How To Set Up Your Own Wireless Network
Buying the right equipment is the first thing you need for a wireless network set up. If you have looked around in computer stores or online shops, you may have seen that there are many wireless standards to choose from: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. 802.11a is the first wireless network standard, while 802.11g is the third and latest modulation standard for Wireless LAN. It is recommended that all the equipment you buy in 802.11g compliant, in order to ensure maximum performance and compatibility. A wireless router and a computer with wireless networking support or a wireless network adapter is the equipment you need to set up a wireless LAN, next to a broadband internet connection, of course. The job of the wireless router is to transform the data from the Internet into a wireless form and transport it from the router to the wireless network adapter in your computer. When choosing this piece of hardware, be sure to buy a wireless router and not a wireless access point. You will need a wireless network adapter in your computer to be able to receive the wireless data from the wireless router. Newer computers, especially newer laptops, have wireless capabilities built-in. you will not require another wireless network adapter if this is your case. If your computer does not have a built-in wireless adapter, you must purchase one. Go for an USB hardware device so you can use it anywhere you want. If you have a laptop without wireless capabilities, choose a PC card network adapter. You will need one such wireless network adapter for every computer you want to connect in a wireless network and to the Internet. Next, you will need to configure your wireless home network, to set up the wireless router and the wireless adapters in your computer. Because the wireless router emits like a small radio broadcast station, position the router in the center of your network (the closer the wireless network adapters are to the router, the faster they will receive the data from it). The wireless router must be connected to the Internet and it will transmit the information to all the computers in the wireless network. You will need next to name your wireless network (to assign a SSID - service set identifier -). All the computers in that particular wireless network must have the same SSID. The wireless network adapters must be installed and configured on all the computers you want to connect to the wireless router. Almost all modern wi-fi adapters are plug-and-play and have a graphic user interface accessible from the taskbar after the wireless networking hardware is installed. Open this wi-fi adapter control screen and be sure to enter the same SSID as you have assigned the router. All the parameter settings must be the same for all network adapters for the wireless network to function properly. If you prefer, you can choose an automatic wireless configuration that supports the IEEE- 802.11g standard for wireless networks to minimize the amount of time you spend configuring your wireless network. After you set up the automatic wireless network configuration on one computer, you can move across other networks without the need to reconfigure the network connection settings. |
