How to build a wireless network

Step 3: Log onto your WLAN access point

Now that your devices are connected -- to each other, if not the Internet -- it's time to start configuring your WLAN AP.

Open up a Web browser and type the address 192.168.1.1 (or 192.168.0.1 if this doesn't work) into the URL bar. Enter the router's default username and password; this will be in your user manual but, in our case, the username is linksys and the password admin.

Log onto the access point using a standard Web browser

When you first log onto the WLAN AP, you'll get to the Basic Setup configuration screen.

If you got online successfully in the previous step, skip to Step 4. If not:

• If you wrote down your IP address details in the previous step, change Internet Connection Type to Static IP, then enter the details you wrote down in the appropriate boxes.
• If you're using ADSL and couldn't get online in the previous step, change the Internet Connection Type field to PPPoE, then enter the username and password you use to log onto your ISP. If you don't know these values, check with your ISP. You may also need to uninstall any PPPoE software that came from your ISP.

Once you have made these changes, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save Settings, then close all your Web browser windows and open a new one. If you're still not online, cycle power as described in Step 2. If you're still not online, it's time to ring your ISP and find out whether there are any extra settings you need to configure.

Step 4: Access point housekeeping

Now that you're happily online, you should set up a few other options to make sure your access point is operating optimally. Here are a few of the main ones.

Time zone (Setup screen)
Firstly, log onto the WLAN AP as described in Step 3. From the Basic Setup screen, scroll down and adjust the Time Zone to GMT+10 (for Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane) or whatever time zone you're located in. Scroll down the bottom of the screen, then click Save Changes.

Give your access point a name (Wireless screen)
Every wireless LAN AP has its own SSID (Service Set Identifier), a name that your devices use to make sure they're connecting to the right wireless LAN. By default, all WLAN APs are set to some derivative of the vendor's name - 'linksys' in this case - but you'll probably want to change this to something unique.

On the WRT54G, this setting is on the Wireless/Basic Wireless Settings page. Type in your new SSID and choose whether you want to broadcast your SSID or not. Broadcasting the SSID makes your network visible to any of your devices -- and anybody passing by -- but disabling SSID keeps your network much more private. However, if you don't broadcast your SSID you'll need to explicitly type it into every device you want to connect to the WLAN.

Another setting to consider is on which of the 13 WLAN channels, or frequencies, the WLAN operates. The WRT54G uses channel 11 by default, and this is probably fine; only change this setting if you later encounter significant interference.

DHCP Server (Setup screen)
The WLAN AP's built-in DHCP server is responsible for farming out and revoking IP addresses to your connected devices. If you're using DHCP, you may want to limit the number of devices that connect to your WLAN at once; to do this, change Maximum Number of DHCP Users to a smaller number (we use 10).

You may also want to control the range of addresses the DHCP server assigns. On the WRT54G, the DHCP server begins handing out addresses starting at 192.168.1.100 by default. To make management of your WLAN easier, change the starting IP address to one more than that used by the router; for example, in our example the router is listed as being at 192.168.1.1, so we set the starting DHCP address to 192.168.1.2. This makes it easier down the track, should you want or need to explicitly restrict device access using your PC's firewall.

Don't forget to click Save Changes if you adjust any of the DHCP settings.

Change your WLAN AP password
Since everybody in the world can find out your WLAN AP's default password, change it by going to the Administration tab and entering a new password twice. That will prevent your kids from sneaking in and changing things around.