Problems when changing router encryption to WPA or WPA-2

[davidred7697]

Hello,

I believe this is my second post on here. I generally never really bother about network security, but recently I've been seeing many "your connection is not secure" pages from Google Chrome on my PC. This made me do some quick research and I found many people warning that WEP is the worst encryption you can use. My internet speeds weren't the greatest, but they were fairly reliable. Pages rarely loaded incorrectly and connections were rarely dropped.

So I went into the router's settings to change the encryption to the "highest" security, WPA2-PSK. After doing so and modifying WiFi setting on all my devices, everything connected correctly, however my PC was connecting and discoonnecting from the network about every 8 seconds. I believe I recall my phone also having issues while WPA2 encryption was enabled.

After this, I decided that the connection/disconnection loop my PC was going through was unacceptable, so I proceeded to change my router's encryption to the next best encryption, WPA-PSK. After changing this, my download speeds seemed to have improved as compared to the WEP encryption and the connection was more stable on all my devices. However, even still, my PC was often slow to load pages, received bad connection pages from AT&T, sometimes didn't load pages at all, and other times loaded them incorrectly with missing images etc. My phone also sometimes seemed to drop the connection and sometimes failed to load streaming video. Yet another device had problems loading netflix content as well as general web browsing. I had similar results when changing to WPA2-PSK and WPA-PSK.

So now, I've reverted back to WEP-OPEN encryption, but with a passcode that is different than the original router's passcode. I would still like to use either WPA or WPA2, knowing that they are much more secure form of encryption and somewhere reading that download speeds increased a bit when compared to WEP but I would like to avoid the frequent connection drops and loading problems I had when I experimented with them. I would really appreciate it if someone who is more knowledgeable than I could point out any mistakes I made or any recommendations to possibly make the WPA or WPA2 setup work adequately.

Things that might be important:
-My PC is an old Dell Optiplex 360. Knowing that these don't have wireless cards, I purchased a small Net-Dyn Wifi USB adapter ( Amazon.com: Wifi USB Adapter Net-Dyn® for PC and Mac -Perfect for your Desktop or Laptop- Plug in and Forget- No Antenna Needed/ Specs: 150M, Supports 802.11n protocol, Excellent Reception, Small and Comfortable. Life Time Guarantee, Start Using you ) in order to work around the issue.

-Also, the devices that were tested on the network are a Galaxy Tab 2 tablet and a OnePlus One phone

Below are the data to provide as recommended in one of the stickies.
1. Is this a wired or wireless connection issue?
Wireless
2. Who is your Internet Service Provider (ISP)?
AT&T

3. What type of Broadband connection are you using?
DSL

4. What is the exact Make and Model of your Modem, Router or Modem/Router Combo - Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, TP-LINK, etc.
2Wire 2701HG-B
5. What is the Name of the Anti-Virus, Security or Firewall Software installed from the problematic computer - McAfee, Norton, Eset, Webroot, Zone Alarm, etc.
On PC: Panda Free Antivirus
On android devices: none

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello ?David mate I have read through your quite lengthy post and to be honest I sort of get the gist of what you are asking except for the very end bit re

-Also, the devices that were tested on the network are a Galaxy Tab 2 tablet and a OnePlus One phone

Below are the data to provide as recommended in one of the stickies.
1. Is this a wired or wireless connection issue?
Wireless
2. Who is your Internet Service Provider (ISP)?
AT&T

3. What type of Broadband connection are you using?
DSL

4. What is the exact Make and Model of your Modem, Router or Modem/Router Combo - Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, TP-LINK, etc.
2Wire 2701HG-B
5. What is the Name of the Anti-Virus, Security or Firewall Software installed from the problematic computer - McAfee, Norton, Eset, Webroot, Zone Alarm, etc.
On PC: Panda Free Antivirus
On android devices: none

My query is what modem / router are you using? Speaking for myself I use a TP-Link one set to WPA2- PSK and I do not have any problems with it at all using Ethernet cable or wifi.
Now when out I use a mobile broadband modem and it is set with the same and yet I get that message from my security (Kaspersky) I tend to ignore it because as with everything else security starts at home if you get my drift - you / me
So I also see you are not using any security for using the net emails etc is there any reason for this as I think that I itself is taking more than a risk and leaves me wondering why you are concerned re the modem issue.
I would urge you to put something on as there are plenty of free and good programs available and if you want take a look at this listing (Real time) Free Windows Desktop Software Security List | Gizmo's Freeware if you are unsure of which to pick ask us.