Is it worth sacrifices the bandwith to set up a WEP or WPA?

Answer 1

Look at it this way. Wireless security is supposed to keep people of your network, just like a fence is supposed to keep people out of your yard. Do you live somewhere that is far away from other people? Then you don't really need to fence your yard. Do you just not care if someone walks through your yard? Then you don't need a fence. But if someone takes your barbeque grill, it's on you.

The difference in throughput when you add in the encryption overhead is something you have to consider. But if you have people using your access point because you haven't secured it, that's going to kill your throughput as well. If it were me, I'd do it, but I'm paranoid.

Answer 2

WEP-WPA-WPA-2 are all for security to prevent unwanted users on your Network.
I am a little confused that you feel you would sacrifice bandwith by impamenting security.
All routers offer one or more of the above mentioned,
One thing is for sure, I wouldn't be without one of them.
Remember WPA-2 is the most secure and please use numbers and letters, no words recognisable by a dictionary.
Don

Answer 3

You're not really sacrificing any bandwidth by setting up security on your network. WEP and WPA prevent unwanted users from accessing your network. If you leave it unsecured your neighbor or somebody driving down the road could access your system and get to all of your stuff. This could cause you more problems than if you just take the five minutes it takes to set up WEP or WPA.