Should I Get A Wireless Router?

I know there are security issues with going wireless, but i cant keep buying 100ft ethernet cords through-out my house either. I was thinking of going wireless but don't know much about it other than people can use you connection. How would I configure a wireless router to keep people out of my network? For some reason I cant keep the house furniture in its current position for more than a couple of months without rearranging furniture and really want wireless but dont want the hassle of being hacked. Also, do i need to by a special NIC for a wireless router, I believe I do? Any help would be appreciated

I don't think there are major possibilities of being hacked using a wireless connection. I have a trendnet one, and I can say that here, it's very hard for someone to hack your wireless connection. It has different kind of protections, called WEP, WAP and WAP2. The better is supposed to be WAP2, but I used WAP because it's the max level of security my wireless driver can take (or something like that). To WAP you add a password, and that's it. Moreover, your wireless router won't reach too far for more people that could potentially try to hack it. I wouldn't care about it really. I never got in problems with it.

Do wireless routers go through walls well? My router wont reach very far and I have computers in different rooms. I want to make sure this will work before I try getting one. Anyone have any recomendations on which kind of wireless router to get? Do I need new NIC's in my PC before I can use a wireless router?

As I have said, I have a Trendnet one, and yes, it works pretty well even through walls, but the signal force depends in the distance you have between the router and the computer, and also, the signal power of the router itself. Anyway, if I'm not wrong, even if the signal is seen as 'low' the internet speed that the computer will have will still be the same (and I have kind of tested it).

I'm not sure what do you mean by NIC, the router usually makes up automatically a MAC address for each of the computers that joins the network, unless it's off.

This post has been edited by Pankyy: Mar 14 2009, 04:42 AM

Its WPA and WPA2 not WAP or WAP2. Other than that a well written explanation; I couldn't have done a better job myself.

@lonebyrd: You can't go wrong going with WPA or WPA2 if you are worried about others getting into your network. WEP security can be cracked in a few minutes.


The router assigns IP addresses not MAC addresses. MAC addresses remain the same for the remainder of that computer's life. When your computer connects to the router via DHCP, the router has a range of IP addresses to assign to the computer, it tells the computer what it's new IP address is, and the computer tells the router what it's MAC address is.

This post has been edited by galexcd: Mar 14 2009, 05:16 AM

My bad, I guess I've changed a few things Maybe because of the WEP and then I took the pattern W--
And also my bad with the MAC address thing. I meant IP addresses.

I had a wireless pocket pc that couldn't connect to my Wireless LAN at home unless I didn't use any security So I just "hid" the network by disabling the SSID broadcast ("Enables the wireless network name to be broadcast publicly to any wireless users within wireless range of your network. Disabling the SSID broadcast makes the network name private and provides enhanced security by requiring wireless users to enter the network name manually when creating a wireless network profile on their computer.") and didn't use any security. It was like that for a long time and I never had any security problems.

By NIC i mean the network card in my computer. Isn't there a special wireless on as opposed to a wired one? I have heard of wireless NIC's before so I was just assuming you needed one to use a wireless router.

There is always security issues, however with wireless there are several layers and that has to do with WEP and WPA and WPA2. WEP security is pointless that a well trained wireless hacker can get in WEP secured connection within a matter of minutes. So everyone recommends going to at WPA because it takes a bit longer to get into then WEP, but if your extra paranoid you can go WPA2 and its more secured then the other two.

As for keeping people out of your network you would want to do the following, change the name of the SSID (router name), go WPA2 since it seems you have a lot of computers and for extra measure set up a list of computers based on the MAC address who can access the computer. I know linksys routers can do this and the best one is WRT54G since it cheap and its all you really need. As for the special NIC no, however, if your computers never came with wireless adapter when your purchase the computers, you need to purchase those adapters and intall them to the motherboard in order for them to accept a wireless signal.

However, if your computers are in the 1-3 year range they should have the wireless card built in already and so all you need is to purchase one router as it has about 15-20 foot radius from the router. For effective use its best to put the router near a window to help spread the signal out more but since the signal bounces all over the place you have could reach a 3rd floor without too many problems.



Now its not hard to hack a wiresless connection, it gets tricky depending if you secured the signal and what encryption you are using. Like I mention WEP can be hacked in mere minutes while WPA and WPA2 will take a little longer since the fastest time that I am aware of is 15 minutes at WPA. Well there is more to it then just a password, because the password generates 4 sets of codes that one has to enter to their computer in order to be connected to the wireless router. Usually a wireless router has a range of about 25 feet, however, there are people who go War Driving, which are people who drive around looking for unsecured wireless signals to either use or in some cases hack into. Thus the reason you see a lot of wireless signlas in a city because usually there is more then one router within a building.



I know the Linksys WRT54G does as I could go outside and be connected to my router from my laptop, of course placement of your wiresless router is important because the farther you go out the weaker the signal gets. However, usually within the building the signal is hte strongest just because it is bouncing all over the walls looking for computers to connect to and what not. Again to get a wireless signal onto your PC's you need a wireless adaptor, most computers that arr 1-3 years have some sort of wireless card installed, however, anything older you would need to purchase the adaptor and plug it into your motherboard.



Again you don't need a new NIC card just a wireless adaptor if your computer doesn't get one.





Also to effectively use a wireless router you need to manually assign an IP to each computer or if you have several computers connected you might have some problems. Although I think in the last couple of years the routers do it automatic, but either way you want to make sure each computer has its IP address and make sure you set up a wireless Mac filter and that way only the computers within your network will have complete access. Capt






That is a good point especially if your running a network just make sure that the SSID name is different fro mthe default one.



Again all a Wireless NIC is just an adapter, my recommendation would be to get that adapter as in USB form as it is quicker to install then going old fashion and taking the computer apart and installing it to the motherboard.

As for somebody saying they had a Trednet router, and somebody asking if it goes through walls well?

Yes it does, Our school uses a mixture of trednets and airports, and the trednets get good range and penetrate walls very well.