Macbook Air (new mac user) Linksys

[sharwood]

Hey everybody, I just made the switch and bought a macbook air. I recieved the thing today, and it's amazing. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem connecting to my family's wireless router.

We use Linksys, and all other laptops and computers have no problems connecting wirelessly with a WEP key. Does anybody know if mac's have a problem connecting to linksys routers? Any advice on how to connect to one?

Do I need to purchase something separate, like a special router, to connect to the DSL modem in order for my mac to get online?

Thanks for any help!

 

[jamshah]

linksys

We have a linksys and sometimes some MAC's had trouble connecting under WEP. I've since switched over to WPA (which is more secure) and have had no problems since. Check to see if you have WPA and set password.

 

[glitch44]

I 2nd the recommendation to switch to WPA. WEP isn't secure anyway.

Also, before you do that you should go to Linksys Support and update your firmware to the newest version.

 

[sharwood]

okay...so I just loaded Windows XP on my new macbook air, and I'm writing this message right now on my MBA. The problem obviously isn't the network or a hardware failure. Any suggestions on how to get Leapord to get on the network?

 

[sharwood]

I'm about to work on the WEP key switch to WPA.

 

[caf9128]

One of the "dirty little secrets" is that Mac's networking capabilities suck compared to Windows machines. I know that's difficult for some fanboys to accept, but it's true. We have had trouble with two Macbooks we've added to our home system this year. Setting up network printers with Windows is simple; with the Macs it's a pain.

Linksys is a very popular router and shouldn't be a problem.

 

[SqB]

Linksys has very poor support for Apple, however it should still work since it's just doing normal network stuff. I had a top-of-the line WRV 4400 with the VPN and had lots of trouble with it and my Apple's. I have to admit it was likely on the Apple side since I never had any trouble on the PC side.

Having said that, I got a AirPort Extreme base station from the refurb section of the apple store and I'm very happy with it. It's very versatile and I have a USB drive hooked to it to use Time Machine.

As for the Linksys, I had the best luck when using WPA-2 Personal. Other settings dropped intermittently and had connection problems. I never tried WEP as it is really no more secure than an open network.

 

[sharwood]

Fixed. It turns out I just needed to update the firmware on the linksys router. Thanks for the help.

 

[alphaod]

You can also get DD-WRT firmware; open source and it's more full featured.

 

[richardhunt]

I second DD-WRT if your router supports it.

 

[mikeb-310]

i got mine two months ago and also have a linksys at home .... it came up and worked first time.

 

[glennm0270]

Not using an MBA (yet) but have hooked up my wife's new iMac to our home network, which uses a Linksys router.

I strongly second the recommendation for DD-WRT and using WPA-2 for security. That's what I use (with MAC address filtering enabled) and had no problems whatsoever getting it to connect.

To be honest, it was easier to connect than any of my Windoze machines.

 

[hansano]

Hi everybody,
Windows and Mac have different ways of translating the ASCII password to hex. For a 128 bit WEP encryption, choose a password with 13 characters. This makes it compatible with both systems.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1344
Jakob