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So I've gotten an e-mail asking me to explain in a little more detail how I set up my wireless router. This is from a person who is thinking about it, but is a little frightened of the process. So I figured I had better write it now, while everything is fresh in my mind. And, by posting it to my blog, I'll keep a good record of it and maybe help someone else. If you have questions about any of this, feel free to comment on it, or drop me an e-mail.
To start with, I chose my router almost entirely on price. The Netgear MR814 was listed at about $25 after rebates ($45 if the rebate never comes). I don't know about anyone else, but considering that I paid nearly $200 for my first router, getting one for $45 didn't sound bad. The reviews for the thing on Amazon and elsewhere were generally positive, also. I don't need speed in my wireless connection, otherwise I would have picked something else. This router uses the "b" standard, which is slower than the more recent "g" standard (but both standards work together fine).
Everything I read indicated that getting a good wireless card was very important. In many cases people reported that after troubleshooting their routers, they would find out that the card was the problem, not the router. So I found a basic, high-rated card. This one I went for the "g" standard on, because "g" works with "b" and has the potential to be faster if you plan on using other networks, which I do. Because I was getting a Netgear router, I decided to stick with the company (my first router is also Netgear) and got a Netgear WG511 Card.
Ok, so you know what hardware I'm discussing. Now on to the set-up!
One of the things I learned about the Netgear MR814 while researching it is that they changed the product mid-through the run, resulting in a "version 2" which does not have the same features as the original. While I was relatively sure that I would get v2, I had to wait until I had the box in my hands before I was sure. As their support page indicates, there is no way to specify which version you want if ordering over the web.
In any case, I was told that the first thing I would want to do when I got the router would be to upgrade the firmware. The versions that shipped had bugs, and the upgrades help you to avoid a few annoying problems. So once I was sure I had v2, I went to their support page and downloaded the upgrade and the manual. The manual actually comes on the CD, but I found it easier to leave the CD in its package and use the downloaded one. Note that I did the downloading on my OLD connection... I hadn't actually touched the router at this point.
If you go to the download page and look at the installation guide, you will note that it is tiny. That's because router installation has been made as simple as possible by the manufacturers. They want you to be able to quickly set up and use their products.
The initial physical set-up was easy. I used the cable included with the router to link it to my laptop, fired up my browser, typed "192.168.0.1" for the URL, and I was logging in. The default user is "admin" and the default password is "password". I ignored the setup wizard, and went to "Router Upgrade" on the sidebar. I browsed to the file I'd downloaded, then installed the new firmware. Pretty simple.
After a restart on the router, I logged in again, and reset the password. Then, heeding the advice of my network savvy friend Andy, I went to "LAN IP Setup" and changed the IP address from the default 192.168.0.1 to a set of numbers that I won't post here. Instead, I'll say that I changed it to "192.168.55.1". There are standards to indicate what ranges you can set home IP addresses to. The ranges are as follows: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. You can use any of the numbers in those ranges to set up your home network.
Ok, once I changed the LAN IP, I had to use the new IP to log in. I also had to inform my ethernet card (I was not using the wireless yet) of the change, because I had manually set the IP on the card for my old router. In Windows XP, it's just a matter of finding the network connection ("My Network Places" --> "View Network Connections") and resetting the properties (right-click, "properties", select "Internet Protocol", hit properties button) to have 192.168.55.1 in the IP address box instead of 192.168.0.1. If you've never had to set the IP address on your computer, you probably don't have to reset it.
The next step was to connect the router to the cable modem. It's a simple enough process, and there are nice diagrams in the installation guide to show you which bits need to be connected.
After the physical connections, it was time to go back and configure. I logged into 192.168.55.1 (remember, that's the new name of the router) and clicked on "Setup Wizard". Steps were easy. My internet connection doesn't require a login, but has an account and domain name. Everything else fit the defaults. After hitting Apply, I hit test and was sent to the Netgear website. All's good.
Next step was to physically connect and configure the two desktops (Box and Xoanon) to the router. This was actually the biggest hassle, because I had to move a bunch of wires which are still clogging up the doorway to my room. That's job one over the next few days: clean up the wires on my wireless network! Configuring wasn't hard either. Box, because it runs XP, was simple to set up. I just needed to change the IP address in its ethernet card and I was set. Xoanon, being an early iMac, required a bit more mental effort on my part as I didn't realize I needed to set the name servers manually when I set everything else manually. Once I figured that out, it was happy.
A quick note about IP addresses: When you have a home network, the router is the "1" of the address, and each computer claims another number. For instance, in my network, the router is 192.168.55.1, and Xoanon is 192.168.55.2, while Box is 192.168.55.3. In a non-manually configured network, the IP address gets assigned according to what computer connects to the router first. So if Box connected to the router after a restart before Xoanon, Box would be 2 and Xoanon 3. I wanted the IPs stable within my network, so I configured each computer to claim its own IP. This is a lot of trouble for some people, and isn't strictly necessary, but it's how I set up my own network.
Ahem. At this point I had a router with three computers connected to it using ethernet cable... exactly the same thing that I had before buying the new router. All three computers worked, but I wanted one of those computers to go wireless. Next installment: Configuring the Netgear WG511 Card. I gotta take a break for now.
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