Wireless Tips

I'm writing this post to give some advice on setting up a Wireless Router for your home or small office. I'm writing it from the aspect of being a CWNA, Certified Wireless Network Administrator. I've studied wireless networking, I've trained on them, I've put several into operation, and I have passed a certification test on them. The suggestions below are not brand specific, they should work whichever router you purchase. (It has been my experience that Netgear will not allow you to change the IP address scheme, so I do not use that brand.)

These suggestions are designed to make a more secure wireless network that will do a couple of things. One, it will make it harder for outsiders to get into your network. Two, it will make it harder for outsiders to gain access to the internet through your equipment and possible send spam and get your account into trouble.

Do not use any default settings. The SSID (that's the wireless network’s name) should be changed. It is frequently the brand of the device, such as Linksys. The SSID is what people see as the Wireless Network in the “Choose a wireless network” (in Windows XP). Change the default IP address scheme: most wireless routers use the address scheme of 192.168.1.1 or something in the 192.168 range. 192 – 223 are “Class C” address schemes, which are public addresses, that doesn’t mean a lot, because these refer to your “inside” addresses, which will become the IP addresses of your computers. Some routers require that class C addresses be used, others can use Class A (0-126) or B (128-191). Linksys can be set for all the IP Address schemes.
Wireless “range”. This is the “size” of the wireless network. A wireless router sends out the wireless signal in a circle from the antenna(s). The idea behind limiting the size is that if the farthest you are going to use a computer from the router is 50 feet, then you don’t want the signal going out 75 feet. If the area is large, it’s more likely that someone can hijack or “cyber squat” on your wireless network.
SSID naming. See #1, be sure you change the SSID, but don’t change it to something like your last name or your street address. Also, remember, the SSID is case sensitive when you want to connect to it from a wireless client. That means that WirelessNetwork is not the same as wirelessnetwork.
SSID broadcast. Some wireless routers refer to this as the “SSID Broadcast” and some as “Closed Network”. Whatever it’s called in your router, you don’t want this to be sent out. Why? If something is invisible, it’s harder to find. (Note - you may have to broadcast or open the SSID until the wireless client finds it.)
MAC Filter. MAC stands for Media Access Control, and it is the unique “address” of a network device. Each network “card” has its own MAC address. Use of a MAC Filter is designed to only allow network devices which you specifically allow to use the wireless network.
Encryption. This is like putting a code in which someone would have to know in order to get on your network. There are different types of encryption such as WEP and WPA. WPA is the more secure.
IP Addresses. By default, wireless routers use DHCP and “hand out” IP addresses to clients to machines on the network. There are two manners of using IP Addresses. There is the option of limiting the number of addresses to the number of PCs that you have. If you have 5 PCs, then set the router where it will only hand out addresses to 5 machines. Another option is to use static IP addresses. This is more difficult to use, but more secure. You must use an IP address on your client that is in the same range as the router is set to. For example if the router is set to 192.168.1.1, you would want to set the client anywhere from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. You will also need to manually set the DNS (Domain Name Service) to whatever your ISP (Internet Service Provider) gives you; otherwise you won’t be able to get onto the Internet.
Write it down! Write down all your settings. If you change the password (and you should! See step 1), then forget it, you’re going to have to reset the router to factory default and lose all your customizations. I recommend creating a file of the settings and saving it to somewhere on your computer. You might not want to put the password in it, or at least put it in a manner that someone won’t readily see it.
Some routers, like Linksys, have a method or option that will allow you to save the configuration to a file. I highly recommend using this feature, and then you won’t need to reset all those settings in case of a malfunction or even if you purchase a new router.