Sort-of Secret SSID
April 10, 2008 6:42 PM Subscribe
I don't broadcast my wireless SSID - but, frustratingly, OSX 10.5 seems to forget my SSID, and often my password as well (WPA2 Personal.) Is this a simple setting in my router, or is OSX to blame, and can something be done to fix it?
Best answer: I just resolved a similar problem (with Applecare assistance) that was due to channel conflicts with my wireless router (a Time Capsule). The new Macbook is uber-sensitive to local wireless compared to my PC and another Powerbook, both with 802.11g adapters. It sees about 10 local wireless networks compared to 1 or 2 on the other machines.
I manually changed the channel (to 3) from automatic, and the Macbook hasn't fallen offline since.
In the course of doing this, the Applecare folks had me setup another location profile, manually delete all preferred networks, then reset the channel of the router using the airport configuration utility.
It was sort of doing the same thing.... my WPA2 passwords weren't remembered, and I had to re-enter them continuously. Link would stay up maybe 10 minutes, then die.
I'm not a mac guy, so I'm afraid I can't help with anything more, but I hope this proves useful.
posted by FauxScot at 7:16 PM on April 10, 2008
I manually changed the channel (to 3) from automatic, and the Macbook hasn't fallen offline since.
In the course of doing this, the Applecare folks had me setup another location profile, manually delete all preferred networks, then reset the channel of the router using the airport configuration utility.
It was sort of doing the same thing.... my WPA2 passwords weren't remembered, and I had to re-enter them continuously. Link would stay up maybe 10 minutes, then die.
I'm not a mac guy, so I'm afraid I can't help with anything more, but I hope this proves useful.
posted by FauxScot at 7:16 PM on April 10, 2008
Just broadcast the SSID.
Wireless security is all about having a good (non-dictionary-attackable) WPA key. If you have that, you're secure; if you don't, you're not. Fartarsing about with SSID broadcast suppression and/or MAC filtering makes your wireless network less convenient and more likely to cause you trouble, not more secure.
posted by flabdablet at 8:19 PM on April 10, 2008
Wireless security is all about having a good (non-dictionary-attackable) WPA key. If you have that, you're secure; if you don't, you're not. Fartarsing about with SSID broadcast suppression and/or MAC filtering makes your wireless network less convenient and more likely to cause you trouble, not more secure.
posted by flabdablet at 8:19 PM on April 10, 2008
It seems to be a 10.5 problem. I never had this problem until I upgraded to 10.5. It's gotten a bit better after 10.5.2 and the various updates after that, but it still happens sometimes. Haven't really found a permanent fix yet. I've tried the trick with deleting the preferred info in the control panel and resaving it from scratch, but it doesn't seem to help.
In fact, sometimes my comp doesn't pick up *any* routers, even though running one of the "stumbler" type programs shows there's plenty of routers around, including ones that *are* broadcasting SSID. This is from the same computer. Go figure.
Hoping for 10.5.3 to fix things...
(Oh, I'm on a Powerbook G4, if it makes any diff. I have an old ibook (the white ones) with 10.4.x and it never has problems)
posted by edjusted at 8:50 PM on April 10, 2008
In fact, sometimes my comp doesn't pick up *any* routers, even though running one of the "stumbler" type programs shows there's plenty of routers around, including ones that *are* broadcasting SSID. This is from the same computer. Go figure.
Hoping for 10.5.3 to fix things...
(Oh, I'm on a Powerbook G4, if it makes any diff. I have an old ibook (the white ones) with 10.4.x and it never has problems)
posted by edjusted at 8:50 PM on April 10, 2008
I had the same issues as edjusted after upgrading to 10.5. It indeed got a bit better with 10.5.2, but I went back to broadcasting the SSID because I found it too annoying. It doesn't seem to depend on the type of encryption you're using (WEP or WPA).
posted by cerbous at 6:43 AM on April 11, 2008
posted by cerbous at 6:43 AM on April 11, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by demiurge at 6:59 PM on April 10, 2008