help securing my wireless broadband

E

ER9

i just bought a new laptop with vista home basic installed and a verizon wireless broadband card.

from my experience i know its very easy to access and use other peoples wireless connections and pc's from other pc's.

iv'e noticed that when networks are discovered they are either secure or unsecure. i'd like to secure my connection so noone can use it to access the web from a remote pc. i was hoping someone might be able to help with good advice from experience or provide me with a link or two that might be relevant that would help make my connection to the web as secure as possible.

i would use verizons help but its so vague its pretty much useless.

side note is that i bought this laptop and card to trade remotely so it will be used to access my trading account regularly.
 
Hi,

I also have verizon, and set up a wireless network a few months ago. After doing a lot of reading, there are a few things you should do that really will make it secure.

The main three things:
1) Use WPA if you can (WEP if WPA not available) (these are encryption codes)
2) Use a MAC filter for processes (basically the router will only connect to the MAC ID signaling from your PC)
3) Hide your SSID (that way, when people look for wireless networks, they won't see your ID).

Here's a link to get you started: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/wireless_secure.htm

You can also play with settings to make sure the signal shuts down after being idle a certain amount of time, etc.

Good luck (it will take some patience).

Also, if you're a verizon user, there should be a PDF manual that you can find online to match your router (which will show you how to do all of these things).

E
 
If you are using a Verizon Broadband card, then you are connecting directly to Verizon's PCS (EV-DO) network. Unless you enable the network sharing on this connection (in Windows) and route it to a wireless router, there is NO wireless network for others to use.

This is very different from setting up a Wireless B/G network with a cable or DSL connection.

You don't need to do anything (with your connection), just your usual anti virus, firewall, etc
 
Quote from Woz2000:

If you are using a Verizon Broadband card, then you are connecting directly to Verizon's PCS (EV-DO) network. Unless you enable the network sharing on this connection (in Windows) and route it to a wireless router, there is NO wireless network for others to use.

This is very different from setting up a Wireless B/G network with a cable or DSL connection.

You don't need to do anything (with your connection), just your usual anti virus, firewall, etc
More...

thanks for confirming that. iv'e been doing research from some of the links and started to realize it might in fact be two different animals. iv'e been poking around through the settings and disabled file sharing and made sure there were no share permissions for my wireless connection (as best i could figure out).

i was confused after buying my laptop because when i first started playing around with it and connection to the net, i thought those connections i was tapping into(unsecure networks) were just other peoples verizon cards (or similar). i didn't realize that they were wireless networks. gets a bit confusing.
 
speaking of broadband-

http://pressesc.com/01179677598_us_internet_slow

The average broadband download speed in the US is only 1.9 megabits per second, compared to 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in Sweden, 17 Mpbs in France, and 7 Mbps in Canada, according to the Communication Workers of America.
More...
"Equally disturbing, Americans pay more for slower connection speeds than people in many other countries," he added.
More...
 
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