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We posted a while back about ways to get an auto generated security password for wireless access.  We came across a site called ‘GRC‘ today that claims to give you a UNIQUE and perfectly secure encryption password for your wireless setup.  In our eyes possibly a little over the top for most home users, but if you are particularly security conscious or want to know a bit more about security passwords then the site might be worth a read.

By security passwords we are talking about WEP/WPA security…also known as the network key required to access a secure wireless network.  Hope it is of interest to some, we found it a good read, although a bit long in places ;o)

No excuses not to be wifi secure! )

Skype is a fantastic creation and keeping in touch all over the world is made so much easier with Skype. What really bugs me though is the USB phones, not Skypes fault obviously! The way they will interfere with your PC sound settings and despite getting all the settings perfect so you can listen to music and then easily use the phone, it still goes wrong. Because of that I don’t use Skype as much as i’d like.

For a while I have been watching the reviews and developments of phones that connect to Skype but actually bypass the computer altogether i.e. NOT USB! These phones are gadgets that connect to your internet connection wirelessly! Either by configuring them directly to connect to your encrypted/non-encrypted wireless connection, or by coming with a piece of kit that plugs into an Ethernet port on your router which the phone then connects to wirelessly.

There are a number of these types of Skype/VoIP phone already on the market, with the big guys like Belkin, Netgear, Philips and Linksys making an offering to this. The one that stands out to me after reading a lot of reviews and looking through the technical specifications of many is the Netgear VoIP Skype Dual Mode Cordless Phone.

The way this one works – it comes with a base station that you plug into an Ethernet port on your router and away you go! Oh you do have to enter your Skype details into the phone, but then away you go! You can also have up to 3 additional handsets on this setup as well. The other great feature about this particular model is that it is ‘dual mode’. This means that you can connect the base station to your normal phone line as well and therefore use the same phone for calls from your normal landline as well.

No..not yet anyway but I certainly plan to. For anyone who uses Skype a lot, or maybe don’t use Skype for a reason like mine, how about considering one of these!

To summarise then:

Pros -

• Easy to setup – one use review I read said “ever fallen off a log”. I think that sums up how easy it is!
• Avoids the PC! Nice
• You can have up to 4 phones connected to the unit
• Dual Mode so you can use your normal phone line too

Cons –

• It isn’t cheap. At time of writing the cost is around the £90 mark. 10 x that of the cheap USB phones. Then again I am one who believes in the saying “you get what you pay for!”
• I’m yet to own one!

Related Links: Skype.com || Netgear SkypePhone

This weeks quick tip is about problems connecting to wireless networks. There are so many possibilities here but the one I want to highlight this week becomes apparent when you are trying to connect to a wireless network that you know works!

Commonly a network SSID (name) does not get changed so if you buy a Netgear router chances are the SSID is NETGEAR. If you are like a number of people that connect to a number of different networks and already have a NETGEAR profile in your Wireless Access list and then go to connect to another one with the same SSID you will have problems connecting, it won’t ask for the WEP/encryption key and will just not connect! The reason being that it thinks it has the information to connect to that Network.

Answer: Remove the other profile from your list of Wireless Networks and then try to reconnect. If you regularly connect to 2 networks with the same SSID then try to get the SSID changed It is good practice to have a unique SSID anyway