Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (
More info?)
"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote in message
news:esrgf099cf2h7ci3rorbbd046asoohn631@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 18:45:29 GMT, "gary" <pleasenospam@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Ain't it the truth. But if D-Link does any WEP testing at all, they'd
have
> >to break things the same way on routers and clients in order for WEP to
> >appear to work at all.
>
> Wrong. DLink gets their hardware and software from multiple vendors.
> Zcom, Bromax, Nihon Dengwa, ad nausium. Just go to the FCC ID web
> pile and stuff in a few prefixes used by DLink. They even have
> multiple vendors for various mutations of the same product. (Don't
> ask me how the FCC allows this manner of creativity without
> recertification). Anyway, there's plenty of potential for creativity,
> divergence, and the infamous regression testing.
Yes, I know, didn't say different. My DI-774 router is such a beast. What I
meant was that, *if* ASCII key entry is seriously broken on the G650 client
card, then *if* they do any interoperability testing with routers they
market (whoever manufactures them), I would expect the G650 to fail unless
the routers are using the same data entry interface, broken in the same way.
How else would both sides end up with the same WEP key, if one of them uses
a seriously broken input method?
Wi-fi Alliance certification also involves a certain level of inter-vendor
interoperability testing, but I doubt if ASCII key entry is involved (basic
WEP functionality certainly is).
>
> >Since my AG650 also works with a friend's Netgear
> >router, using a variety of direct-entered ASCII keys, I'm guessing that
> >ASCII key entry is probably okay, and someone in Mumbai over-interpreted
a
> >troubleshooting database item.
>
> They're not outsourced. They're employees of DLink in India:
>
http://www.dlink.co.in/dlink/Contacts/branches.htm
>
http://www.dlink.co.in/dlink/Corporate/employment.htm
>
http://www.dlink.co.in/dlink/software/job.htm
But they probably work in Mumbai. In any case, it's a Hong Kong outfit, so
in a sense, the whole company is outsourced. Along with several other
low-end commercial vendors. Nothing wrong with that, so long as everyone in
the company pulls their oars in the same direction (and at roughly the same
time).
>
> Support may actually be correct. I vaguely recall walking a customer
> though a WEP setup using a Linksys something router and an HP laptop
> with a Centrino incantation. WEP would work, but only if I used a
> hexadecimal key. This was before the various wireless updates from
> Microsoft and before several Linksys firmware updates, so I'm fairly
> sure it was fixed long ago. However, it just proves that it can
> happen.
Yup, it can. But if there were major problems, I would think I would have
run into them. I've used my AG650 against a bunch of different routers using
WEP ASCII key entry. I'll bet the config utilities for G650 and AG650 are
nearly identical, except for the 802.11a-related stuff.
Of course, Netgear released a USB router that wouldn't remember WEP
configurations across reboot. Which proves that these vendors don't invest a
lot of money in testing.
>
> >Their coders are at least as likely to get display-hex/binary conversion
> >wrong.
>
>
> --
> # Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
> # 831.336.2558 voice
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> # jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> # 831.421.6491 digital_pager jeffl@cruzio.com AE6KS