Wireless Home Network Basics
Welcome to Wireless Home Network Basics - the guide to setting up a basic Wireless LAN at home plus some security to keep it in place...
This guide is meant for the intermediate computer user and therefore kept to a bare minimum in terms of complicated jargon/lingo; and is meant to be easily understood and straight to the point.
Help in editing this wikiBook is greatly appreciated, as this is a work in progress.
Here is the table of contents:
- Introduction: Wireless LAN - what is it? how to use it? features?
- Requirements: the stuff you need (hardware, software, cables)
- Hardware setup: how to setup the hardware (placement, precautions)
- Software setup: how to configure each computer (software, drivers, OS)
- Try it out: testing it, things you can do with it
- Security: how to keep other people from using your Wireless LAN
Introduction
A Wireless Network, or Wireless LAN, or WLAN for short, is basically a computer network which links computers in a small area. Normally, people use cables to connect them together, however after Wireless technology became popular, WLANs nowadays use radio waves to transmit data between computers.
Several advantages of WLANs are:
- Inexpensive
- Less cabling involved
- Computers do not have to be bound by wires - in the case of laptops, more mobile
- A family can share an Internet connection
WLANs do have downsides, which are:
- Lower bandwidth than LANs with cables (this is not noticeable in typical home networks)
- Security concerns (people can capture signals or illegally be part of your home WLAN)
- Radio waves have problems travelling through walls and obstructions (signal quality maybe weak)
(work in progress... more to come...)
Standards
Standards are a very important aspect to consider when setting up a wireless network.
Right now there are 2 main standards for wireless networking in widespread use:
- 802.11b - This is the earliest standard of wireless networking. It supports speeds of up to 11mbps. It is important to note that this speed is attained under ideal conditions - walls, trees, and other structural limitations greatly decrease performance. However, even with that taken into account, this is typically enough bandwidth to distribute a 3-4 mbps high-speed internet connection.
- 802.11g - This is a newer standard for wireless networking. It supports speeds of 54mbps under ideal conditions. Like 802.11b, walls and other structural barriers greatly decrease the speed.
If anyone is setting up a new wireless network, using 802.11g equipment is recommended. This will set your network up to maintain an acceptable standard of performance well into the future.
An important point of information is that 802.11b and 802.11g are both "backward" and "forward" compatible with each other - that is, B cards will work with G routers, and vice versa. Note that if you use a B router with G cards, the cards will only work at 11mbps and not 54 mbps.
It has also been noted that if B cards are used with a G router in an area where G cards are also being used, the level of performance to the G cards suffers considerably.
Most vendors offer an enhanced performance version of the G card that operates at speeds in the 108mbps-125mbps range. These may be a worthwhile investment if you use all your equipment from one vendor, but only then it will work if you get the "performance enhanced" version of your router and all cards you want to benefit from enhanced performance.
For example, if you buy an enhanced performance D-link router, it will not work at high speeds with enhanced performance Linksys or Netgear cards. (Note that any card that is 802.11b or 802.11g compatible will work with all other 802.11b or g equipment. This statement specifically refers to the enhanced performance features of vendor-specific equipment).
Requirements
There are 2 major components to any wireless network.
- Router - This typically connects to your high-speed internet connection (cable/DSL). It typically also includes a built-in DHCP server to allocate IP Addresses to your network.
- Adapters - These are PC Cards for laptops or PCI cards for desktop computers that connect to the wireless network.
Special Notes:
It's possible to have a wireless network between two computers without a router. This is known as an "Ad Hoc" network.
If you have a computer without a wireless network card you want to connect to the network, a good idea would be to put the router by it. Most wireless routers include a number of LAN ports to which you can connect computers to the network that are not wifi-enabled.
Pricing:
- 802.11g routers can be found for as little as $20 in the US given various rebates and specials. "Enhanced Performance" routers can go for about $40 given rebates and incentives. If a routers is bought without rebates, the price can be considerably higher.
- 802.11g adapters (both PCI and PC Card) can be found in relatively the same price range as routers in the same class (performance enhanced, or not) of the same manufacturer.
Hardware Setup
Software Setup
Try it Out
Security
Why care about security?
You must consider security because you are legally responsible for any activity that goes on originating from you IP address. Your neighbors or possibly someone parked outside your house in a vehicle can access your internet connection and possibly commit illegal activity. The more likely scenario is that they would use your internet connection for mundane internet tasks.
Security becomes even more important if you are in a high-density location, such as an apartment complex, where more people are likely to pick up your signal.
A possibly greater threat would be access of private data stored on your computers.
A good rule of thumb is:
Don't stick with the out-of-the-box settings!
It's fine to use the default settings when first setting up your network, but once settled in you will want to protect your network using a password protection mechanism called WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access).
Choose a passphrase that is relatively long and contains both characters and numbers. Also, do *not* use "dictionary words" as these can be easily cracked. The more nonsensical your passphrase, the better. For example,
f7S9jeiF9M8254nZ8s
is more secure than the passphrase
toaster
For more information on choosing good passwords, visit Password Policy.
You should also change the SSID (Service Set Identifier) of your device to something besides the default setting. The default SSID ("linksys" for Linksys, "NETGEAR" for Netgear, "default" for D-link) is often a dead giveaway for unprotected networks.
| 
