Apple devices and WEP encryption

[MattG]

In advance, a disclaimer: Please don't lecture me about how we shouldn't be using WEP...I'm fully aware of just how bad WEP sucks from a network security standpoint. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to change it at the moment.

Now that that's over with...why is it that NONE of the Apple devices I've used have ever worked correctly on the WEP network here? Where I work, we've got all Cisco equipment, but unfortunately, we're still on WEP. We've got hundreds of Windows devices that operate just fine with it.

On the other hand, on every Mac portable device I've had since I started working here 7 years ago, it's been an issue. I enter all the information correctly when I try to add the network as an Airport profile, and one of two things happens:

1. It prompts me for the password over and over.
2. It takes the information like everything is ok, but then it doesn't connect (no "bars")

Every once in a while I will get a device to connect and work, but it's usually only temporary...it'll just stop working all of a sudden. It doesn't have to do with proximity to the access points; believe me, I checked. I'm positive I'm entering everything correctly, as I actually work for the IT Department here. I've had numerous portables through the years including various MacBook/PowerBook Pros, iMacs, and now an iPad which also doesn't want to work on our WEP network. We have four buildings here, which are technically four separate networks, all configured with the same type of access points, and Apple devices don't connect properly in any of them. Being that we have plenty of Windows-based devices, as well as Android portable devices that work on our WEP network, it would appear that the problem is isolated to Apple.

Is anyone else here still stuck using WEP (perhaps at your workplace), and has anyone else had similar problems to what I'm having here? What did you do to resolve them? I'm dying to get my iPad on the wireless here, but it just won't cooperate.

 

[Consultant]

Apple devices are the first ones to get WiFi right, including WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Never been a problem for most users.

I suspect you are not selecting the right encryption. If under warranty, contact Apple for support.

Have you tried the latest iOS? Still no problems on 100% of networks.

 

[MattG]

Apple devices are the first ones to get WiFi right, including WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Never been a problem for most users.

I suspect you are not selecting the right encryption. If under warranty, contact Apple for support.

Have you tried the latest iOS? Still no problems on 100% of networks.

I have the latest version of operating systems on all my devices. This has been a problem for us for years. Again, I am in IT and am very familiar with all of this, and I assure you I'm selecting the correct encryption. We have lots of non-Apple devices that connect to the WEP network just fine.

 

[angelwatt]

Here's Apple's write-up on WEP password incompatibilities and potential ways to mitigate them. Also try placing a $ before the password. This tells it the password is hex. If it's ascii place the password in quotes.

 

[MattG]

Here's Apple's write-up on WEP password incompatibilities and potential ways to mitigate them. Also try placing a $ before the password. This tells it the password is hex. If it's ascii place the password in quotes.

It's a hexidecimal code. Thanks, but I've seen the $ trick before and have tried that to no avail.