A Conflagration of Randomness

Considering I just got a new router yesterday that has Wireless N I thought I would post something about how to configure one since the first time I tried with a router a year ago it took me two hours to figure out how and just happened to because I randomly saw an IP Address among the many pages of an instruction PDF.

First, the CD almost never works for anything…I’ve tried multiple CDs for router configuration and DSL configuration alike, but none have worked and I have always had to turn to manual configuration which I find very useful to know.

1.  Connect the router like the instructions that came with the router say.  Assuming you have a DSL modem or other modem that does not have wireless means, this means you connect the telephone cable or other internet cable from the wall to the modem.  Then take an ethernet cable and connect the output on the modem to the input on the router.  Now for initial configuration attach an ethernet cable to the router and connect it to your computer (I’m assuming its a portable one since why else would you really need wifi).

2. Open up an internet browser and enter one of the following ip addresses, depending on your router brand, into the address bar.  You may need to try several different ones:

Router	IP Address	Username	Password
3Com	http://192.168.1.1	admin	admin
D-Link	http://192.168.0.1	admin
Linksys	http://192.168.1.1	admin	admin
Microsoft Broadband	http://192.168.2.1	admin	admin
Netgear	http://192.168.0.1	admin	password
Trendnet	http://192.168.1.1	admin	admin

3. Enter the username and password from above into the respective fields, submit, and you should find yourself in the control panel.  If these passwords don’t work for your router you may need to try the different ones for you router at http://www.routerpasswords.com/

4. Often times there will be a wizard that you can follow that will guide you through the process of connecting to the internet/setting up wifi.  Now usually though if you have done what I said you will not be able to access the internet if you load a page because the internet is not set up correctly.  Depending on your router you need to go to internet or WAN admin panel.  On my Trendnet, the WAN option if under the first menu, but on my D-Link there is a separate internet menu.  Either way find a form that has a drop down menu that has options such as DHCP, PPPoE etc.  Once you have found this menu you need to play around with the different options if you have not chosen the wizard to figure this out for you.  This is a tedious part as depending on your ISP (Internet Service Provider) you may have any of these.  At college, Virginia Tech, I must use DHCP option with obtain IP address automatically, but at home with Juno DSL, I must use PPPoE and enter my username and password for the DSL.  That is the part that took me a good hour the first time I set up a router.  It is probably a better option to use the wizard, but manual may be neccessary.  If all went well, you should now be able to load a website.

5. Now for wireless.  Again depending on your router you may have to search around for the Wireless configuration page, but you will know you found it if one of the fields asks for Wireless Network Name/SSID and another asks for a security type of WPA/WEP.  Once you have found this, you can create a name for your wireless network.  As for security type, I highly suggest WPA, and WPA2 if possible.  You will then be asked to enter a passphrase for the network.  I suggest something very random so that neighbors will not be able to leech from you wireless network.  Save your settings and test if you can connect to the network.