Airport Extreme Wpa or WPA2 encryption???

[Copperhead27]

Hey all! New poster here, and posting about the main reason I am here.

I am running an iMac 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo, and have a question about the Airport Extreme that comes built in with my mac.

I am using a connection from my router through the Ethernet port, and sharing the connection out from my Airport Extreme. The built in firmware only allows WEP encryption going out of the Airport, and to any devices that want to share this connection. I did some research and found that Airport Extreme, in this iMac at least, is using the Broadcom chipset, which having flashed about a thousand or so Broadcom Linksys, D-Link, and Buffalo Routers with DD-WRT and OpenWRT, can be upgraded to support WPA and WPA2 encryption.

Does anyone know where one might find 3rd party firmware for AirPort Extreme? I suppose I *could* write my own, using OpenWRT as a template, but since this is built-in, I don't want to brick the Airport adapter, and have to spend $1500 on a new Mac.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't know why Apple would sell such a top of the line computer with such a weak encryption algorithm like WEP. WEP is the equivalent of locking your house door using bubble gum. It works great for my Motorola Droid, since when I am connected to it, I am simply downloading apps, but come on Apple! I thought you guys were supposed to be the best!

 

[FaithNOmore]

Hey all! New poster here, and posting about the main reason I am here.

I am running an iMac 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo, and have a question about the Airport Extreme that comes built in with my mac.

I am using a connection from my router through the Ethernet port, and sharing the connection out from my Airport Extreme. The built in firmware only allows WEP encryption going out of the Airport, and to any devices that want to share this connection. I did some research and found that Airport Extreme, in this iMac at least, is using the Broadcom chipset, which having flashed about a thousand or so Broadcom Linksys, D-Link, and Buffalo Routers with DD-WRT and OpenWRT, can be upgraded to support WPA and WPA2 encryption.

Does anyone know where one might find 3rd party firmware for AirPort Extreme? I suppose I *could* write my own, using OpenWRT as a template, but since this is built-in, I don't want to brick the Airport adapter, and have to spend $1500 on a new Mac.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't know why Apple would sell such a top of the line computer with such a weak encryption algorithm like WEP. WEP is the equivalent of locking your house door using bubble gum. It works great for my Motorola Droid, since when I am connected to it, I am simply downloading apps, but come on Apple! I thought you guys were supposed to be the best!

Please specify the AirportExtreme version. My Airport Extreme is support WPA2 encryption, absolutely for sure. Of course u can try to install OpenWRT firmware - TableOfHardware

 

[Copperhead27]

Here are the specs on it:

  Software Versions:
  Menu Extra:	6.2.1 (621.1)
  configd plug-in:	6.2 (620.15.1)
  System Profiler:	6.0 (600.9)
  Network Preference:	6.2.1 (621.1)
  AirPort Utility:	5.4.2 (542.23)
  IO80211 Family:	3.1 (310.6)
  Interfaces:
en1:
  Card Type:	AirPort Extreme  (0x14E4, 0x8E)
  Firmware Version:	Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.27)
  Locale:	FCC
  Country Code:	X0
  Supported PHY Modes:	802.11 a/b/g/n
  Supported Channels:	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
  Wake On Wireless:	Supported
  Status:	Off

I'd rather not mess with OpenWRT. I have had limited success with it on certain Broadcom chipsets, andI'd hate to brick the built in wireless on my Mac.

Thanks for the reply.