stephen, Very useful post. Thank You!
jack Stephen Gornick wrote: > I read a WPA "Need-To-Know" article here: > http://www.tomshardware.com/network/20030710/index.html > > Definitely worth visiting ... 18 pages long though. > > Some interesting items include: > > ------------- > "WPA = 802.1X + EAP + TKIP + MIC" > > ------------- > "And that puts [WPA-PSK] far ahead of > WEP as far as I'm concerned, because it's > so simple that people might actually use it!" > > ------------- > "When I tried to get the Linksys WPC11v3 > to talk to the Belkin AP with WPA-PSK > enabled, the AP locked up, requiring a > power cycle to reset it. " > > ------------- > "Manufacturers are putting their primary WPA > efforts behind their current-generation 802.11g > and a/b/g products. " > > "WPA upgrade support for older products is > not guaranteed. Manufacturers' commitments to > providing the upgrades vary widely, with > timetables tending toward later rather than sooner." > > ------------- > "In the short-term, if you want to avoid hassles and > extra cost with WPA, your OS better be WinXP." > > ------------- > "Client adapters have not required firmware > upgrades and became WPA-capable by just > upgrading their drivers using the normal Windows > driver upgrade process." > > ------------- > "No mixing allowed! It appears that the APs > that I looked at don't support WEP and WPA- > enabled clients simultaneously." > > ------------- > "No AdHoc support. WPA currently supports > Infrastructure mode only, with AdHoc mode > support delayed until WPA2. The larger > impact of this missing feature may be on wireless > Ethernet bridges like the Linksys WET11 and > WET54G, which perform some of their more > useful tricks in AdHoc mode. " > > ------------- > "Conclusion: > "The good news is that, when it works, > WPA is vastly more secure than WEP, and > a hell of a lot easier to use, especially in the > consumer-friendly Pre-Shared Key (WPA- > PSK) mode. > > "The bad is that if the present trend continues, > many WLAN owners may have to abandon > their older products and purchase all new > goods in order to enjoy the benefits of WPA. " -- Jack Unger, President-Wireless InfoNet ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 818 227-4220 Vendor-Neutral WISP Training - http://www.ask-wi.com/2002workshops.html Author - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs" <http://www.ask-wi.com/book.html>
