Wireless networking quandry (noob question)

I almost forgot.

Now you are surfing via wireless you want to tighten security unless you want everyone using the connection - some people do.

Go to the router setup page again and click on the wireless tab and look for the security tab. You have two choices - WEP or WPA-PSK.

I use WEP and I think the chances of a neighbour cracking it are very remote - although not impossible unlike WPA-PSK.

So you really should use WPA-PSK if you are security paranoid,

I use WEP because I have linux clients and I havent gotten WPA-PSK working on those yet so I am stuck with WEP

for WEP select a 128 bit key . in hex this is 26 characters which can be from any of the 16 hex characters 1234567890ABCDEF

so an example key would be

this key is not case sensitive.

enter the same key on your laptop client after choosing the encryption type as WEP. this is easy to find and setup.

WPA-PSK

back at the router to configure wireless security settings,

for WPA-PSK (pre shared key) choose TKIP encryption and enter the pre shared key or secret such as 12345abcde

this is case sensitive unlike the WEP key.

on the client choose WPA-PSK and enter the secret pre shared key

thats it.

WPA-PSK is uncrackable (so far) and WEP Is crackable so if your client card supports it - and it should for XP - use WPA-PSK

PS

The network name or SSID is case sensitive.

Hello all,

I have no experience setting up networks wired or otherwise but a friend has just bought a new Gateway laptop and Netgear wireless modem/router and wants me to set it up for her. The laptop (a Intel Centrino) already has a built in wireless card and has already detected 2 unsecured networks in the area (which I haven't accessed!!).

She already has a desktop but would like to get rid of this and just keep the laptop. I've read an FAQ that says the router/modem has to be plugged into at least one computer via an Ethernet cable but after the network has been setup the none of the computers needs to be plugged in?

So is it is possible to just use the laptop to initialise the connection, using the settings from her ISP etc , then unplug the cable? I know there's a lot more to it than this but I just need to know the basics first before going onto find out about VPN and what not.

TIA

BillL

Of Course it is Bill.

Some manual's tend to be too techy and should include a simplified How-To or Walk Thru such as the above.

Plus it also shows why a teacher is invaluable as someone who has spent months/years reading the manuals and implementing the stuff is in a great position to offer concise instructions to a beginner .

Just ask Jeff.

Thanks very much, this is much more straight forward than the manual!

Cheers,

BillL

Once upon a time, I used to write the manuals for the hardware I designed. Through trial and error, I learned that there was no possible way to write a single manual that satisfied every possible user and customer. The geeks wanted techy detail. The users wanted plug and play. The lawyers wanted massive disclaimers. Shipping wanted a packing list. Sales wanted it to sell accessories. Marketing wanted it to be an applications guide. Support wanted it to reduce the support load by including lots of troubleshooting advice. QA wanted to a few pages of certifications. The military wanted it readable by a high skool dropout. The desktop publishers thought that huge margins all around made it more readable and was more than happy to remove content to add additional margin space. I don't know who threw in the "read me first" page. If an elephant is a horse designed by a committee, some of my manuals were elephantine in size. Nobody was happy with the results.

What I found hilarious was at the time (late 1970's through 1980's) the form and style of consumer electronics product manuals were being established. There was no formal organization in charge or orchestrating the effort. What was happening was that every company was copying the style stolen from some other company, on the assumption that the other company knew what it was doing. Nobody was happy with their documentation and the competition always seemed to have a better idea. I could honestly say that documentation style was established with a Ouigi Board.

Agreed. Experience is the best teacher. That's why my domain is "LearnByDestroying.com". You don't really understand anything until you've destroyed it and had to resurrect and fix it. Lack of experience is also why support people cannot offer much in the way of assistance. They haven't gotten their hands dirty and therefore have only someone else's experience to follow.

I have a simple style for setting up complex devices. It's similar to your step by step procedure with *LOTS* of examples. In my never humble opinion, people learn from examples, not from explanations. Therefore working examples are required. I also separate the "do this" from the explanation why they are doing this. Many people do not want to be bothered knowing why you need a WE128 key of exactly 26 hex digits. Tell them to type in 26 hex digits, and promise them it will work. They'll do the rest.

I don't have any relevant examples of how to write a setup and install procedure online. The closest approximation is the Windoze 95/98/ME setup instructions for MRTG software at:

I needed the rant...

Thats a bit extreme.

If the laptop got a DHCP address then it can obviously communicate with the Netgear.

Perhaps it didnt get an address and the cable was wrong.

what address did it list ?

was it 192.168.x.y or 169.x.y.z ?

post the ip of the router and the laptop.

Dixons ? You are in the UK ?? I could do with a bit of work :-)

Infortunately after an hour and a half of frustration of trying to use the Netgear DG834G to connect with the Laptop (via a wired connection) my friend has decided both the laptop & router are going back to Dixons (I know, I know Dixons for crikes sake!) as soon as she can get them there.

Got it all connected and typed in the address of the router in IE and got server not found/DNS error. Used CMD>ipconfig /all and the DHCP address is listed but doesn't want to connect. The 'troubleshooting' guide for the laptop was horrendous (didn't mention what you did when this happens) and there was no troubleshooting guide on the CD that came with the router/modem.

I think somethings telling me to keep away from networking - I'll build the PC but peeps are on there own if they want to use more than one ;o)

BillL

The current crop of Netgear routers are some of the easiest I've found to setup. The Wizard is a bit obnoxious, but has guessed correctly so far every time I've tried it. If there's a failure to deliver a useable DHCP address, it almost always involves a wiring issue or that the router has been previously setup (i.e. store return) and not at defaults. Try checking the cables and using the reset button. Look at the lights to make sure you have a proper connection.

Nope. Computah networking is easy. Doing support by remote control, via a 3rd party, with no numbers to work with, is what's difficult.

The address of the router is 192.168.0.1. to be honest I haven't recorded the IP address of the laptop but there is another address listed which is

BillL

"Nope. Computah networking is easy. Doing support by remote control, via a 3rd party, with no numbers to work with, is what's difficult. "

At least Bill told us the stuff was bought at Dixons :-)

That's the interesting bit - my mate paid the guy who sold her the stuff to come round and set it up, guess what he got it working!! The only thing he did is switch Norton security on (I'd switched off all the firewall SW - figured this would just have caused problems?) and this seemed to make all the difference.

Once the wired connection to the laptop was setup it was simply a matter of unplugging the lan cable, entering the ISP details and away she went :o)

BillL

how much did she pay him ?

curious to know the going rate as I could do with some homers.

I'm not really sure if its the going rate but it was £20 (he was around for about 30 minutes). I've seen various rates quoted by people posting on 'general' news groups ranging from £14 to £20 per hour. I've thought about it my self but only offering syware/trojan/virus removal or hardware installs (not networking - oh no! ;o) for some beer money etc.

BillL

nice work. does he advertise in the local paper or yellow pages ?

No my mate just went into Dixons and said she was having problems getting the router/modem connected to the laptop (wireless or wired) so he popped out. He did mention him and some mates had talked about setting up a business but nothing has happened so far.

BillL