Keeping WiFi networks secure?

How does one go about this?

Maybe it's a stupid question cos I dont know a hell of a lot about them, but I've heard from people who know people that can rock around town with their equipped lappys picking up companies unsecure wireless connections.

I'm thinking about maybe getting a WiFi hub for our new place and don't want to be getting ripped off from some scummy neighbours with WiFi cards, if there happen to be any.

Chur

more than likely your provider will be running a secure encrypted network.
Make sure you ask them, before you purchase it.

most wifi access points have security features built in.... most of them are managed via SNMP

Make sure you use WAP encryption not WEP (which is pretty insecure)

Youll need a modern AP and XP to run WAP.

WEP can be broken by sniffing packets - once enough have been collected, a brute force comparison can work out the key.

Cheers for the input guys

That should read WPA not WAP