How to Set Up a WAN Network

Setting up a WAN is one of those things that sounds challenging if you aren't naturally inclined toward technology, but it's actually rather easy to get your home computers connection through a WAN (which stands for wireless area network). Most of the products currently on the market are plug-and-play and require little technical know-how to put into place. Setting up a WAN for a large corporate office can be a bit more challenging, but if you know how to read an instruction manual, you can most likely set up a WAN in your home.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Broadband Internet connection
• Wireless router
• Wireless network cards

1. Have a broadband connection in place with a functioning modem.

2. Install wireless networking cards in all of the computers that need to be able to access the network and set the computer's network connection properties so that the wireless connection is active. (The way to do this varies by platform and operating system--some computer will automatically detect and use the wireless network card but others may need drivers and other configuration.)

3. Connect your modem to a wireless router. Make sure you plug to network cable into the correct slot.

4. Check the instructions that came with the wireless router. You may need to install management software to access and configure the router, or you may simply need to type in an IP address or URL.

5. Access the router and configure the network to meet your needs. If you choose to use any kind of security protocol to protect against unauthorized access to your network, you will need to add the access key information to each individual computer also.

Tips & Warnings

• When your network goes down and computers cannot access the Internet, restarting the router often will bring it back up.
• There is a lot of variation in configuration methods from product to product; whenever possible, have the instruction manual on hand to consult.
• If you do not have the instruction manual or driver software, it is often possible to find drivers and product-specific information by searching the Internet.
• Using some form of wireless encryption or security protocol is wise if you do not want to risk outside people using your network bandwidth or finding a way to access your computer.

[sweetjesus]

on 7/28/2009 What an idiot. An "expert" on networking technology doesn't know what a WAN is. It's almost too stupid to be funny.

[sangano]

on 1/20/2009 Excuse me, but WAN stands for Wide Area Network. WAN as a description for a wireless network is totally inaccurate. Before you try and squeeze an article idea into an existing acronym, try a little research first. I guess that means I could write an article on WANs too. Weird Anal Nuisances... Item 1: Hemorrhoids

Yay...