Preparing for a wireless network

You have a PC from about a year ago, and you’ve just acquired a new PC that comes complete with a wireless LAN card. You’re now raring to go wireless, now that you have a new, wireless-ready PC. However, you’re not sure if your old PC is wireless network-ready. Here’s how to find out if it is.

Open your old PC’s Control Panel and check if there’s a wireless adapter attached to your old PC. If there is none, then your old PC is not ready for a wireless network. You have to buy a wireless LAN card to connect your PC to a wireless network. If a wireless adapter is already attached, good for you.

However, you still lack a crucial piece of equipment: a wireless router, unless you’ve bought one already. It would have been a good idea to buy a router when you had your broadband connected, as it is always bad security practice to have your PC directly connected to the Internet via a broadband modem. But if you haven’t bought one before, and the piece of equipment that your ISP provided with your broadband connection is wireless, meaning that it’s not connected to your old PC via a serial cable, you can check with your ISP if they provided you with a broadband modem or a wireless router.

Typically, ISPs only provide a broadband modem to their subscribers. But you have to make sure that what you have is a modem, and not a router, as routers don’t come cheap, and it would be a waste of money to buy another if you already have one. So, google the make and model number just to be sure. If the ISP indeed provided you with a router, then all you have to do is set up and configure the router to accept connections from your two PCs. After that, you’re all set.

If you only have a broadband modem, then you need to buy a wireless router. Google for wireless router brands, read reviews and do research so that you’ll get a good-quality router. and not a lemon. After buying the router, do the necessary setup and configuration of both the router and the PCs so that they can see each other over your network. Generally, routers have a designated IP address (read the user’s manual that came with the router) that you can access from a browser for setup.

One other thing to be aware of are the security risks associated with wireless networks. Unlike wired networks, wireless networks are more susceptible to possible security breaches. Thus, it is advised that you follow security best practices for wireless networks, including changing your router’s default administrator username and password, turning on the available encryption protocols for your equipment, changing the default SSID for your router, assigning static IP addresses to your PCs, enabling firewalls on the router and PCs, enabling MAC address filtering, disabling the auto-connect to open networks setting of your PCs, and turning off the network when not in used for extended periods.

Wireless networks are the current hot trend. You can join the bandwagon, without the corresponding security threats, by following the simple steps outlined above.

Posted in Categories: Hardware, Internet ~ No Tags ~ Trackback

Related Posts: No related posts