Almost superb AP story on the lack of simple setup in Wi-Fi home gateways: The reporter neatly details the difficulties in all of the current Wi-Fi gateways in turning security on, especially in gateways and adapters designed by different companies.
The only point the writer misses is that WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), which is required in all new Wi-Fi equipment, allows the entry of a simple passphrase instead of a long sequence of hexadecimal numbers.
But there's so much pre-WPA equipment out there that hexadecimal WEP keys are still the rule of the day--most adapters (but not all wireless gateways) can be patched to handle WPA, but a user who can't figure out hex keys won't be able to figure out where to find obscure firmware upgrades.
Windows XP requires patches and a rollup to support WPA, while Apple users must installed Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) for WPA support. As WPA support permeates the home market through updates and upgrades to hardware, and as new equipment fills homes, you might see security improve through less obscurity.
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