You guys are not the only one with this problem.  If you search around this forum you'll find a lot of people are experiencing the same problem but no one seems to be able to get any support for this issue from Dell.

I just returned my TM 2300.  I am really not satisfied with it.  I can't get WPA running AES encryption to work with TM1300.  Phone tech support numerous times.  I can't believe the response I got... "we have no documentation on this problem but as longs you can connect without encryption, it's not an hardware issue.  Thus we're not obligated to support".  I was told to search around the Dell website and fix the problem myself.  I find this beyond ridiculous, I would understand if I'm using a different brand router.  However, I am using truemobile for everything from wireless card to wireless router.

I checked the firmware and everything updated Windows and so on.....  Finally, I give up and demanded a refund on the TM2300 router. 

The reason I bought a Dell is because of customer service.  I thought a company as big as Dell would have excellent customer service.  I guess I was wrong.  Dell will definitely not get my business again.

I called dell support again today. I was a bit more assertive this time. I politely indicated that I wanted a bug notification sent to the enigneers on these issues. The gentlemen I spoke to said that procedure was that he gives his manager the notes from the call and the manager sends the notes to the engineers and, from there, he said the "paper trail" ends. What they do after that seems to be a mystery. He DID indicate that Dell engineers monitor these forums. I asked if there was a way to track these specific bugs and monitor the progress or be alerted as to an update. He said no.

While this guy was a lot more understanding, it still doesn't fix the wireless router that serves the small business I am responsible for.

I've posted this in another area (the Inspiron network board), but here it is again since it is definately not an Inspirion only problem.  Basically, I think this problem started with the 'latest' firmware on the 2300.  That's why some people think it works; they have the older firmware.  I would like someone using the newer firmware to confirm WPA works properly.  I doubt it.

Previously posted mesage (on Inspiron board)

I'm having the exact same problem.  My 2300 has the new firmware which I think is the problem.  I installed my father's 2300 which has the older firmware, and it works using WPA.  Mine, on the other hand (which has the newer firmware) will not connect to the internet or anything else (other computers on the LAN) when WPA is enabled even though it is physically acknowleding that a "excellent" connection is established with the router.  I've tried WPA using both TKIP and AES with the same results on both.  In order to actually use the wireless connection, I'm having to 'downgrade' to WEP or no security at all.  My wireless clients (on both my father and my own) are 8600 with the TM-1300.  I'll go out on a limb and say that there is probably nobody which has the latest firmware on the 2300 which is able to get a functioning WPA connection.  If someone has, I would like to hear about it.

A few other notes:

The older firmware is not perfect using WPA either.  When setting up the router to WPA and trying to use AES, the router will revert back to TKIP after you thought you saved the configuration to be AES.  The newer firmware at least fixes this problem since when you check the settings it at least says it is using AES.

Another issue I had using WPA with the old firmware is that during LAN games (Warcraft III in particular), the connection would be lost shortly into the game and cannot recover.  WEP or no security does not show this problem  I think this is probably due to the WPA changing keys every so often.  During Warcraft III, apparently the router switched keys and the PC did not.  I'm not sure if this is a WPA issue or a problem with Warcraft III.  When just using the internet, the key changing seems to work (as long as you have installed Microsofts latest WPA patch).

For those who don't know, WPA-AES is preferable to WPA-TKIP not only because it is more secure but because it has no throughput penalty when using Broadcom based products (ie. TM-1300, TM-1400, and the TM-2300 router itself).  Unfortunately, most non-Broadcom products don't offer AES so the slower TKIP must be used in these instances.  However, since the new firmware on the 2300 seems to prevent using WPA altogether, we are forced to use the 'cracked' WEP which only keeps out honest people.

Hopefully, Dell will release another update to the 2300 firmware to resolve this WPA issue soon...

My 2300 IS using the newer firmware (3.0.0.8 / A02). I had the same thought: the older firmware worked correctly in the WPA aspect. Also, in response to johnallg, I have followed the documentation over and over again and I am letting windows manage the wireless connection. This is not card-specific. In fact, I am using the Truemobile 1300 mPCI card to attempt connection.

Thanks to tolmant for re-posting the info. It IS a bit comforting to know that this is occurring across the board.

I'm having the same problem with my Inspirion 1100 notebook, TrueMobile 1300 802.11g PC Card, and TrueMobile 2300 wireless router.  Without WAP, all is well.  With WAP, the TM 1300 never receives an IP address from the 2300.

I'm so glad to see this thread.  I've burned about 3 hours on this issue.  I can get WEP to work without a problem, but the TM2300 router and the TM1300 MPCI card on my Inspiron 8600 fails to work properly.  I get signal and it appears to be "excellent" strength but it won't connect to the net or receive any packets.  I change back to WEP and all is well.  I've installed every update on the Dell website about configuring the TM2300 for WPA.  I hope they get this resolved soon, assuming they acknowledge a problem.

For example, I followed this pretty studiously: http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1088772

Welcome to the club. I would like to tell you that you have joined a nice, exclusive club of elite people and that membership is restricted to small set of people. The truth is that you have been forced into membership of a growing number of dissatisfied people by the sheer fact that your new Wireless Router from "We Love Customers Lots" Dell does not work as advertised. Your membership card is in the mail along with the firmware upgrade to fix it. Apparently you should expect 2 to 6 weeks...months...years... for delivery.

Your sarcastic brethren,

Matt

Is there a router/WAP that we know works with WPA and the Truemobile 1300 wireless cards that come with the Inspiron 8600 (or other Dell models)?  Maybe there's an alternative.

So far the connections I'm getting with the TM 2300 are solid, but the WEP vs. WPA problem irks me.

Thanks,

Roger