SSID Broadcast

[ohheckyeah]

What is the purpose of this and should I disable it on my router? If I do, are there any possible bad consequences?

[PoliticAverse]

1. Broadcasting it makes it easier for other devices to find your wireless network,

it's the name of your wireless network.

Publicly broadcasting it reduces your privacy a little since it makes it easier for people
to see when your specific router is on but disabling broadcast causes you to have to
manually intervene to connect your devices to your wireless network.

If your network is static with you rarely connecting/disconnecting devices I'd disable it
but if you are frequently connecting/disconnecting devices I'd enable it - just give the
network a name that doesn't identify you personally.

For a discussion of this see:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28653/debunking-myths-is-hiding-your-wireless-ssid-really-more-secure/
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3576541

[ohheckyeah]

2. Thank you very much.

The first link is a great article that actually contradicts some I read earlier. It certainly answers the question as to what happens when you disable SSID broadcast when it comes to other devices connecting.

I appreciate your help.

Any suggestions on how to optimize my wireless speeds? Maybe trying different channels?

[guardian]

3. A different channel may or may not help.

If you have noticed your wireless connections dropping out or being too slow, you can use a free tool like inSSIDer http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/ to monitor competing wireless networks. It can help you pick the right channel.

Note: if your Wireless network seems to be working fine then don’t mess with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

For best performance try to pick channel at least 5 channels from your neighbors' networks. Though in reality this is rarely possible as you will see other neighbors have already tried changing channels to get better performance too. So you may have to do a little trial and error to see what works best.

802.11b and 802.11g devices are designed to share the airwaves with neighboring networks, it is best to find a clear channel. You need to understand that the wireless channels translate to a radio frequency. Channel 6, for example, is 2.437 GHz (or 2437 MHz). Each channel up or down is 5 MHz away. However, and this is key, Wi-Fi signals are 20 MHz wide! So when you set your Wi-Fi device to channel 6, you actually are using the frequencies of channels 5, 6, 7, and half of 4 and 8.

[ohheckyeah]

4. Great information - thanks.

Will a portable phone interfere with the router's signal?

[guardian]

5. It can.

Though many phone systems will automatically jump to a different channel if there is interference and avoid the problem.