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Setting Up A Wireless Network with SMC Hardware

Wi-FI Hot spots are popping up everywhere. You see them at McDonalds, coffee shops, book stores, and even entire cities are spending the money to make large sections of the city wireless accessible. As costs continue to decline and connection (upload and download) speeds increase, wireless networks are becoming feasible for businesses and home users. Setting up a wireless network is very simple with today's hardware. However, setting one up correctly will take a little knowledge or a good friend with that knowledge. Today we look at setting up a home wireless network using a SMC Barricade SMC2804WBRP-G wireless router and SMC SMC2802W wireless PCI adapter cards.

Company:

SMC Networks, www.smc.com

Ratings

Price:
Install/Setup:
Usability:
Support:
Average Rating:

Pros:

• SMC equipment isn't expensive, but has decent quality and user interface
• Excellent connection speeds
• Management and Features are excellent if you know what you are doing

Cons:

• Setting up a secure wireless network requires knowledge beginners wont have
• Documentation and web FAQ information is lacking
• If you are a hardcore gamer or avid downloader speeds are quite there yet

Getting Started

The benefits of a wireless network are pretty obvious. No cables lying around your house or office. You can roam around with your laptop or PDA or other wireless hardware and still have a connection to the network or internet. Also, as wireless networks continue to grow in popularity, you will continue to see new toys and gadgets (hardware) to use as well as tools to increase your productivity.

To get your wireless network off the ground, you will need:

1. A wireless router (an access-point can be used instead, but for a home network, purchasing a wireless router is recommended for the added bonus of Internet sharing and security. Also, home wireless routers tend to be cheaper than access points, since the latter are primarily marketed to businesses.)

2. One wireless network adaptor for each computer or device that you wish to connect to the router/access point.

As for what to purchase for a home network or small business environment, evaluate what you really need. Given a choice between purchasing a wireless router (more commonly available) and an access point (does not incorporate a firewall or internet sharing), the router is recommended, since it has a usefulness that goes beyond just connecting your wireless devices. If possible, purchase a wireless router that has wired ports on it as well for added flexibility. The SMC SMC2804WBRP-G has all these features built in.

When buying wireless network adaptors for your computers, consider which computers in your home or business you actually need to be wireless. How often do you plan to move your desktops? A good rule for this is to consider where you are going to position your router/access point, then figure out if you can easily connect any of your desktops to it via cable.

802.11 What?

802.11g or 802.11b/g or 802.11a all refer to wireless data standards used in contemporary devices. Really what it means to you is how fast of a connection are you getting. 802.11b uses the 2.4GHz radio spectrum to transmit data at a maximum rate of 11Mbps. Actual data transfer rates tend to be around 4-6Mbps. Realistic range for 802.11b devices in an urban environment is between 70 and 150 feet. Although no where near as fast as wired 100Mbps Ethernet, 802.11b still has more than enough bandwidth to enable high-speed internet access, games and small to medium size file transfers. 802.11b's one major disadvantage is in the way it handles the channels it uses to connect devices within the 2.4GHz spectrum. Problems arise with this when you have more than three wireless access-points within each other's range. When multiple access points are attempting to service clients using the same channels, considerable signal interference will occur. As wireless networks become more common, this issue will become a more pressing problem. 802.11b networks are also subject to some interference from common electronic devices such as cordless phones and microwaves, which may use the 2.4GHz spectrum.

802.11a uses the 5GHz radio spectrum, and is capable of transfer rates up to a maximum of 54Mbps, though some manufacturers have improved on this using proprietary modes. Range is about equal to that of 802.11b. The major advantage of 802.11a is in how it handles signaling. Besides the fact that is uses the 5GHz spectrum, and is thus not subject to interference by the variety of common electronic devices which share the 2.4GHz range. Drawbacks to 802.11a are threefold; first it is not directly compatible with 802.11b devices so you would need to have separate access-points for each standard with a network switch in between in order to allow devices with the different standards to communicate. Two, availability is limited, compared to 802.11b devices at least. Three, 802.11a devices are intended for business use, and as such tend to be priced at a premium.

802.11g is sort of a hybrid of A and B, at least in terms of its feature set. It is capable of 54Mbps, but on the 2.4 GHz spectrum. It is completely compatible with 802.11b devices (using 802.11b's default 11Mbps speed, of course), but has better channel availability than that standard. A router and hardware compatible with the 802.11g standard is what you currently should be looking for.

Click on picture to enlarge image

Setting Up Your Wireless Network

The first step in setting up your wireless network is to install the wireless network card, such as the SMC wireless PCI adapter card, into each of your computers. For desktop computers using a PCI network adaptor, you will need to power down the system, open up the case and insert the adaptor into a free PCI slot. Screw the card in and then close up the computer and restart, providing the driver disk when prompted. For laptop systems, you will either have a PCMCIA card adaptor (recommended) or a USB adaptor. Both can be plugged into the computer while it is running, though with the PCMCIA card adaptor it is a good idea to power off before you plug it in. Install the drivers as required. Many new laptops come with integrated wireless adaptors.

Next step is to choose a location for your router. If you have decided that you will use wired connections for any of your desktop systems, obviously you want it close to them. The router will need to be wired to your DSL or cable modem if you are planning to share internet through it. If you have multiple floors in your home or office, it is a good idea to put the router on the middle floor or sometimes the top floor to ensure maximum connectivity. You can always change the location later once you see the kind of signals you are getting, so don't worry about it for too long. Plug the router in. Verify that the 'WLAN' LED is lit up. To test connectivity, open a web-browser on one of your wireless computers and enter the default IP address of your router. If you are not sure what this is, consult your manual, but typically it is 192.168.2.1. If successful you should wind up at the router's configuration interface screen.

By default, your router will have a 'pool' of IP addresses which it will distribute to any clients who attempt to connect wirelessly. This is called the DHCP server. You can disable this feature by turning off the 'DHCP server' option, but if you do so, you will have to manually assign each wireless client an IP address in the same network as the router by browsing to 'My Network places/(your wireless adaptor)/TCP-IP settings' and entering an address in the proper range. For example, if your router's IP address is 192.168.2.1, you will need to give your client computers IP addresses in the range of 192.168.2.2-254 to connect. We will discuss some more efficient forms of securing your connection in a second. Your wireless network adaptors in each computer should have a status program that will give you basic information about your network and the signal strength available. After setting up the SMC wireless PCI adapter and installing the drivers and connection management utility, we found 3 other wireless networks besides ours. If the signal is poor you will need to reposition your router. Walls, people, and metal can absorb much of the wireless signal, so proper positioning of the router is important. Another important point to consider is securing your wireless network from just anyone accessing it.

Securing Your Wireless Network

The first thing you need to do to secure your wireless router is connect to it as mentioned above and change the default username and password. This information and how to connect to it are standard. This means that someone who can access the wireless network, could access the router via a web browser and has full control of your wireless network short of you unplugging it. Don't let this happen. Change your password.

By default, a wireless network is wide open to anyone in range with the proper equipment. If you have set up your router to distribute IP addresses via DHCP, it will cheerfully give them to anyone who walks by with a wireless enabled pocket pc or laptop or your neighbor with a wireless adaptor in their PC. As I mentioned, after installing an adaptor in one of my PCs, I quickly found 3 available wireless networks within range. Only one of these was secure. That means, if I wanted to..., I could use my neighbors' internet connection via their wireless network or even connect to their home network and see their shared folders and files. The same can and probably will happen to you if you don't secure your wireless network.

Most current wireless routers/access-points come with two basic methods of securing their networks, WEP and MAC address filtering. A MAC address (also known as a physical address) is a unique hardware identifier assigned to every network device that looks something like '00-EF-78-C6-34-56'.

MAC address filtering involves manually entering a list of the addresses found in your local network (you can easily find the MAC addresses of your network adaptors by going to the command prompt and typing 'ipconfig /all') and configuring the router to allow only these specific addresses to connect via the wireless network.

MAC address filtering is a good basic method of securing your wireless network. Its drawbacks are that it requires some initial manual configuration, to obtain and enter the MAC addresses, and it can be defeated by using a network traffic capture program in conjunction with a wireless card, and reading an 'allowed' MAC address from a captured packet, then using this address on a new network adaptor. Not that anyone would bother to do this to get into your home network, but business networks would be prime targets for this kind of exploit.

WEP or Wireless Encryption Protocol works by establishing a shared key between the clients and the access-point, then using the key to encrypt and de-encrypt the data passing between them. This offers adequate security for a home network, where the primary concern is that your neighbors do not find out what you are downloading. To configure WEP, you must enable it on the router and on each wireless adaptor (use the management software that came with the card.), and designate a passphrase or key for the network, which must be entered identically on each system.

With the SMC Barricade SMC2804WBRP-G you get WEP, WPA with preshared key, and 802.1x authentication options. We were unable to define or specify MAC addresses manually. This isn't a huge problem because of the other options. After enabling WEP authentication and adding the preshared key to my other computers, connecting was flawless.

SMC Barricade SMC2804WBRP-G Specifications

Adding It All Up

Setting up a wireless network isn't hard to do. Securing your network might take some time and you might have to ask for help, but you can do it. The benefits and freedom a wireless network can give you is amazing. To make it happen and make it work you simple need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Understand it. Learn the terminology and phrases and functionality we discussed here.
Step 2: Plan it. Know what you need and where you need it.
Step 3: Do it. Once you have your plan, just do it. Don't hold back. Jump in and try it.
Step 4: Secure it. If you can't figure out how to secure it, ask someone or call the manufacturer's support line.
Step 5: Use it. Now that you have it set up...Enjoy it. Look for ways you can benefit and enjoy your cable-less connections.

Setting up a wireless network with the SMC Barricade SMC2804WBRP-G was a good experience. Our only complaint is really the lack of decent documentation that SMC ships with their products and on their web site. I have some experience with networks and was able to configure and secure my wireless network without difficulty. A newbie or any advanced PC user without at least a little understanding of networks would run into trouble securing their wireless network. Sure you could just plug in all your hardware and things would work just fine, but you know what can and will happen to your internet connection without securing it.

Despite the lack of decent written support, we highly recommend you use the SMC Barricade SMC2804WBRP-G wireless router and SMC SMC2802W wireless PCI adapter cards to complete your wireless network install. You'll be happy with the price and performance of these products.

Stay tuned for more... Now that we have our wireless network set up, we are going to really have fun playing with streaming audio and video from our wireless network out to our TV and Stereo with the SMC EZ-Stream Wireless Digital Media Receiver.

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