WIFI Issues

Recently, one of friends told me that his Internet speed seems to be crawling. He's connecting to the Internet using wireless adapters and routers, ie, a home wireless network.

This is what I've found out from him.

1. His SSID was set to 'broadcast'. This means that any nearby wireless systems can pick up this WLAN easily.
2. There was no encryption. Not even WEP. (security protocal to block foreign users of ur wifi)

I can almost conclude that someone had been piggy-backing/stealing on his bandwidth downloading Porns LOL. I rectified by telling him to enable WPA encryption. (Job done. Speed is now back to normal.)

For wireless users, please take note of the following:

1. Since most access points or routers have an administrator password, use it. This is the login when u try to access your router. Don't use the default. Change it to something else, anything but the default.
2. Do not broadcast your SSID.
3. Use WPA encryption if possible. Note that not all hardwares support WPA. If yours don't, use WEP. It's better than none.
4. Use MAC filtering and limit network access to only your systems.
5. This is not the best solution, but limiting your network's transmitting power DO help.
6. Disable remote administration. I'm not sure about cable, but if you are a Streamyx user, you can limit login to only a single user at any time.
   

This is what I know but please refer to your respective hardware manuals for more information.