Set Up a Wired or Wireless Home Network
Have more than one computer in your house? How about any gaming systems like Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii? Well it may be useful to have your own home network to be able to connect to the Internet on all of your different devices. Read this article to learn how.
Steps
- Find an ISP (Internet service provider) such as Bell or Rogers. Do some research and look around on whom has the best deals for your specific needs. Things to watch for are: Speed, Usage, and most importantly price!
- Receive the modem. After you set up your ISP, they will usually give you a modem. Modems vary in shapes and sizes, as well as functionality. There are some modems that have wireless routers built in which will make it easy to set up a network because all you will need to do is plug it in. Others will simply have one output jack, which you will then need to connect to your router. Once you get a router from your ISP, the first thing you need to do is figure out what kind you have, I will be using a standard rogers modem for my examples but they will vary depending on your ISP.
- Find a good place to set up your network station. Usually you want a place that is close to the center of your house so you will get the most range covered by the network. You don't want to be walking up to your room with your laptop then realize that you have a weak signal there because your network station is on the other side of your house and in the basement.
- A standard Rogers modem is simple, it will have a power jack, a cable jack, and a RJ45 Ethernet jack. Common sense would tell you to connect the power cable to the power jack, a TV cable to the cable jack, and a standard Ethernet cable to the Ethernet jack. (HINT: Connect the modems power cable directly to a wall socket for best performance)
- Connect to the Internet with one device at a time.
- Find yourself a router that will fit your specific needs, the things to look for are: Wired/wireless, wireless type (such as G or N), quality, and once again price! As expected the higher quality routers will have a higher price. To find a router you will need to go to some technology store such as Future Shop, Best Buy, or Staples. There are many more and you can even find them in the Electronics department of most department stores. Best advice is to shop around, see if you can find any sales because routers can get pricey!
- Once you have a router, connect it to your modem. Much like the modem routers are all different, they will have different amounts of antennas, different amounts of RJ45 output jacks, and different power/input options. You will need to connect your Ethernet cable from the modem output jack, into the input jack of your router. Then connect the power cable to the router after that. (NOTE: You may need to reset your modem after connecting it to the router, simply unplug and replug the power cable to the modem.)
- Once your router is set up, connect to the network from a computer, ideally a close computer close to the router. You will often see a wireless network show up on your device named after the brand of device you decided to get.
- Once you can find the network, configure it, often the router you purchase will come with an installation CD. Use the CD in you computer and follow the on-screen instruction. Usually, the device you get will say the CD is needed on every computer you use with the network, but i have found this is not the case.
- Once you have finished the installation CD, proceed to configure your network. To do this write the address (usually looks like an IP address which will be in the format 0.000.0.0.00 or something like that) that was given in the instructions for your router into the address bar of your browser. This will open your routers home page, you will need to login. To do this, use the default login information given with your router.
- Once you have logged into the router home page you can proceed to change the settings, such as a password for your network, as well as changing the login information to the router homepage. Once you have completed this, you are almost done!
- Add the rest of your devices to the network. Simply try to connect to the network and then enter your created password.
- To connect any devices with a wire, simply plug the Ethernet cable from the output jack of the router into your device, no passwords will be required for a wired connection.
