WPA Vs WEP

[Jimb0]

Hi there,

Just got myself a wireless broadband router, I'm looking at configuring the
security & I'm not sure whether to use WEP or WPA (I understand WPA is more
secure). I would like to try online gaming again- I was wondering whether
there would be any difference in ping times to internet game servers if I
use if I use WPA over WEP, has anyone got any experience of either of these?

TIA

Jim

 

[Christo]

Hi there,

Just got myself a wireless broadband router, I'm looking at configuring
the security & I'm not sure whether to use WEP or WPA (I understand WPA is
more secure). I would like to try online gaming again- I was wondering
whether there would be any difference in ping times to internet game
servers if I use if I use WPA over WEP, has anyone got any experience of
either of these?

TIA

Jim

not got much experience of it, but i wouldn't have though ping times would
suffer, at least not that noticeable

 

[Vanguard]

Hi there,

Just got myself a wireless broadband router, I'm looking at
configuring the security & I'm not sure whether to use WEP or WPA (I
understand WPA is more secure). I would like to try online gaming
again- I was wondering whether there would be any difference in ping
times to internet game servers if I use if I use WPA over WEP, has
anyone got any experience of either of these?

TIA

Jim

There are already hacking tools to crack WEP. However, if you use WPA,
it can be cracked more easily if you use the PSK (a public key that
sticks around for a long time) by sniffing out the key using the
hacker's wireless access point. So don't use PSK. Use WPA with 802.1x
authentication or EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol, but which has
problems, too; see
http://www.networkmagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=17200257).

Both WEP and WPA utilize encryption, so the performance penalty is
having to do the decryption. See
http://expertanswercenter.techtarget.com/eac/expertAnswer/0,295208,sid63_gci994921,00.html.
You need to benchmark with whatever wireless equipment YOU have to see
how well the hardware vendors implemented encryption. Others that have
tested network performance between WEP and WPA have noted there is
always degradation in performance and WPA is worse (because it is
potentially more secure); for example, see
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2172 under the "Network
Performance" section.

Security has its costs but is usually cheaper than the lack of security.

 

[kony]

Hi there,

Just got myself a wireless broadband router, I'm looking at configuring the
security & I'm not sure whether to use WEP or WPA (I understand WPA is more
secure). I would like to try online gaming again- I was wondering whether
there would be any difference in ping times to internet game servers if I
use if I use WPA over WEP, has anyone got any experience of either of these?

TIA

Jim

try it both ways... probably won't make a difference but if
you're REALLY interested in lowest ping then don't use
wireless at all.