Wireless Networking What You need to remember

What you need: A wireless router (Microsoft MN-700 Wireless router shown) A Wireless Adapter (Microsoft PCMCIA laptop adapter shown You can also get PCI Adapters

Finding your router network address: Your computer must be plugged in to the router via Cat 5 Ethernet cable (Sometimes wireless will allow admin access) Access your network connection either from task bar or from Network Connections under control panel (Win XP standard)

Log in to administration Using a web browser, like Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox, access the HTML log in for the router, in this case, it’s the local IP address \\ \\ The address tends to vary from brand to brand, and can also be configured under your routers settings Most routers also come with default password of admin, change this, as it’s a very easy password to guess

Access your wireless settings As shown on this Microsoft router, it is accessible from a simple web page format on the left side menu. Each router will be different, but essentially the same, the option will be somewhere, you’ll just have to poke around for it.

Wireless Settings Here you can chose the name of your network that will be broadcast for all people with wireless cards to see. You may also choose speed, Wireless G is faster, but not all cards can go that fast, however a wireless G card will run at wireless B speeds (about 1/5 th as fast) Fortunately, this router will run both speeds, however if all cards are wireless G, it would be faster to run G only, as then the router doesn’t have to dumb down everything for the wireless B broadcast.

Set your channel and name Channel? Like TV? Not quite. Wireless networking uses frequencies around 2.4gHz. Why is that a problem? Why would I need to change the channel? Popular cordless phones also use the 2.4gHz range. From my experience, they also seem to be better at it. If a cordless phone is on the same channel as a wireless network, guess what, that long distance call wins, and no matter how much you beg and plead, you still get disconnected while you and your MSN get the dreaded error 404 or timeout messages.

OK, its set up, now what? Actually, your not done yet. The way TCP/IP networking basically works, is each computer has an IP address, like a phone number, but instead of calling each other up, the network is more of like the old yelling in the pipes of the old ships. When one computer needs to tell another computer something, they yell into the wires “Hey, ! BLAH BLAH BLAH FILE BLAH BLAH!” Normally, with wires between computers, you have nothing to worry about, but as soon as you go wireless, its like leaving the vault open. But much like a vault, you can also put a combination on getting into your network. You have to go under your routers security options to do so.

Security The most basic security available, is 64 bit encryption – this lets you select 10 hexadecimal digits, no more, no less Hex-a-what? Hecks-a-decimal – any number from 0 to 9 and any letter from A to F. This means that its completely random, so no one can guess that your encryption is your birthday, or daughters name, etc. 128 bit encryption requires 26 Hexadecimal digits. WPA is a newer encryption, and only newer cards support it. It allows you to have between 8 and 63 digits 0-9 and A-Z

What are the odds? The odds of breaking a 64 bit encryption are to one The odds of breaking a 128 bit encryption are to one The odds of breaking a WPA password are: ^(10*99) – AKA good luck buddy

Ok, now we are done? Not quite, you must make sure to remember those settings, as you have to set up each computer that you want to have access to your wireless network That can be configured under Network connections: Configure wireless network connection

Tips for setting up other comps Get a Flash USB drive to put your wireless Key on, otherwise good luck copying out all the digits twice correctly (especially once you get up to 26 digits or higher) Come up with a cool flashy name that you will remember for your network, in residence alone there are between 3 and 9 wireless networks available in my dorm at any time

Benefits of a router When under default DHCP settings, allows for plug and play networking (Trust me, its so worth it for that alone) It creates a physical firewall between you and the internet. Software like zone alarm and Norton Internet Security firewall cant come close to an actual firewall. If your ISP limits the number of computers you can connect, its because they only have so many IP addresses they can give out (just like phone numbers) But when you use a router, you only take up 1 IP address no matter how many computers you hook up Even if your ISP still cares about the number of computers you have hooked up, they cant tell now because your behind a firewall!

Public Service Announcement Always make sure your router is plugged in to the internet properly. If improperly connected, it can disable your ISPs network, denying you, and possibly hundreds of other customers of service. Every Router has a specific port or plug in for the Internet. Some call it “Internet Port”. Some call it the WAN (wide are network) port. On mine, it simply says to Modem (cable or DSL) If you are not at least % sure that it’s the right port for plugging in to the net, call your ISP, they will be more than happy to help you (and prevent an expensive network crash)