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I find that my wireless connection slows down when I use WEP, WPA, WPA2 etc. encryption. I tried using just the MAC filter and the speed is good. Is MAC filter alone safe enough?

No. There is no encryption and its possible with the use of software to modify a MAC address.

The speed loss due to encryption shouldn't be that much.

I can't remember where I read it but WEP for sure and may be WPA too causes speed degradation on Wireless N setup. The recommendation is to use WPA2 and that has almost no effect.

WEP is what most people use, but it is very outdated and highly insecure. Any hacker can get through it in under 5 minutes. WPA also has security issues.

WPA2 is essentially the only secure encryption available, and the only choice you should make. Although it was recently shown to be hackable, it takes more effort and is reasonably difficult to do. It will keep 99% of the hackers out there out.

Performance declines with any encryption type, but it shouldn’t be perceivable to the user. It’s still very fast.

Kiddan, it is true that encryption introduce overhead which cuts down on your throughput wireless speeds, however as noted above, it shouldn't really be noticeable in a consumer environment. If you are really noticing it, maybe the router is defective or you are too far away from it.

Where is it in relation to you when you are using it? What model router and how old is the computer you are using with it? Just trying to gauge what technology you are connecting at be it b, g or n.

make sure you are using a newer cat5e cable between your modem and router.

If you are using an older cable, like a cat5 cable, you could see a slower speed that way.

When you hook your laptop up to the modem directly, do you still see the slower speed?

Edit,

When the laptop is hooked up to the wireless, what is the connection speed in the properties of the connection? you might connecting to the router, with wifi B and not G

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Pain is Temporary Pride is forever

I wouldn't worry about anyone trying to hack your WEP or WPA or MAC filtered router. There are plenty of open wireless routers around HV and HVE (my phone picks them up).

As for slowing of signal .. perhaps if you have a weak signal to begin with. Or using the 128 bit encryption versions (twice the overhead of 64bit versions).

I'd stick with MAC filtering and just watch your bandwidth usage. It should be enough deterrent for any wireless leeches.

Thanks all!

The speed is not considerably slow but still noticeable at times. I am connecting with G signal and the router is a year old linksys and is like 10ft away. Not sure about the cable as it has no markings on it but will prolly change it with cat5e soon...

MAC filtering isn't good enough... yes, you'll likely avoid having someone stealing your bandwidth, but it won't stop someone form stealing your personal information. Wifi isn't sent directly from the computer to the router in a straight line, its sent out in a nice circle kind of thing so anyone in range of your house can pick up what you're sending out. If they can pick it up they can see what you're sending and receiving without encryption.
So, you know that online banking you're doing? It's all sent out and can be viewed by someone with a little knowledge. Maybe it is paranoia, but I wouldn't rely on just MAC filtering. I used to use wep and mac filtering with my SSID broadcast turned off. I've eased up a bit and just use wpa now.

Online banking is already encrypted out the wazooooooo. All your router encryption is doing is encrypting something that is already encrypted (http://www.rbc.com/privacysecurity/ca/o ... urity.html).

You're right though, you can never be too safe. So use whatever you're comfortable with.

Here are a couple of hints I have been using to get a 300 mbps connection from my laptop to router...

1) Ensure that the 802.11 Mode of the router has a 802.11N mode selected. Also if you have issues with mixed mode, try locking the 802.11 Mode to either 802.11N Only or 802.11G/N.

2) If you are using encryption the router must be configured to use AES cipher. In some firmware versions/models, the only way to get the AES cipher is to run WPA2. If you can not select the Cipher, selecting WPA2 only will force this cipher type.

3) The channel width needs to be set to 20/40Auto, if it is not, the adapter will report a connection speed of 130Mbps.

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Pain is Temporary Pride is forever

Never underestimate the lengths a criminal will go through to mask their tracks. People can and do look for unsecured wireless connections to allow them anonymous access to the internet. Like you said, it’s as simple to do as driving around with a laptop waiting for the computer to report an open connection.

A few years ago, pedophiles in Toronto were found to be sharing the locations of unsecured connections on a web site. They would even spray paint a secret mark on the sidewalk near the house to alert other perverts. Then they would pull up in front of the home, and download porn off other peoples internet connections. You don’t want a cop seizing your computers so they can confirm if it was you downloading kiddie porn over your network.

It takes two seconds to determine what MAC addresses a router is looking for, and then spoof it. It’s a pointless security feature because it’s so easily defeated. WEP is also easily defeated using software readily available on the internet. WPA2 is the only option that offers a reasonable level of security.

I understand that, but you missed my point ... that there are plenty of wide open wireless connections all over Milton. Do you think someone is going to bother trying to brute force clone one of the few mac addresses in your filter or just drive a block further and hit up the completely open access point?

You don't need to run faster then the lion, you just need to run faster then something else it likes to eat.

It does not take much effort to switch from no encryption to WEP or WPA2 or from WEP to WPA2. So if some one is at it why not configure to use WPA2. It gives better security and generally better performance too.

Maybe someones bored, maybe its a teenager with nothing better to do, and maybe its a cheap neighbour who doesn't want to pay for internet access.
It really doesn't take much to clone a mac address, and it really doesn't take much for a home owner to add some sort of encryption to a router. I'm what I would consider to be an excessive net user. It is a rare occasion for me not to come very close to hitting my 60GB monthly download limit. A great deal of my bandwidth is being used by my wireless laptop and I don't see enough of a performance hit to justify not using some sort of encryption.

To each their own, I guess.