Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 15:24:40 GMT, "Gary" <GParent@rocketmail.com>
wrote:
>That's phenomenal. Would you say the unit can maintain a connection and is
>fairy free of drop-outs?
Apart from the cloaking issue (see below), the unit has worked
flawlessly for me. I have knowingly used it with Netgear, Linksys,
Belkin and Cisco APs.
It has no problem with either flavor of WEP. I have not tried it
with WPA and the Hawking provided Envara software (at least the
version I have) does not support WPA. However you can ignore it and
use WZC instead.
>Also, regards the SSID issue, have you played with settings on your client?
I have never seen a cloaked network in the wild ... I only discovered
the SSID thing because I am an engineer and I had a new toy. I tested
it in various configurations with my own Netgear equipment and then on
a friend's Linksys gear. I didn't try cloaking without WEP as I
figured that was a pointless combination that I would never run into,
but I did try both flavors of WEP. In every case the HWU54D worked
flawlessly as long as SSID broadcast was on and acted up if it was
off.
When the network is cloaked the unit repeatedly loses and regains the
association. It works fine for a couple of minutes, disconnects,
reconnects and then repeats the cycle again a couple minutes later.
This sounds a lot like either (A) unwanted beacon scanning, or (B)
failed 802.11 authentication, but it is neither. I don't let my
system scan normally ... I have multiple net profiles, one for
scanning open networks and one for each closed network I use. Each
closed profile is configured for a single prefered network so there is
no scanning once connected. I have 802.11 authentication disabled in
every profile because it's meaningless for an open network and none of
the closed networks I deal with use it. Also, both scanning and
authentication will afflict any connection and this only happens if
the network is cloaked.
I have Netgear (WG511T) and Linksys (WPC11) cards in addition to the
HWU54D. I have run them simultaneously with the Hawking unit and
neither card has any difficulty with cloaking (though it seems to
limit their range somewhat). The cards continue to work fine while
the Hawking goes into fits. Since all of them are configured the same
and only the Hawking has difficulty, I have to assume it's at fault
.... it's difficult to account for the difference in behavior
otherwise.
That said,
I don't think the HWU54D's difficulty with cloaking is a real problem
in practice ... I just reported it because you asked about warts and I
have no knowledge of your intended use ... it might be an issue for
you.
WRT more conventional use, cloaking is a questionable security measure
and is not compliant with the WiFi standard. If I were to run into
the problem in a legitimate circumstance, I would have a chat with the
network administrator.
George
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