losing connection

[Baz]

why do I lose connections on some laptops when I hide the SSID name on my router.

I have tried before to run it without showing this and always have bother.I thought that if the laptops were already set up with the name and wpa password that they would be able to access when needed.They are also set up in the access list.

Netgear DG834PN

[Steve]

I don't know Baz I recall similar for me in the past, I don't worry about now as hiding you SSID is apparently easy to circumvent.

[Baz]

hmmm  yeah had heard that too.it just gets me wondering when I see how many network names we can pick up on our laptops and now a kindle we have, who can see ours so thats why I would like to hide it.

[Lance]

It's really easy to find hidden ssid names so it's not worth the hassle of hiding it.

Alternatively, buried in the wireless connection settings is a checkbox which says something along the lines 'connect even when the ssid is not being broadcast'.  I'm on my phone so can't point you more specifically at it.

[Technical Ben]

Oh, but if you do hide it, you don't get the neighbours kids trying to connect.

It don't protect against hackers, but it does against opportunists. Easy targets and all that...

[Steve]

Except it seems to cause more LAN issues than it's worth as a security measure.