How To Setup A Wireless Network

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The Wireless Home Network

Wireless technology has saved us all. In the past, having a network in your home consisted of tearing apart walls, running CAT5 cabling, and spending many hours in the attic or the basement trying to tie it all together.

With 802.11, we have the ability to simply plug in a few networking components and we're all set.

This article will give you some basic considerations when implementing your wireless network.

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Getting Started

You'll first need to look at the hardware you have and then consider the hardware you'll want in the future. Some devices will only be able to use 802.11b, which is the older and slower wireless standard. Most will accept the widely-used 802.11g. For those older devices, such as Tivos, you'll want to buy wireless USB 802.11b network adapters. For everything else, you'll want 802.11g. The router will be able to see and handle the older devices fine, so make sure it is also 802.11g.

Most routers will come with at least four Ethernet wired ports in the back. Make sure your's does. It may be necessary to patch into the router with a cable if something goes horribly wrong.

Connecting Everything

Start at the cable coming into the house. We're working off of the assumption that you have cable broadband, but the same rules apply for DSL.

1. Unplug Everything you have currently connected.

2. Plug the cable modem's Ethernet into the router's WAN port.

3. Power up the modem. Wait until all signals are green, then plug in the router.

4. If you have a PC close to the router, go ahead and use the Ethernet cables; they are faster and more secure than wireless.

5. You'll want to patch into the router through the Ethernet in the back to change some of the defaults before we proceed. Refer to your documentation on how to do this. Normally, once the wired connection is made, you'll go your web browser and type in the address of the router: Something like http://192.168.1.1. Then you'll login. Change the password and the SSID. The SSID is the name of the network. All of your PCs will need to know this.

6. Next, go around to each computer and install the CD that came with the wireless card. Once installed, plug in the USB adapter (or if you're using and internal PCI card, power down and install the card, then power back up).

7. Go to START>SETTINGS>CONTROL PANEL and run the Network Wizard. Here you'll be able to name the workgroup the same as the SSID on the router.

8. Reboot. If all goes right, the router will see the new network device, then supply it with an IP address.

9. Only once things are working properly should you go back and implement wireless security. Read More About Wireless Security Here.

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