What Do I Do to My House to Make it Wireless?

The use of wireless Internet in the home is a popular way of maximizing the convenience of your high-speed Internet connection. By purchasing and installing a wireless router, you can take your Internet connection and broadcast it over the air, allowing computers, video game systems and other other wireless-capable device to access the Internet without the need for cumbersome Ethernet cables attaching the device to the Internet connection. Luckily, anyone can make a wireless connection at home with a little know-how and a small time investment.

Knowing Your Needs

The first step in this project is to get an idea of what exactly you need. If your service plan from your Internet service provider already includes wireless Internet access, you do not need to purchase any additional equipment and will only need to setup your computers and other devices for wireless access. If your service plan only includes a hard-wired Internet connection, you will need to purchase a wireless access point, like a wireless router or wireless modem, that can take the hard-wired Internet signal and broadcast it over the air. WAPs are limited by a maximum broadcast range, so you will also need a general idea of the square footage of your home, or at least of all the rooms that will need to have wireless Internet access, and to purchase a WAP that can broadcast over that range. If you live in a particularly large home, you may need to purchase a wireless range extender to "piggyback" the signal across the rest of your home.

Purchasing a Router and Additional Equipment

The choice of which make and model of WAP to purchase should be based primarily on your budget and your personal needs. Security is an utmost concern when putting up a wireless network in your home, so you should purchase a router that has, at the very least, wired-equivalent privacy security features like a wireless password and a MAC address filter. If you'd rather not have the clutter of two separate devices -- a modem and a wireless router, for instance -- investigate wireless modems that combine both into one device. If you determined that your house will require a wireless range extender, purchase it as well. Most WAPs and WAP accessories come with Ethernet cables included, but you may want to purchase a few extra just for good measure. If one or more of the devices that need Internet access have only Ethernet ports on them, you may need to purchase wireless adapters to equip them for wireless access.

Connection

Connection process will vary slightly depending on what you purchased. If you purchased a stand-alone wireless router, simply connect it via Ethernet cable to the "Internet" or "WAN" port on the router. If you purchased an all-in-one wireless modem, you will need to attach it to your high-speed Internet connection; cable modem service will attach from a wall coaxial cable jack to a coaxial cable input on the modem via a standard coax cable; DSL connection will attach from a phone outlet to a phone input on the modem via a standard telephone cable. Consult the manufacturer's directions for assistance on installing wireless range extenders and wireless adapters as installation processes vary widely among these devices.

Configuration

The final step in creating a wireless network is to configure the WAP for your Internet service. Regardless of whether you use a wireless router or a wireless modem, connect one of the numbered Ethernet ports on the back of the WAP to the Ethernet port on one of your computers via a standard Ethernet cable. If the WAP came with a setup CD-ROM as most do, insert it into your computer's disk drive and run the CD. If not, you will need to open an Internet browser and type the WAP's default IP address into the address bar; every brand of WAP uses a different default IP, so consult the manufacturer of the device if you are not sure. You will be redirected to the WAP's configuration page, on which you can configure the device for use with your high-speed Internet service. Once configured, you are free to access the Internet from any wireless-capable device in your home.

Security

As noted, security is a crucial and often overlooked part of building a wireless network. Without some type of wireless security, unauthorized users that live within the broadcast range of your WAP can access any information that passes over the wireless network, including email passwords, bank account information, credit card information and the like. The most common means of securing a wireless network is to use a wireless password, barring access from anyone that cannot type the wireless password correctly. A stronger means is a MAC address filter that lists the MAC address ( a sort of virtual serial number) of each device that is allowed to access the network and forbidding access from any device not on the list. The configuration page (see Section 4) is where you specify your desired security settings.