Belkin Wireless Router F5D7234-4-H - Manual (Page 52)

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Wireless G Router
sections table of contents 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 6
UsInG THe Web-based adVanCed UseR InTeRfaCe
encryption Keys
After selecting either the 64-bit or 128-bit WEP encryption mode, it is
critical that you generate an encryption key� If the encryption key is
not consistent throughout the entire wireless network, your wireless
networking devices will be unable to communicate with one another
on your network and you will not be able to successfully communicate
within your network�
You can enter your key by typing in the hex key manually, or you can
type in a passphrase in the “Passphrase” field and click “Generate” to
create a key� A hex (hexadecimal) key is a combination of numbers and
letters from A–F and 0–9� For 64-bit WEP, you need to enter 10 hex
keys� For 128-bit WEP, you need to enter 26 hex keys�
For instance:
af 0f 4b C3 d4 = 64-bit WEP key
C3 03 0f af 0f 4b b2 C3 d4 4b C3 d4 e7 = 128-bit WEP key
The WEP passphrase is NOT the same as a WEP key� Your Router uses
this passphrase to generate your WEP keys, but different hardware
manufacturers might have different methods on generating the keys�
If you have multiple vendors’ equipment in your network, the easiest
thing to do is to use the hex WEP key from your Router or access
point and enter it manually into the hex WEP key table in your Router’s
configuration screen�
Wi-fi Protected access ™ (WPa ™ )
WPA is a new Wi-Fi standard that was designed to improve upon the
security features of WEP� To use WPA security, the drivers and software
of your wireless equipment must be upgraded to support WPA� These
updates will be found on the wireless vendor’s website� There are two
types of WPA security: WPA-PSK and WPA2�
WPA-PSK uses what is known as a pre-shared key as the network
key� A network key is basically a password that is between eight
and 63 characters long� It can be a combination of letters, numbers,
or characters� Each client uses the same network key to access
the network� Typically, this is the mode that will be used in a home
environment�
WPA2 ™ requires Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for encryption
of data, which offers much greater security than WPA� WPA uses both
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and (AES) for encryption�