HOW TO CONFIGURE YOUR WIRELESS ROUTER

Step 1 – Wireless Router Setup

Before beginning, unplug the power cable to your DSL modem. Next, connect your wireless router to your DSL Internet modem. If your PC is normally connected directly to your modem, use that network cable to connect your router and modem. The cable should be plugged into your modems input, and connected to your routers Internet port. The port on your router will be labeled WLAN, WAN, Internet, or something similar. This step places your wireless router between your computers and your modem, allowing all incoming and outgoing signals to be converted to a wireless broadcast.
Step 2 – Configure Your Router

Before your set up your computer with a wireless connection, use a network cable that came with your router and plug your computer directly into your wireless router. Turn your computer on and it should recognize your wireless router and connect.

Now open a browser and type in the address of your router in the address bar. Your router's address will vary depending on the brand that you purchased, and you may need to supply a username and password. The documentation that came with your wireless router will have this information, but the more common brands are listed below:Router Username Password Address
Netgear admin password http://192.168.0.1/
Linksys admin admin http://192.168.1.1/
D-Link admin ----- http://192.168.0.1/
3Com admin admin http://192.168.1.1/


Now that you have your router's configuration page open, you need to make a few simple changes. First, change your password. All routers of the same brand have the same factory set password, and your needs to be unique.

Once your password is changed, go to the Wireless Security tab of your configuration. Once there, set up your WEP keys. WEP is a wireless encryption standard, and most wireless routers will ask you to enter a password to set up several WEP Keys. These keys are used to identify individual computers on the network, and prevent any non-keyed computers from accessing your connection.

The last step is to setup a unique name for your wireless network. This can be done from the general configuration tab. The wireless network name is also known as the SSID.
Step 3 – Connect Your Computer

Now your computer will need to be set up to access the wireless network. If your PC has built in wireless capability, skip ahead to the next section. If not, it's time to install your wireless network adapter.

First connect your adapter to either a PC card slot, or a USB port depending on what type you purchases. Specific instructions will have come with your hardware. Once this is done, restart your computer. You may be prompted to install your new hardware drivers at start up. If this occurs, your hardware will have a disk containing the drivers you need, and you can install from it.

Once you have your adapter connected properly, it will detect your wireless network automatically. Once this is done, you will be asked which network you wish to connect to. There may be a list of networks detected if your neighbors also have a wireless network set up. Look for the name you gave your network during router configuration and select it. You will be asked for a key, which you can enter now. The key was supplied by your router when you configured your WEP settings.