Password vs Passphrase vs Key1

Merry Christmas. Let confusion reign, forever and ever.

That's for WEP. Don't use WEP encryption. Set it to WPA2/AES and use a pass phrase (like in more than one word) that's longer than 8 characters and reasonably obscure.

Yep as in "encryption key". The names change to confuse the innocent.

No.

It will be entered on each client once, when they initially connect to the wireless router, and their operating system of choice asks them for a "pass phrase" or "key"

Sigh. Don't use WEP.

My normal WAP54 setup is just MAC filtering.... But with various friends over, wanted to make it easy without adding a bunch of MACs. The oldest Dell laptop WiFi client, and lowest common factor was WEP so that's what I config'd -

Now I see that the passphrase info sharing only really is used in the NON-WEP protocols, which is why I was confused between the syntax when just using a simple WEP

The biggest burden of MAC filtering is on the router owner who enables it, as you've probably discovered. The people he's trying to keep out are able to get around it quite easily.

MAC filtering offers minimal security because the MAC addresses in use are easily sniffed.

If you buy a router that offers "guest access", the guest problem will be easily solved. The catch is that the traffic for the guest accounts is NOT encrypted.

Sigh. What OS is it running? If it's XP or above, the WPA/WPA2 encryption is handled by the operating system driver.

Correct.

I added a new Blu-ray player to the mix. I wasn't looking forward to keying in the passphrase via remote control.

The Blu-ray player suggested that I push the WPS button on my router, something I had never done before. Walk down the hall, push the button, the Blu-ray player was connected before I got back.

A little more physical effort, but easy to do, easy to understand.

And in some cases, a giant security hole.

That is what I read. If so, is there a way to disable the WPS button? My new router has such a button - which I have not used.

Place the router in a location that is not physically accessible to anyone who shouldn't have access?

The security flaw is the PIN.

Thank you. That is helpful. My router (Netgear WNDR3700) has no way to disable the WPS. Is there something I could do about the pin to improve security? I believe there is a way in the router's software to disable the WPS pin. Would that be sufficient or make things worse by not even needing a pin?