Setting up wireless security - help needed

[Solent]

I got a brand shiney new F2S Billion wireless router for Christmas!

Unfortunately it has been driving me up the wall ever since. I can get a wonderful, clear, easy wireless connection to my laptop. However, as soon as I try to apply wireless security it starts going wrong.

I'm trying to apply WPA PSK encryption. When I put the passphrase into my laptop to connect to the network it just repeatedly tries to connect. Initially it says it has connected and is acquiring network address. However, it immediately disconnects again and then gets into a cycle of connecting and disconnecting.

I've double and triple checked that I've typed the passphrase correctly and tried a few different phrases. I've checked that Windows wireless networking is correctly set to WPA PSK and TKIP.

Both laptop and desktop (connected via LAN) running Windows XP.

Any ideas gratefully received.

[BroomFondle]

I don't know this particular router but I've found that wireless products from different vendors are very fussy about playing nicely with each other.
Even from the same vendor wpa can be tricky.
Does your setup work with simple WEP shared key?
Have you got the latest firmware/utilities for both ends?

[Solent]

I am using a different make of wireless card in the laptop - it's an Edimax.

WEP does exactly the same thing, though. I wonder if I've got a setting wrong somewhere?

[Solent]

Thanks for the help - I've managed to get some WEP encryption going now and I'm happy enough with that (combined with MAC filtering it should be ok).

[atsw]

I would tend to suspect the wireless card in the laptop. You say you’ve got it working with WEP and MAC filtering, so you’re in good shape now from a security point of view, but WPA is the better option in the long run.

If you can get your hands on another wireless card (from a friend perhaps?), see if the WPA works with that. The router you have is a good model, so unless there’s a fault (which seems unlikely given it’s working with WEP), the finger of suspicion has to point to the laptop card, or more likely, the firmware it’s running.

Andrew

[Doug]

Originally Posted by BroomFondle

Have you got the latest firmware/utilities for both ends?

At the bottom of F2S's sheet of A4 that came with my Billion 7402VGL Router is the warning "Please do not update the firmware on this router as the firmware currently loaded is specifically designed to work with our service."

Has anyone ignored this? If so, with what consequences?

[woooshuk]

I have ignored it with no consequences.

Now running Firmware 5.04i

[atsw]

Originally Posted by Doug

At the bottom of F2S's sheet of A4 that came with my Billion 7402VGL Router is the warning "Please do not update the firmware on this router as the firmware currently loaded is specifically designed to work with our service."

Has anyone ignored this? If so, with what consequences?

I suspect they say that because uploading new firmware on most routers wipes out any existing settings. Thus, it wouldn’t re-connect after the upgrade – hence problems to sort out for the support crew – solution, tell people not to alter anything .

Andrew

[John R]

Originally Posted by Doug

At the bottom of F2S's sheet of A4 that came with my Billion 7402VGL Router is the warning "Please do not update the firmware on this router as the firmware currently loaded is specifically designed to work with our service."

Has anyone ignored this? If so, with what consequences?

That will be because they come preconfigred with your username and password, so they really are plug and play, once networking in..

The problem with upgrading firmware is that it will wipe all these settings out, so unless you are the sort of person who makes a hard copy of such details.......
You can guess the rest.....

I find a screen grad of each page is a good idea, even if its just saved to disk for future reference

Moral of the story is ALWAYS print off a hard copy of usernames and passwords..... Store it somewhere safe, that you can remember.. In the manual is a good idea..

[woooshuk]

The only thing my Billion came preconfigured with was the F2s VoIP service, not my username etc.

When you upgrade the firmware you lose the Freedom2phone settings.

There have been a number of issues with older firmware that have recently been resolved in the latest release. If you are advised not to upgrade how can these be addressed? One main issue being CLID now works.

[Solent]

Has anyone successfully used the Billion router with a VOIP service other than F2S? (Sorry, I feel a bit heretical asking...)

I tried using the setting for the free trial from www.sipdiscount.com but couldn't get it to work. Don't know much about it - I just copied and pasted the various bits into the boxes for Line 2. It never registers.

[woooshuk]

Yes, both Sipgate and Plustalk.

You can get lots of information on this router here.......

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/


It is a fairly common router in AU.

[Doug]

Router BiPAC 7402VGP supplied by F2S

Originally Posted by woooshuk

I have ignored it with no consequences.

Now running Firmware 5.04i

I am curious to know where you found Firmware 5.04i, as I have just downloaded the latest version from http://www.billion.com/support/download/fd/fd9.htm, which seems to be BiPAC 7402VGPAv504c.zip containing BiPAC 7402VGPAv504c.afw, whereas what I have been supplied with (pre-loaded) is version "5.04d F2S".

(Earlier I mistyped BiPAC 7402VGP as BiPAC 7402VGL, but it is the BiPAC 7402VGP that we are all talking about, I think.)

[woooshuk]

5.04i has been released to the Australian market and it resolves all the issues they have been complaining about.
There has been much discussion about using this firmware in the U.K. but there appears to be no country specific issues.

It can be found here with a list of what it addresses.

http://www.billion.com.au/support/bipac7402vgp.php

The main thing being, Caller ID now works and there is an improvement in the PSTN sound quality.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by woooshuk

(clipped) 5.04i has been released to the Australian market and ... there appear to be no country specific issues. It can be found here with a list of what it addresses.

http://www.billion.com.au/support/bipac7402vgp.php

Caller ID now works and there is an improvement in the PSTN sound quality.

Thanks - just what I was looking for - most helpful.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by woooshuk

5.04i has been released to the Australian market ... (clip) ... no country specific issues.

I have upgraded my Bipac_7402vgp firmware to 5.04i and it all has gone OK, except that when I try to make any change whatever to Config/Time Zone, I get a 'page not found' error and am marooned in the longitude of Sydney, Australia and altogether unable to set it up for London, UK.

I suppose I could edit the backup file and then restore from that?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by woooshuk

5.04i has been released to the Australian market and ...clip... there appear to be no country specific issues.

I have updated the firmware to 5.04i and all went well except that when I try to change the time zone to London I get a 'page not found error' and remain 12 hours adrift in Sydney.

Anyone had this problem? Can someone suggest a Solution?

If I were to backup the settings as "settings.icf", edit this text file and then restore from it would that perhaps do the trick?

The relevant snippet that I have (for Sydney Australia) reads:

N ImSntpServers ImSntpServers
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item0
A sntphostname 'carl.css.gov'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item1
A sntphostname 'india.colorado.edu'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item2
A sntphostname 'time.nist.gov'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item3
A sntphostname 'time-b.nist.gov'
N ImSntpClient ImSntpClient
A sntpclock '1970:01:01:00:00:00'
A timezone '+1000C'
A retries '2'
A timeout '5'
A pollintv '1440'
A unicastmode 'true'
A anycastmode 'false'
A broadcastmode 'false'
A synchronize 'false'
A serverid '0'
A serversync 'india.colorado.edu'
A sntptimezonetable '1'
A sntpdaylightsetting '1'

Can someone let me have the equivalent snippet for London UK, please?

[woooshuk]

Originally Posted by Doug

I have updated the firmware to 5.04i and all went well except that when I try to change the time zone to London I get a 'page not found error' and remain 12 hours adrift in Sydney.

If I were to backup the settings as "settings.icf", edit this text file and then restore from it would that perhaps do the trick?

I did not see this problem myself. I did as you suggest above (without editing) and created a backup 'settings.icf' before the update.

I then reset to factory defaults, carried out the firmware upgrade, again reset using factory defaults and then restored using my backup.

Everything was fine.

N ImSntpServers ImSntpServers
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item0
A sntphostname 'carl.css.gov'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item1
A sntphostname 'india.colorado.edu'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item2
A sntphostname 'time.nist.gov'
N ImSntpServer ImSntpServers.item3
A sntphostname 'time-b.nist.gov'
N ImSntpClient ImSntpClient
A sntpclock '1970:01:01:00:00:00'
A timezone '0GMT'
A retries '2'
A timeout '5'
A pollintv '1440'
A unicastmode 'true'
A anycastmode 'false'
A broadcastmode 'false'
A synchronize 'false'
A serverid '0'
A serversync 'carl.css.gov'
A sntptimezonetable '1'
A sntpdaylightsetting '1'

[Doug]

Originally Posted by woooshuk

... I ... created a backup 'settings.icf' ... carried out the firmware upgrade ... and then restored using my backup ... Everything was fine.

I did a clean install as I was wary of importing settings from an earlier version which I feared might not quite fit or might even corrupt the later one.

Our respective lists differ on two counts as below and the '0GMT' timezone setting is what I was after. I assume that there is little to choose between 'carl.css.gov' and 'india.colorado.edu' so unless, othwise guided, I intend to leave "A serversync 'india.colorado.edu'" as it is.

YOURS
A timezone '0GMT'
A serversync 'carl.css.gov'

MINE
A timezone '+1000C'
A serversync 'india.colorado.edu'

I confirm I have successfully changed the time zone to London - many thanks for your encouragement and guidance with this upgrade.