How to Setup Wireless Network
Wireless internet is awesome when it’s fast, reliable, and has wide coverage. Thankfully, there are a number of easy, and completely free, tricks to get your WiFi working like a champ. I have wrote this guide so even those “technologically challenged” among us can run through it in a few minutes.
Note: This tutorial assumes you already have connected to wireless router. It is also written specifically for 802.11B/G/N devices. All of the tips are also applicable to 802.11AC, but the instructions may be slightly different.
But, before you dive in, you will need to login to your router using a web browser. We need to find out the IP address of your wireless router, so we can login to your router using a web browser.
Step 1. Press the
+ “R” keys on your keyboard simultaneously. This will bring up the “Run” dialog box. In the text field type in cmd.exe and click “OK” button. Once you click “OK”, a new Command Prompt window will pop up. If this method isn't working for you, an alternate method is to type cmd.exe into the Start Menu search box and then press Enter key.
Step 2. Type in ipconfig and press Enter key on your keyboard. A bunch of information will show up. Scroll down until you find the “Default Gateway” line. The string of numbers at the end of the line (192.168.1.1 in this example) is the IP address of the router.
Step 3. Now that you know the IP address of your router, you can login to it. Open up your internet browser, and in the address bar at the top of the screen, type in the IP address of the router and press Enter key on your keyboard. Your browser will take you to the login page of your wireless router.
Step 4. At this point you will be asked for the username and password to login to the wireless router. This is not the same password as the one to join your wireless network. This password is almost always left at the default setting. Read your router’s manual. Different models of routers even ones from the same manufacturer often have different username and password combinations. To locate the default username and password for the router, look in its manual. If you’ve lost the manual, you can often find it by searching for your router’s model number and “manual” on Google. Or just search for your router’s model and “default password”.
Disable Old Wireless Protocols
Even though your fancy new router may be super-fast with 802.11n (or even 802.11ac), as soon as a device connects using an older protocol, say, 802.11g, the entire network slows down. The fix to this problem is to set the router to only broadcast newer wireless modes.
Dual band routers are like having two routers built into one (close enough, anyway). They can broadcast two separate wireless networks simultaneously. This means that you could setup a wireless g network for you older devices, and a wireless n network for newer devices. This allows the older devices to connect to WiFi without slowing down newer devices.
Change The Wireless Channel
Multiple routers operating on the same channel can cause all sorts of issues, including dropping a wireless signal all together. Most routers set the channel to “auto” by default. Find the channel setting in the router menu, and select the lowest option (CH 1 for 2.4gHz networks), then go back and check the signal strength and speed again. Repeat this process with a few different channels. Once you have found the channel that gives you the best performance, select it and save the settings.
Change Channel Width
As wireless protocols have advanced, one of the ways they have increased speed is by operating using wider wireless channels. Wireless 802.11n routers need to use a 40Mhz channel width in order to achieve maximum speed. Most routers come with 20MHz as the default width, this is in an attempt to avoid interference. So, there is a potential for this change to negatively affect some users. If you start to notice issues, switch back to a 20Mhz operation. If you use 2.4 Ghz broadcasting radio, you should use 20 Mhz for the channel width. The simple reason is that 20 Mhz is really a supportive measure for your older devices. Using 20 Mhz on a 5 Ghz radio setting defeats the purpose of actually using 5 Ghz radio setting.
The only exception is that you somehow has a devices that support 5 Ghz broadcasting while only accepting a 20 Mhz bandwidth, however that is fairly uncommon. But if that does happen, see if your router supports duo bandwidth for both 20 Mhz and 40 Mhz. Only use 20 Mhz / 40 Mhz combination if one of your devices require it. If not, just set it to 40 Mhz.
If you use 5 Ghz broadcasting radio, the chances are that your network is only consisted of the latest devices that support 802.11n. This is when you should use the 40 Mhz bandwidth.
Set Up WPA2 Encryption On Your Wireless Network
If you are like most people, your home or small office wireless router probably is running without any encryption whatsoever, and you are a sitting duck for someone to easily view your network traffic. If you want to keep your neighbors out of your business, then you need to use Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2) encryption. This is now showing up on a number of routers and is worth the extra few steps involved to make sure your communications are secure. It is currently the best encryption method.
What is WMM Settings
The Wireless Multimedia (WMM) is a wireless network feature that is available to let your router prioritize different types of traffic. You should generally turn this option on. WMM support helps with different kind of traffics such as voice, video, and background services. What happens is that if you use VoIP, you are less likely to encounter delays. You can have smoother actions while streaming movies. However, the downside is that it can delay other network traffic of less critical nature such as downloading large files.
It should be noted that if you use apple product such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV. You will need to turn WMM support on, or else you would not be able to connect to the 802.11n wifi network.
However, if you are having conflicts or drop in connection while using this option. The chances is that the devices that you are using do not have the latest drivers or operating system. Update all of your devices to have the latest os and drivers to see if that will solve the problem with WMM support feature.
If you still have problem with the WMM support feature, then maybe the devices that you have your router connected to are simply too old. You should then consider turning the router WMM support off.
Some routers let you change the WMM setting specifically for various type of traffic. They are pretty straight forward in themselves, however i will note them and give more clear media definitions here. The priority is ranked from high to low.
Voice. Voice over IP(VoIP) and streaming media.
Video. Video applications.
Best Effort. Most standard IP applications use this queue.
Background. Low priority with high throughput. Applications, such as FTP.
What is the SSID
SSID is simply the technical term for a network name. When you set up a wireless home network, you give it a name to distinguish it from other networks in your neighbourhood. You'll see this name when you connect your computer to your wireless network.
What is Guard Interval
For digital signals, data is modulated onto the carrier signal in bits or collection of bits called symbols. The guard interval is a period of time between symbols that accommodate for the late arrival of symbols due to multipath reception which will cause intersymbol interference (ISI), and data corruption.
A shorter guard interval results in a shorter symbol time, which increases the data rates by about 10% and increase throughput greatly. Short guard interval should be used in only good RF environment, otherwise intersymbol interference because of shorter GI will result in data corruption, layer 2 retransmission and throughput will be adversely affected.
When to use short GI?
1. When intending to improve the throughput, enable short GI can improve the throughput about 10%.
2. If the multipath effect is not too serious (not too many metals or other reflecting materials), you can enable short GI.
3. If you are using 802.11n or 802.11ac only, you can enable short GI. In another word, when using mixed mode, please disable the short GI, which may cause issues.
What to Consider When Buying a Wireless Router
Note: This tutorial assumes you already have connected to wireless router. It is also written specifically for 802.11B/G/N devices. All of the tips are also applicable to 802.11AC, but the instructions may be slightly different.
But, before you dive in, you will need to login to your router using a web browser. We need to find out the IP address of your wireless router, so we can login to your router using a web browser.
Step 1. Press the
+ “R” keys on your keyboard simultaneously. This will bring up the “Run” dialog box. In the text field type in cmd.exe and click “OK” button. Once you click “OK”, a new Command Prompt window will pop up. If this method isn't working for you, an alternate method is to type cmd.exe into the Start Menu search box and then press Enter key. Step 2. Type in ipconfig and press Enter key on your keyboard. A bunch of information will show up. Scroll down until you find the “Default Gateway” line. The string of numbers at the end of the line (192.168.1.1 in this example) is the IP address of the router.
Step 3. Now that you know the IP address of your router, you can login to it. Open up your internet browser, and in the address bar at the top of the screen, type in the IP address of the router and press Enter key on your keyboard. Your browser will take you to the login page of your wireless router.
Step 4. At this point you will be asked for the username and password to login to the wireless router. This is not the same password as the one to join your wireless network. This password is almost always left at the default setting. Read your router’s manual. Different models of routers even ones from the same manufacturer often have different username and password combinations. To locate the default username and password for the router, look in its manual. If you’ve lost the manual, you can often find it by searching for your router’s model number and “manual” on Google. Or just search for your router’s model and “default password”.
Disable Old Wireless Protocols
Even though your fancy new router may be super-fast with 802.11n (or even 802.11ac), as soon as a device connects using an older protocol, say, 802.11g, the entire network slows down. The fix to this problem is to set the router to only broadcast newer wireless modes.
- The 802.11a standard operates in the 5 GHz band with a maximum net data rate of 54 Mbit/s, plus error correction code, which yields realistic net achievable throughput in the mid-20 Mbit/s. Since the 2.4 GHz band is heavily used to the point of being crowded, using the relatively unused 5 GHz band gives 802.11a a significant advantage. However, this high carrier frequency also brings a disadvantage: the effective overall range of 802.11a is less than that of 802.11b/g. In theory, 802.11a signals are absorbed more readily by walls and other solid objects in their path due to their smaller wavelength, and, as a result, cannot penetrate as far as those of 802.11 standards utilizing 2.4 GHz band.
- The 802.11b standard has a maximum raw data rate of 11 Mbit/s, devices using 802.11b experience interference from other products operating in the 2.4 GHz band. Devices operating in the 2.4 GHz range include microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, cordless telephones.
- The 802.11g standard works in the 2.4 GHz band (like 802.11b), it operates at a maximum physical layer bit rate of 54 Mbit/s exclusive of forward error correction codes, or about 22 Mbit/s average throughput. Like 802.11b, 802.11g devices suffer interference from other products operating in the 2.4 GHz band, for example wireless keyboards.
- 802.11n is an amendment that improves upon the previous 802.11 standards by adding multiple-input multiple-output antennas (MIMO). 802.11n operates on both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands. Support for 5 GHz bands is optional. It operates at a maximum net data rate from 54 Mbit/s to 600 Mbit/s. In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO , is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmit and receive antennas to exploit multipath propagation. At one time, in wireless the term "MIMO" referred to the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver. In modern usage, "MIMO" specifically refers to a practical technique for sending and receiving more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel by exploiting multipath propagation.
- The IEEE 802.11ac include wider channels (80 or 160 MHz versus 40 MHz) in the 5 GHz band, offering link speeds ranging from 433 megabits-per-second (Mbps), all the way through to several gigabits per second. The IEEE 802.11ac has a addition of Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), is a set of multiple-input and multiple-output technologies for wireless communication, in which a set of users or wireless terminals, each with one or more antennas, communicate with each other. In contrast, single-user MIMO considers a single multi-antenna transmitter communicating with a single multi-antenna receiver.
Dual band routers are like having two routers built into one (close enough, anyway). They can broadcast two separate wireless networks simultaneously. This means that you could setup a wireless g network for you older devices, and a wireless n network for newer devices. This allows the older devices to connect to WiFi without slowing down newer devices.
Change The Wireless Channel
Multiple routers operating on the same channel can cause all sorts of issues, including dropping a wireless signal all together. Most routers set the channel to “auto” by default. Find the channel setting in the router menu, and select the lowest option (CH 1 for 2.4gHz networks), then go back and check the signal strength and speed again. Repeat this process with a few different channels. Once you have found the channel that gives you the best performance, select it and save the settings.
Change Channel Width
As wireless protocols have advanced, one of the ways they have increased speed is by operating using wider wireless channels. Wireless 802.11n routers need to use a 40Mhz channel width in order to achieve maximum speed. Most routers come with 20MHz as the default width, this is in an attempt to avoid interference. So, there is a potential for this change to negatively affect some users. If you start to notice issues, switch back to a 20Mhz operation. If you use 2.4 Ghz broadcasting radio, you should use 20 Mhz for the channel width. The simple reason is that 20 Mhz is really a supportive measure for your older devices. Using 20 Mhz on a 5 Ghz radio setting defeats the purpose of actually using 5 Ghz radio setting.
The only exception is that you somehow has a devices that support 5 Ghz broadcasting while only accepting a 20 Mhz bandwidth, however that is fairly uncommon. But if that does happen, see if your router supports duo bandwidth for both 20 Mhz and 40 Mhz. Only use 20 Mhz / 40 Mhz combination if one of your devices require it. If not, just set it to 40 Mhz.
If you use 5 Ghz broadcasting radio, the chances are that your network is only consisted of the latest devices that support 802.11n. This is when you should use the 40 Mhz bandwidth.
- For 20 Mhz broadcasting with 2.4 Ghz, the best channel band to use are 1, 6, 11.
- For 40 Mhz broadcasting with 2.4 Ghz, the best channel band to use are 3, 11
- For 20 Mhz broadcasting with 5 Ghz, you should use 40 Mhz instead of 20 Mhz, or use combination if your device needs it and the router supports it.
- For 40 Mhz broadcasting with 2.4 Ghz, any channel with the least amount of interference will do. The chances are you are free to use any channels. Consider using the auto function so that when your router can auto adjust for the best channel to use.
Set Up WPA2 Encryption On Your Wireless Network
If you are like most people, your home or small office wireless router probably is running without any encryption whatsoever, and you are a sitting duck for someone to easily view your network traffic. If you want to keep your neighbors out of your business, then you need to use Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2) encryption. This is now showing up on a number of routers and is worth the extra few steps involved to make sure your communications are secure. It is currently the best encryption method.
What is WMM Settings
The Wireless Multimedia (WMM) is a wireless network feature that is available to let your router prioritize different types of traffic. You should generally turn this option on. WMM support helps with different kind of traffics such as voice, video, and background services. What happens is that if you use VoIP, you are less likely to encounter delays. You can have smoother actions while streaming movies. However, the downside is that it can delay other network traffic of less critical nature such as downloading large files.
It should be noted that if you use apple product such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV. You will need to turn WMM support on, or else you would not be able to connect to the 802.11n wifi network.
However, if you are having conflicts or drop in connection while using this option. The chances is that the devices that you are using do not have the latest drivers or operating system. Update all of your devices to have the latest os and drivers to see if that will solve the problem with WMM support feature.
If you still have problem with the WMM support feature, then maybe the devices that you have your router connected to are simply too old. You should then consider turning the router WMM support off.
Some routers let you change the WMM setting specifically for various type of traffic. They are pretty straight forward in themselves, however i will note them and give more clear media definitions here. The priority is ranked from high to low.
Voice. Voice over IP(VoIP) and streaming media.
Video. Video applications.
Best Effort. Most standard IP applications use this queue.
Background. Low priority with high throughput. Applications, such as FTP.
What is the SSID
SSID is simply the technical term for a network name. When you set up a wireless home network, you give it a name to distinguish it from other networks in your neighbourhood. You'll see this name when you connect your computer to your wireless network.
What is Guard Interval
For digital signals, data is modulated onto the carrier signal in bits or collection of bits called symbols. The guard interval is a period of time between symbols that accommodate for the late arrival of symbols due to multipath reception which will cause intersymbol interference (ISI), and data corruption.
A shorter guard interval results in a shorter symbol time, which increases the data rates by about 10% and increase throughput greatly. Short guard interval should be used in only good RF environment, otherwise intersymbol interference because of shorter GI will result in data corruption, layer 2 retransmission and throughput will be adversely affected.
When to use short GI?
1. When intending to improve the throughput, enable short GI can improve the throughput about 10%.
2. If the multipath effect is not too serious (not too many metals or other reflecting materials), you can enable short GI.
3. If you are using 802.11n or 802.11ac only, you can enable short GI. In another word, when using mixed mode, please disable the short GI, which may cause issues.
What to Consider When Buying a Wireless Router