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A Writer At Heart |
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Aureo P. Castro's Written Works |
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My home network consisting of two desktops one on the first floor and one in the second floor of the house had been doing well for the past several years on a wired connection using CAT-5 cables. A few months back, I chanced upon an opportunity to migrate one of my desktops inexpensively when DLink introduced its DIR-300 wireless router. I purchased it and also bought one TP-LINK USB wireless adapter and migrated the computer on the first floor to the wireless mode. So I now have a DSL modem connected to the Internet port of my wireless router and my other desktop connected through LAN cable to one of the four LAN ports of the wireless router. The beauty of this setup is that I can use the wired computer to configure the router without losing connection if I make a mistake that stops the wireless connection from functioning. In the process, I gained some insights which I want to share with you for whatever good they may impart upon you. If you’re planning on going wireless in your home network, here are some points that you may want to consider. 0. Have a basic understanding of how a computer network works. It will be tremendously less painful for your mind if you try to develop a basic understanding of the operation of computer networks. TCP/IP is the basic protocol used in sending and receiving computer data. Be thoroughly familiar with how a computer communicates with each other on the physical as well as on the methodical side. It will suffice for you to know that there are computers out there in the Internet whose sole function is to enable your computer to exchange information with those in other parts of the world. It would be tremendously vital for you to realize that your computer’s networking settings must be correct for it to be able to see other computers and talk with them. 1. Have a basic understanding of how wireless networks work. It would be a good idea to read a short book on wireless networking to familiarize you with the issues that need to be addressed when information is sent thru the airwaves. Foremost among these is the security of information and preventing others to use your Internet connection for free. Of great importance also is the physical positioning of your computers to achieve maximum transmission speed and the possible sources of 2. Why do you want to go wireless? Do you have a messy wired home network? Is someone always tripping over the LAN cables? Are there children that can be endangered with wires lying around? Or are you very much interested in trying the new technology that you have no other reason to go wireless than to satiate that natural curiosity? Whatever your reason is, make sure that the benefits you gain exceed the costs of going wireless. Wireless equipments are several times more expensive than their wired counterparts. For me, the lessons I learn experimenting with wireless at home is priceless. 3. Why wireless is not that good. Wireless connection suffers from threat of intrusion and eavesdropping from unscrupulous persons. Wireless connection is slow. You won’t get the same speed that you get when connecting through LAN cables. The transmission protocol we are using (TCP/IP) is already bogged down in heavy packet overhead (sorry it only means that it takes a lot of other enabling information to transmit your data). Secondly, you need a lot of protection so you want to use the highest security option possible so not only are more enabling information used but also more additional processing is needed to hide and unhide your information. Add to this the noise that contaminates your data when they are sent in the air and you have a good recipe for slowing down the speed of the network. 4. Make sure that the network is running well when computers are hooked up using LAN cables. If the computers are not well connected using cables, they can not be well connected using wireless. Air is a weaker medium that direct wired connection so the problem will be compounded when using wireless connection. 5. Read the printed documentation. The printed documentation contains information that you need to have a basic functioning wireless connectivity. It is usually not that long so it is a good idea to read everything in it. 6. Read the router’s manual in the CD that came with the router. Here you can skip portions that are already familiar to you. This documentation is fairly long so you don’t need to read it exhaustively. It is meant more of a reference when you need help on a particular issue. 7. Don’t hesitate to the read the help section in the router’s graphical interface that you can use to configure your wireless router. The help information is there to help you. Should you need more clarification, you can go to the router’s manual in the CD. This material is usually a PDF document. 8. Migrate to the wireless network one computer at a time. Perfect the connection in one computer then replicate the connection to the other computers in the wireless segment. The wireless router is by default set to distribute network setting information to the computers in the wireless segment. Unless you want to configure your computers manually for faster response and more security (which means more work for you), leave your computers’ network settings to obtain network settings information automatically. 9. Leave at least one computer connected thru cable for use in troubleshooting the wireless router or configuring the router when there is no wireless connection. Always use wired connection when configuring your wireless router through your browser’s graphical interface. This way whatever mistake you make in configuring the wireless router will not affect your connectivity. If you are using wireless connection and you made a mistake in the configuration and you can’t connect to the router, how can you correct the mistake if you can not connect to the router wirelessly? 10. Use the highest protection level as far as practicable. The higher the protection protocol, the more data is needed and more processing of data is done so you get a hit on speed of the network. But for me, it is better to be slowed down by my high security settings than to be slowed down by other outside users using my wireless network because my network is not protected enough. 11. Whether to use DHCP inside the wireless segment: Pros and Cons. If you only have a few computers in the wireless segment and you don’t expect any laptop user to connect to your wireless network, then you can manually turn off the router’s DHCP function and configure the IP address and subnet mask together with DNS and gateway of each computer manually. This method is more secure but it takes a lot of know-how and some work. If you are lazy to learn and you can manage with less security, or you’re expecting some guests to hook up their wireless laptop to your network, then let the DHCP in the wireless router to remain turned on. The network settings of the computers in the wireless segment should then be set to get their network settings from the wireless router.
12.
Automate each computer’s
connection to the wireless network. When using your wireless adapter’s
configuration utility, login as root user or administrator and create a
wireless connection profile indicating the settings needed for successful
connection to the wireless router. In windows XP, this will enable all
users to be connected automatically whenever they login to their user
names. |
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Pointers For Going Wireless At Home. Points to consider when planning a wireless home network. Pros And Cons Of Disabling The DHCP Server In Your Home Wireless Router. Points to consider if you want to disable your wireless router's DHCP server. Have A Simple Web Presence At Absolutely No Cost. Microsoft's Query Analyzer can be used as an effective medium for learning SQL. Make Your Wireless Home Network More Secure. Ways to make your wireless network less hospitable to hackers and unauthorized users. |
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Copyright 2008 Aureo P. Castro Email: [email protected] |
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