Changing WEP to WAP

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I have just enabled the wireless option on my HP laptop. Initially used WEP on my Verizon wireless router and laptop and connection worked fine. Recently added an iPad, configured it for WEP, and it too worked fine. Did some research and found that WAP is more secure. Changed the router settings to WAP and reconfigured the laptop wireless properties to WAP. The laptop found the network, asked for the password and connected. Then I tried the iPad and it connected automatically to the network, without my changing anything! Is the iPad smart enough to reconfigure itself when it finds WAP instead of WEP?
HH

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Yes, but it only connected without intervention because you did not change the password. You should change the password to take advantage of the new security standard.

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Howard, if you need a really good password go to https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

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Thanks for the replies. Russ, you are right on the money. I actually have two routers, in different locations. When I configured the first location for WAP I did change the password (thanks for the link, Roderunner) and I had to reconfigure the laptop and the iPad. When I did the second location I used the old password and the iPad connected automatically. Does that mean that the iPad is using WEP? If so, how does it do that when the router is set to WAP? I thought that would cause an error.
HH

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WPA.

The ipad merely reads the router signal and identifies the following.
SSID – the router’s identifier.
Wireless mode – no encryption, WEP, WPA or WPA2, other.
All of this information is standardised to make everyone’s life easier.
Because the router did not change the SSID your ipad attempted to connect using the same password it used before.

cheers, Paul

p.s. WPA2 is the best encryption.

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Thanks, Paul, that’s a lucid description of the communication. I’m still puzzled about how the data encryption works. If the router is set to WPA2 (what I use at location 1) and the iPad to WEP, does the data get encrypted using WEP, the lowest common protocol?
HH

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Howard, if your second location router has the unchanged password, and you have the router set for WEP, and the the iPad is connecting to this same router, then the iPad is following the WEP security protocol that has been set on that second router.

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Not quite. The second router is set to WAP, but the password was not changed. The laptop was set to WAP for that network. The iPad was not changed to WAP, since it connected automatically. What security protocol is the iPad using?
HH

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Not quite. The second router is set to WAP, but the password was not changed. The laptop was set to WAP for that network. The iPad was not changed to WAP, since it connected automatically. What security protocol is the iPad using?
HH

OK, I cannot tell you where you can check on your iPad to confirm it is using WAP at this time. However, sometime back I replaced our home router. I changed the security protocol from WPA to WPA2. On the new router, I used the same SSID and security password (as it is a strong password), as I had used on the old router. All Windows machines detected the changed protocol on the router, and prompted me for the security password even though it was the same password used previously. I also have an iMac, and it automatically detected the change to WPA2, but did not prompt me for the security password, evidently because it detected no change in the password. It automatically detected the change to the protocol and made the adjustment to WPA2 without any input from me. Sounds similar to you iPad experience, doesn’t it? Based on this, I would conclude that you iPad is using the security protocol you established on the router to which your iPad connects, which you said is currently WAP. The iPad has to be using the protocol that corresponds to the protocol in use on the router to which it is connected.

Apparently the iPad, like my iMac, is smart enough to automatically adjust and connect under this set of circumstances. Hope this helps.

All my machines were confirmed as using the WPA2 protocol.

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Apparently the iPad, like my iMac, is smart enough to automatically adjust and connect under this set of circumstances. Hope this helps.

All my machines were confirmed as using the WPA2 protocol.

Right on, Gerald. I think my iPad, like your iMac, is smart enough to adjust automatically.

That should do it for this thread. Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.
HH

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