Hi,
Is my understanding correct that pure 802.11b cards are supposed to support WEP and not WAP encryptions?
TIA, Eugene
Hi,
Is my understanding correct that pure 802.11b cards are supposed to support WEP and not WAP encryptions?
TIA, Eugene
It's a firmware update to WPA (Presuming you meant WPA and not WAP).
Wrongo. I think you mean WPA. There's nothing inherent in 802.11b that will prevent implementing WPA.
WPA encryption was designed to act as a temporary fix for the key exchange problems in WEP. It's primary design criteria is that it involved no hardware changes and minimal software changes. In theory, every card going back to the stone age of wireless that can do WEP should be able to also do WPA. The problem is that many vendors do not find it profitable to update firmware and drivers for cards they are no longer selling. Therefore, you should be able to get WPA on any currently sold devices, but will probably have trouble finding native WPA drivers for older cards.
There's also the problem of memory space on older cards. WPA requires
802.1x authentication which may not fit in the memory space available in older cards.In addition, note that there's no requirement that WPA be implemented in the card driver. There are various external programs that implement WPA including Wireless Zero Config for XP.
Yes, I meant WPA.
Jeff,
After I had problems with my Linksys WMP11 card I replaced it with Edimax EW-7126. This card "Supports 64/128-bit AES/TKIP/WEP Data Encryption function ...".
Please pardon my ignorance but does "TKIP" mean it supports WPA? If yes, is it the same "flavor" of WPA that is supported by my Linksys router (BEFW11S4 ver. 4 / original firmware)?
TIA, Eugene
Jeff,
Thank you very much for the reply.
What is the relationship between TKIP (that my hardware/drivers supposedly have) and WPA-PSK?
I read
Also I have Windows 98SE (not XP) on the desktop with Edimax card.
TKIP:
The 1.52.02 version of the BEFW11S4v4 firmware only supports TKIP key exchange. Although it's listed as an option, TKIP is the only choice. For a home system, I suggest you use WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) as anything else requires a RADIUS server for the 802.1x authentication.
Well, I don't know if I can simplify the various protocols but I'll try.
802.11 is nothing more than encapsulated ethernet (802.3) packets. Under the 802.11 stuff is just plain old ethernet.Everything is wireless is bridging with no IP addresses or routing involved.
WPA is a collection of protocols that defines how encryption takes place over 802.11 wireless.
WPA requires 3 underlying protocols:
For home use, the RADIUS server for authentication is impractical so WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) was invented. The pre-shared key is used for both encryption and authentication.
Jeff,
You did it beautifully. Thank you.
Eugene
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