Going wireless......

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For those of you that helped with the laptop, THANKS. Wife wants to go wireless with it. We got all the stuff built into the laptop, now I need to finish it off. I currently have a desk top hooked directly into the modem. What would be a good one to get. Hopefully, the router will have someway that I can still hook my desktop to the modem while also using the router. I have an account at newegg, but willing to go somewhere else to save a buck or two. This would be for a house set up and only one computer.
 
Whatever wireless g router you get, it will probably have at least 4 ethernet ports for wired connectivity.

Once you connect the router, remember to encrypt (use WPA-PSK) the wireless communication and do MAC address filtering. You can find the MAC addresses by going to start/run and type cmd for command prompt. There, do ipconfig /all. The MAC address is the Physical Address.

This way, your communication will be encrypted and no other devices besides the ones you allow will be able to attempt to connect to the router.
 
Linksys WRT54G V.4 or below! Although i doubt you can find those around anymore, they are called WRT54GL now. One of the best router I ever used. They can also be used with 3rd party firmware xD.
 
They got this one:
LINKSYS WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router

or


LINKSYS WRT54GL Wireless-G

which one? Both around 60 bucks.
 
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I reciently installed a LINKSYS WRT54G. Got it on sale at Target for $33.95 . It's working great. It replaced an old D-link DI-524 which was prone to forget what it's job was.
 
The Netgear Rangemax is a really good router for the money. I've seen them lately for around $65. Very robust and allows several encryption options including WPA2 (the best).
 
I have a refurbished Netgear RangeMax that I bought for around $20. It has been running great for about a year now. I have a pretty big house and with the router in the basement and it covers the whole house just fine.
 
WRT54 (whatever model) is a fine wireless router. There are other manufacturers too...
Originally Posted By: CivicFan

Once you connect the router, remember to encrypt (use WPA-PSK) the wireless communication and do MAC address filtering. You can find the MAC addresses by going to start/run and type cmd for command prompt. There, do ipconfig /all. The MAC address is the Physical Address.
This way, your communication will be encrypted and no other devices besides the ones you allow will be able to attempt to connect to the router.


MAC filtering is a last ditch effort. It is redundant if one is using WPA and very easy to circumvent. MAC filtering only increases administrative overhead and serves no useful purpose. Same goes for hiding SSID. Both are trivial to spoof.

WPA (1&2) provide authentication mechanism through the use of PSK (preshared key) or other methods. If the PSK is sufficiently large (12 random characters as a bare minimum) - nobody will be able to authenticate to the router and your traffic will be encrypted.

Originally Posted By: tmorris1
I have a pretty big house and with the router in the basement and it covers the whole house just fine.

The size of the house does not matter much. The main problem is electrical interference and blocking of signals.
However getting an overkill router will decrease the amount of aggravation, that's for sure, but I never had to deal with RangeMax.


As an overview:
1. Change your SSID from default so it does not conflict with neighbors
2. Set large enough PSK using random character, numbers and symbols
3. If you want to hide SSID or implement MAC filtering - go for it, but it is more work for you :)
 
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Originally Posted By: odessit
WRT54 (whatever model) is a fine wireless router. There are other manufacturers too...
Originally Posted By: CivicFan

Once you connect the router, remember to encrypt (use WPA-PSK) the wireless communication and do MAC address filtering. You can find the MAC addresses by going to start/run and type cmd for command prompt. There, do ipconfig /all. The MAC address is the Physical Address.
This way, your communication will be encrypted and no other devices besides the ones you allow will be able to attempt to connect to the router.


MAC filtering is a last ditch effort. It is redundant if one is using WPA and very easy to circumvent. MAC filtering only increases administrative overhead and serves no useful purpose. Same goes for hiding SSID. Both are trivial to spoof.

WPA (1&2) provide authentication mechanism through the use of PSK (preshared key) or other methods. If the PSK is sufficiently large (12 random characters as a bare minimum) - nobody will be able to authenticate to the router and your traffic will be encrypted.

Originally Posted By: tmorris1
I have a pretty big house and with the router in the basement and it covers the whole house just fine.

The size of the house does not matter much. The main problem is electrical interference and blocking of signals.
However getting an overkill router will decrease the amount of aggravation, that's for sure, but I never had to deal with RangeMax.


As an overview:
1. Change your SSID from default so it does not conflict with neighbors
2. Set large enough PSK using random character, numbers and symbols
3. If you want to hide SSID or implement MAC filtering - go for it, but it is more work for you :)


Great post!!!

Agreed 100%.
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Quote:
The size of the house does not matter much. The main problem is electrical interference and blocking of signals.
However getting an overkill router will decrease the amount of aggravation, that's for sure, but I never had to deal with RangeMax.


The RangeMax has MIMO with 6 antennas so it helps minimize interference. 2.4GHz phones are also WIFI killers, go with 5.8 GHz if possible.
 
You are correct about phones. There is a way to change channels on most access points, but it is PITA because phones can jump channels.

BTW, OVERK1LL - what do you do as Net. Eng. - are you on Admin or Design side? (My title is MIS Clerk, it is deceptive...)
 
Originally Posted By: odessit
You are correct about phones. There is a way to change channels on most access points, but it is PITA because phones can jump channels.

BTW, OVERK1LL - what do you do as Net. Eng. - are you on Admin or Design side? (My title is MIS Clerk, it is deceptive...)


I admin and design. Primarily small to medium LAN/WLAN setups, I have a few VPN's I look after as well as part of some of the topologies.

Of course I also build systems and servers as well. It was a hobby LONG before it was a career
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What's the easiest way to "lock" up the signal? What you guys are talking about is WAYYYY above my head. Also, noticed that I can't turn off the router. Really hate letting that thing run all the time when we're not using it. I noticed that when I unplug the router, the connection to my desktop is lost. What would be the best way to do this? Get an ethernet hub and do it this way.....modem to hub, from hub go one line to the desktop and then one line to the router. That way I could simply unplug the router when not using it. Thing puts out some heat too.
 
Schmoe, I know it's unmanly, but get the manual out and look up setting WPA security
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You should get familiar with how it's done so when (not if) you have a problem, add a computer, etc, you will be in a position to deal with it

That's the easiest way. If you post the make and model of your router, someone may have some additional specific advice.
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Originally Posted By: Schmoe
What's the easiest way to "lock" up the signal? What you guys are talking about is WAYYYY above my head. Also, noticed that I can't turn off the router. Really hate letting that thing run all the time when we're not using it. I noticed that when I unplug the router, the connection to my desktop is lost. What would be the best way to do this? Get an ethernet hub and do it this way.....modem to hub, from hub go one line to the desktop and then one line to the router. That way I could simply unplug the router when not using it. Thing puts out some heat too.

Usually you can go into the router configuration and turn off the wireless portion of the router which will power down the radio in the router.
I would just leave it on and not worry about it as long as you have WPA security enabled.
 
XS...you don't know how many times I've heard RTFM (read the f'in manual) BUT this thing didn't come with one, only a setup disk. Router config......where is that going to be located at?
 
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