Always-On Networks Created with a Wireless Router If you're using a wireless network with Windows' built-inInternet Connection Sharing, you're probably quite happy with it-- but there's a problem. The problem is this: the computer themodem is connected to needs to be turned on before any of theother computers can get Internet access! It's alright for awhile, but it gets annoying really fast. I had one of theseannoying setups at home for years and the moment I upgraded tousing a router was like a breath of fresh air. Now my son doesnot complain every time I need to reboot or do extensivemaintenance periods. His machine could not care less weather mymachine is active or not.
So what should you do about it? Well, a wireless router is theanswer to your problem.
What is a Wireless Router?
A wireless router is basically a small, low-powered computerdedicated to nothing but providing Internet access to yourwireless network. Once you've got a wireless router, you canconnect any of the computers on your network to the Internetanytime, regardless of which other computers are switched on!Because this is the only thing the wireless routers do, theydon't usually need any configuration to get started.
Choosing a Wireless Router
When you're choosing a wireless router, you should consider thesame things as you would with any other wireless equipment:range, speed and standards. Remember, though, that speed is farmore important with a router than it is with other equipment --the router might be providing Internet access to more than onecomputer at once, meaning that it needs to have enough speed toshare between them. When it comes to standards and range, on theother hand, it is pointless to get anything better than yourcurrent wireless equipment has -- you won't see any improvement.
It's probably worth noting here that the Linksys WRT54G routeris fast becoming a standard. It's the most popular router outthere, and it's the easiest to use out of the lot. It's not ascheap as some of the others, though, so it's still worthshopping around. As ever, the most important thing is to read asmany reviews of what you're buying as you can.
Installing a Wireless Router
Wireless routers are designed to work easily out of the
box: inmost cases, it should be a matter of plugging the router intothe power supply and then connecting it to your cable, DSL orother modem. That's it -- in 99% of cases, you're ready to startusing your wireless Internet.
Sometimes, though, there might be more things you need to do.The most common problem is that your ISP uses special softwareto confirm who you are before giving you access to the Internet.This is called PPPoE, which stands for Point-to-Point Protocolover Ethernet. It's basically a way giving you broadband accesswhile still requiring you to enter a username and passwordfirst, and you need to go through a short process to use a PPPoEconnection with a wireless router.
Most routers support PPPoE, but you'll have to read the manualand do some fiddling. You may also have to download an updatefor your router's firmware (on-board software) from itsmanufacturer's website.
Problems with Wireless Routers
Wireless routers generally solve more problems than they cause-- but there are still some problems that you may need to workaround.
One that a lot of people run into sooner or later is that thereare some programs that require a direct Internet connection forsome functions. Using a wireless router instead of InternetConnecting Sharing at least lets you use these functions if youconfigure it, but it can be a pain. Wireless routers havebuilt-in firewalls that only allow data through on certain ports(for example the web port, 80, and the email port, 110), whilekeeping all the others closed.
Although programs that require you to open ports become rarerevery day, you might need to do it at some point. Your router'smanual will tell you how to do this if it comes up.
I hope you enjoy your new wireless router -- I know I enjoymine!
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