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Toshiba encryption options

My new Toshiba L35-S2171 laptop uses a built-in Atheros wireless LAN card. The Toshiba manual says there are two encryption options

- WEP and AES. Of course, the manual may be out of date, but if it's correct, isn't TKIP missing? I ask because I still haven't chosen a wireless router, and wonder is this should influence that choice. I had tentatively decided on a Buffalo router, but have a vague recollection of seeing somewhere that the Buffalos don't do AES so well. I don't want to be stuck with WEP.

Reply to
Peabody
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Peabody hath wroth:

Muddle. WEP is an encryption method, that's not very good. The corresponding authentication (open or shared) is equally insecure.

WPA is the replacement. The original WPA can use TKIP or AES for encryption. It can also use PSK (pre-shared key) or RADIUS for authentication. There are also an ever growing list of EAP (extensible authorization protocols) for authentication. If you make a complete list, there are about a dozen possible combinations of encryption and authentication.

Yes. Make sure your router supports WPA-PSK with TKIP encryption as that's the most common protocol. For additional security WPA2 with AES and at least EAP-TLS.

Well, I'm tinkering with a WHR-HP-G54 using DD-WRT v23 SP2 firmware. No problems. It has an unusual mode that will support WPA2 with a mix of TKIP and AES, as well as a mix of PSK and RADIUS authentication. It also does a mix of TKIP and AES for just WPA.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Well at this point the problem is that the client card on the laptop appears to support WEP and WPA-AES, but not WPA-TKIP. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's what the manual says. So I just wanted to be sure the router would support WPA-AES since the only alternative appears to be WEP.

Reply to
Peabody

Peabody hath wroth:

So much for the manual. You're right. It doesn't make sense to have AES but not TKIP.

If it will WPA-AES, it should be able to do WPA-TKIP. Nobody makes a client card that only does AES and not TKIP. Same with the wireless router. Check the available settings on the Toshiblah L35-S2171. I can't find anything specific about the model Atheros MiniPCI card used in this laptop.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Ok, thanks for your help. At the moment the computer is giftwrapped, and won't be available to play with till the

25th. So I'm just working with the manual I downloaded from Toshiba.

I went ahead and ordered the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router from Buy.com. I signed up for Google Checkout, which provides a $20 discount on this item. So the net cost, with the free/slow shipping option, was $41.50. I think that's $10 less than the non-HP router at Best Buy, so it seemed like a really good deal. Then I have to decide whether to flash dd-wrt. Probably won't to start with.

Reply to
Peabody

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