Wireless Network Card Configuration

First off, as most of you are already aware, Wireless Network Access has been available in all of the clinics in the OPC on 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th and 7^th floors since 20 Feb 2003.

MAC Filtering (Disabled as of 05 Aug 2003)

MAC filtering has been enabled and you will not be able to access the network until your MAC number has been included in the MAC list in the Internet Gateway.

If you have already submitted your MAC no. to me (Kok Wah), you will receive notification when your MAC no. has been included in the list. If you do not receive any feedback within two working days, please inform me by phone and I'll try to get you online as soon as possible.

If you haven't submitted your MAC no. to me yet, what are you waiting for?

WEP Encryption

The trial for the use of encryption on our Wireless Network, carried out on Monday 24 March 2003, went on reasonably smoothly.

It was not completely without problems but nonetheless, it proved that the encryption system could be made to work. On the whole, I would say that the benefits outweigh the costs of implementation and as such, we will be implementing encryption from approximately 08:00 h Thursday 3 April 2003.

Here are some tips that may be of help to those encountering problems.

1. Many systems will automatically detect the available access points. if so, you should just select the one with the strongest signal.

2. If your system is unable to display the list of access points available when encryption has been enabled, then you will have to add to the list of profiles manually.
   To help you do this, you should note down the SSID of the current access points that gives you the best signal in each of the different locations that you frequently work. Note that the SSID's will be changed on 27 March 2003 to simplify the names and thereby reduce the chance of entering the wrong SSID's.
   You should then create a profile using the new names for each of the access points noted above.

3. If you are unable to log onto the access points even after selecting the appropriate access point based on your location, you should edit the profiles to enable 128-bit WEP encryption.

4. Before entering the code/key, ensure that you have selected the option to use hexadecimal characters as that is the form in which I will be giving you the key. In some computers this is done by entering a dollar sign ($), e.g. the Mac, or a "H" preceding the key per se.

5. Next, enter the key and you're done. Note that while most programs accept the key in both upper case and lower case, some are more particular and can only accept the key in upper case or, less commonly, in lower case. So if the key doesn't seem to work, first double check your entry. Next try the alternative case, that is upper or lower case, to make sure that yours is not one of those programs that can only accept the key in a particular case.

6. Please remember that the spaces or dashes between every 2 characters of the key are not part of the key and are just there to improve readability. Do not enter the spaces or dashes.

7. If there is provision to enter more than 1 key, only enter the first key, and leave the others blank.

I'm sure that some of you will encounter problems but I feel that this step is absolutely necessary to help keep intruders out of our network.

I have created a step-by-step guide with diagrams for Windows users which may be useful.

SSID and Channel No.

To rationalize the system, the SSID for the access point in the staff room has been changed and the Channel numbers for each floor has also been adjusted to reduce the interference from adjacent access points.

The SSID's will be changed to the following on 27 March 2003 to reduce the chance of wrong entries.
 

 

Hope that surfing from the clinics is a rewarding experience.