Technology Rookie router / home network question

[Mr. Freeze]

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On these linksys or d-link wireless routers, are you able to hard-wire existing PCs in addition to putting out an airborne signal? A pic of the back shows a WAN port, which I can only assume is the input, and 4 LAN ports; again, I assume these would allow me to split the incoming signal into 4 wired connections, and roughly an infinite number of wireless ones. ?.

I have a desktop PC now, but I purchased a MacBook recently (enough so that it is still in China...) and was wondering what I need to have wireless for it at home. I think just a router would do it. However, that's why I'm here.

And are home wireless networks capable of being password protected so that the only 2 computers allowed on are the ones I own? I'm in the process of learning what I can about home security...

 

[tkim]

On these linksys or d-link wireless routers, are you able to hard-wire existing PCs in addition to putting out an airborne signal? A pic of the back shows a WAN port, which I can only assume is the input, and 4 LAN ports; again, I assume these would allow me to split the incoming signal into 4 wired connections, and roughly an infinite number of wireless ones. ?.

I have a desktop PC now, but I purchased a MacBook recently (enough so that it is still in China...) and was wondering what I need to have wireless for it at home. I think just a router would do it. However, that's why I'm here.

And are home wireless networks capable of being password protected so that the only 2 computers allowed on are the ones I own? I'm in the process of learning what I can about home security...

The only thing you need in your Mac laptop is an Airport card. Hopefully you bought it preconfigured with one.

The 4 LAN ports are for wired connections like your desktop, though you can buy a wireless card for your desktop as well.

You can either set the router to allow wireless connections by MAC address - which is a unique ID each computer has, or by an encrypted password.

Did you buy this router already?

 

[Mr. Freeze]

No, I haven't bought anything yet. Other than my laptop, which does have the built-in Airport sniffer hoodis. I guess I should clarify that the reception of the wireless signal by the laptop is no problem; just the generation of a signal. That pic was just kinda representative of most routers I found. But I don't already have a wireless card for my PC, unless it came with one and I didn't notice. I do already have a modem to go from a co-ax cable input to the ethernet wire, but that it is it. So if I could get away with buying one piece of kit and put both computers online that'd be cheaper than going all wireless.

 

[southerndoc]

The only thing you need in your Mac laptop is an Airport card. Hopefully you bought it preconfigured with one.

All new MacBooks come with built-in wireless 802.11b/g and Bluetooth.

You can plug your existing networkable PC's/Macs into the router. You need a standard CAT5 cable.

The WAN (wide area network) port is for your cable or DSL modem. You should use a CAT5 "crossover" cable to connect these.

The number of computers that can access your router wirelessly isn't infinite. It's a rather high number though. I think my Linksys can handle 100 simultaneous wireless connections.

Almost all routers now have password capability. You should use 128-bit encryption and manually type in hexadecimel passwords. Some of the newer routers use WPA and other types of verification systems. Setting up encryption can be a bit difficult at times, but it does safeguard your system. Just make sure you do it when you have a day off.

The last thing to do is set up MAC filtering. Basically you enter in the MAC address (found on the bottom of your MacBook and on the box) into the router's MAC filter settings. Set it so that only the MAC addresses you enter can access your network wirelessly.

Encryption and MAC filtering will make it difficult for someone to access your system or obtain your wireless data. Difficult doesn't mean impossible, so as always, if you're dealing with very secretive material (we're talking national security stuff here), then do not use wireless connections. (This is why the Intelligence Community strictly forbids any of their laptop computers from having built-in wireless technology or any wireless access card.)

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Now if we can just keep 'em from taking notebooks home with 2.6 million (may be off) VA file numbers... 👎

I looked on a couple manufac. websites today and found that most of these routers won't need a crossover from the modem. This was after I looked up crossover. But they do it for you. So at least the physical setup is easy, just the config for wired and wireless, on two diff. OS will be fun. And the playstation, but I don't think I'll be playing much SOCOM online...

 

[bulldog]

On these linksys or d-link wireless routers, are you able to hard-wire existing PCs in addition to putting out an airborne signal? A pic of the back shows a WAN port, which I can only assume is the input, and 4 LAN ports; again, I assume these would allow me to split the incoming signal into 4 wired connections, and roughly an infinite number of wireless ones. ?.

I have a desktop PC now, but I purchased a MacBook recently (enough so that it is still in China...) and was wondering what I need to have wireless for it at home. I think just a router would do it. However, that's why I'm here.

And are home wireless networks capable of being password protected so that the only 2 computers allowed on are the ones I own? I'm in the process of learning what I can about home security...

Just hook up Cable/dsl-->Router-->Wireless signal (for wifi) + 4 wired jacks (for desktops, etc using standard ethernet). when u turn on security features, the speed usually drops/routing becomes a bit sluggish due to processing of the encryption. and, the wired computers must be near the router or u have enough cat5 cable to connect them. If you wanted to convert your wireless signal in another room into a wired cat5 plug, u'd need a wireless bridge, which is more expensive.