Sharing Wireless Broadband

[target2019]

There are a few pitfalls with wireless routers. If you never give the brand and model, then you will get conflicting information.

- always plug in your system for initial setup. I prefer a desktop system at this point.
- follow the QRG. it will give you the IP address of router, and password. do not change the default router pass until you get things running smoothly.
- turn on router. wait for green. turn on cable modem. wait for green. turn on desktop computer. it should pull a private IP from the router, and you'll be on the internet.
- open your browser and enter router IP address or other connection string.
- change settings of wireless function. enter a new SSID, effectively naming your router, turn on the wireless radio function.
- now boot your notebook (not wired in). see if you can connect wireless. should be effortless since you have not turned on security in the router.
- shut down the notebook. still connected to the desktop, you can turn on wireless security, add in a wireless password.
- reboot the notebook, and when it discovers the wireless, enter password.
- enter a password for the router admin function
- enjoy

Note:
- passwords are case sensitive
- Windows sometimes doesn't work properly
- the router software sometimes is better than Windows, but can be problematic
- wireless technology in the notebook may be problematic, weak, directional, etc.
- you're distance from the wireless router is a factor. intervening obstructions and signals can ruin everything. see if your signal is stronger than all others.
- you have to take this in little bites.

 

[millerjwm]

My ISP, speakeasy.net allows sharing of wireless and is even willing to provide email addresses to your neighbors. I do not share my connection. There are more details at http://support.speakeasy.net/cgi-bin/support.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?&p_refno=030512-000240

 

[ERD50]

After much frustration, I decided to buy a new router.

Plan B.....return router and buy a better one.

Plan B went down in flames. The better router didn't work at all.

Plan C.....go back to original router and forget about having a secure network. I got it hooked up and was explaining everything to my friend, I figured out why it wouldnt accept my chosen password. It only accepts letters A-F...very strange.

VERY FRUSTRATING !!!

So after 4 hours of work and 2 trips to Best Buy....Im back to the drawing board and still need to go back to Best Buy to return router #2.

If the password only accepts A-F (and numbers I assume), it is looking for a hexadecimal password.

There are a few pitfalls with wireless routers. If you never give the brand and model, then you will get conflicting information.

- you have to take this in little bites.

+1

You are in need of very specific info, but you have not provided any specific info. Do that and I'm sure someone can help.

Router make/model.
Internet provider name/type (cable, dial-up, satellite, etc?).
Computer SW for each you are connecting (Windows 98, XP, Vista W7, OSX, Linux?)
Computer internet connections (wireless or wired, built in card, or USB 'dongle"?)

You may have provided some of that in earlier posts, but re-cap it ALL in one post and it will be much easier for people to help you.

Don't assume that a more $ router will be "better" in terms of ease of set up. In fact, a more $ router might be harder to set up, as it will have more options.

I've set up a number of cheap ones and it was straightforward when I did it by a direct connection and logging into the router from the IP address they give you (and I really don't know much about routers). I've read many reports that the software setups they provide (usally on CD) are more of a hindrance than a help. I recc just logging in to that IP address through the browser and config from there. It really should not be a problem if you take little bites as target 2019 suggests.

-ERD50

 

[Martha]

Plan C.....go back to original router and forget about having a secure network. I got it hooked up and was explaining everything to my friend, I figured out why it wouldnt accept my chosen password. It only accepts letters A-F...very strange.

So I got the password accepted and got the secure network up and running. I logged onto the internet with my new laptop...entered the password (or security key or whatever they call it) and it worked perfectly.

However....neither of my other laptops will connect. I search for available networks. I see my network and try to connect but it nevers asks for a security key. It just denies me access.

Call tech support for the router. Be prepared to spend a bunch of time on the phone.

 

[W2R]

I have never had much trouble getting a router to work in an afternoon, though sometimes they fight back a little along the way. But I have always managed to get mine to work by myself by following the directions meticulously, studying definitions, and figuring out exactly what the next step is before I do it.

These days, they come with software which is a godsend.

One thing I would NEVER do is try to advise someone far away about how to set up their router far away. I really admire those tech experts who can do that.

Because of my slow, deliberate approach, the far away router owner would have taken 17897 steps before I was ready for the next step and I would have to undo all of that. Still, I can generally set up a router on my own in an hour or two if left uninterrupted.

 

[ERD50]

Call tech support for the router. Be prepared to spend a bunch of time on the phone.

I disagree - it will be easier, faster, less headache, and he will learn something if he takes it in small steps as target2019 suggests. Even if he does get it working with tech support, he probably won't remember what he did and the next time he has to add a computer or something he'll be back on the phone for hours. This stuff really isn't that hard, but some of it it does have to be done in a very specific manner, "close" doesn't cut it.

Part of the "small step" approach is (for a short time only), get every computer connecting at the most basic level - with no password at all. Make sure you can actually access web sites from each and every computer this way first. When this is done, you have isolated password problems from basic connection problems.

Once step one is complete, you can password protect it, then power cycle each computer and check them one at a time.

The only real "problem" I've run into with several routers and a bunch of different computers is in the password setups. One thing I found is the encryption on my current router accepts a "passcode" when setting it up, which (IIRC) is a alphanumeric which then creates 4 hexadecimal passwords from that. My linux computer and windows visitors will log on using the alpha-numeric passcode, but it seems my Macs require the full hexadecimal string. But that is harder to determine if you don't first make sure you can log on w.o a password.

-ERD50

 

[Kroeran]

I hate to say this, being a decades long PC guy, but am asking myself if Apple folks have these sort of headaches.

I have had some dark moments over the years trying to cope with installs and settings.

I am thinking as I get greyer and balder and stupider, (lazier) I may switch to an Apple laptop down the road, pay the extra

 

[Brat]

Humm... I had seriously considered a wireless broadband setup for our next home until I got an e-mail from my cousin. His son works for a well known security software company. 'Cuz said that son insisted on a wired home network for his parents. Evidently wireless set-ups are difficult to secure even when you have a family geek who is in the business.

 

[W2R]

Humm... I had seriously considered a wireless broadband setup for our next home until I got an e-mail from my cousin. His son works for a well known security software company. 'Cuz said that son insisted on a wired home network for his parents. Evidently wireless set-ups are difficult to secure even when you have a family geek who is in the business.

Mine is secured tighter than a drum! Or, at least as secure as Linksys indicated it could be. But, only because I didn't have someone else at the keyboard messing me up. It was a piece o' cake with the software and digital manual that came with it.

I agree with ERD50 that securing it is by far the harder part. I think anybody could get an unsecured wireless network up and running pretty fast. But to me, that is cheating. The main (only?) task to me is getting it secured.

 

[ERD50]

I hate to say this, being a decades long PC guy, but am asking myself if Apple folks have these sort of headaches.

I have had some dark moments over the years trying to cope with installs and settings.

I am thinking as I get greyer and balder and stupider, (lazier) I may switch to an Apple laptop down the road, pay the extra

Well, I am surprised at all the comments at how hard it is for so many people. Even to say it takes an afternoon seems like a lot to me. I am using Macs, but I don't think that is it. My linux computer was as easy, and I've had windows visitors get on with no problem.

My experience is: Plug in the router and the computer sees it. Start surfing. Not hard at all.

Doesn't that work for most people?

Now, right after that is done, I go in and start messing with the settings to set up security, change the SSID (the network name that shows up on people's computers), etc. That can take a little while, and you want to verify each step, but the initial connection has always worked out-of-the box for me.

I suspect that some of the problems people talk about is that they started changing things *before* they even checked to see if they could connect. Then they changed something and may not know what they changed or whether that change had to be matched on the computers. Take it a step at a time. Reset the box to defaults and start over if you get lost.

While I am a bit of a techie, I am really, really ignorant on network stuff - I plug it in, it works and I get on with my life (after learning just enough to set up basic security).

-ERD50

 

[samclem]

Humm... I had seriously considered a wireless broadband setup for our next home until I got an e-mail from my cousin. His son works for a well known security software company. 'Cuz said that son insisted on a wired home network for his parents. Evidently wireless set-ups are difficult to secure even when you have a family geek who is in the business.

Or--the son doesn't want to get calls every week from mum and dad asking how to fix the latest wireless glitch. A wired setup is going t be more robust and trouble-free, no doubt about it. About every three days I get a break in my connection that can only be fixed by shutting down the router and my DSL box and powering them back up. Then everything works fine. I'm sure I could find out why this is happening, but it would take 2 or 3 days of online research and experimenting with settings. If I had a relative ask me to recommend a home network setup, and I knew I was going to be the help desk for years to come, I might recommend a wired network, too.

To Krorean's point: I, too, wonder sometimes if the Apple stuff might be easier. Everything (software and hardware) has to be blessed by the Apple mothership, and supposedly everything works without conflict because of this. That would be nice. Or, maybe I could take up Linux as a hobby and resist both the Apple and MSFT borgs. At least I'd be in control of my destiny and not subject to the next Windows outrage.

Today inthe computer world things are like they were in the automobile world of the 1930s. Lots of people owned cars, but t keep them on the road involved a lot of owner input: Tires blew out and needed changing every few hundred miles, points had to be set by hand, carburetors had to be adjusted in several ways to get the thing to run smoothly--all this was fiddling that everyone accepted as a given. Today people buy cars and drive them for thousands of miles without doing anything but adding gas and changing the oil. Someday computers will mature to this stage, and consumers will no longer put up with crashes and fussy incompatibilities. But, things are already a lot better than they were in the DOS days.

 

[utrecht]

If the password only accepts A-F (and numbers I assume), it is looking for a hexadecimal password.



+1

You are in need of very specific info, but you have not provided any specific info. Do that and I'm sure someone can help.

Router make/model.
Internet provider name/type (cable, dial-up, satellite, etc?).
Computer SW for each you are connecting (Windows 98, XP, Vista W7, OSX, Linux?)
Computer internet connections (wireless or wired, built in card, or USB 'dongle"?)

You may have provided some of that in earlier posts, but re-cap it ALL in one post and it will be much easier for people to help you.

Don't assume that a more $ router will be "better" in terms of ease of set up. In fact, a more $ router might be harder to set up, as it will have more options.

I've set up a number of cheap ones and it was straightforward when I did it by a direct connection and logging into the router from the IP address they give you (and I really don't know much about routers). I've read many reports that the software setups they provide (usally on CD) are more of a hindrance than a help. I recc just logging in to that IP address through the browser and config from there. It really should not be a problem if you take little bites as target 2019 suggests.

-ERD50

Im using a D-Link DL624

Verizon Fios service

The laptop that I was able to connect using the secure HEX key or whatever they call it is brand spanking new and had Windows 7

The 2 laptops that weren't able to connect because I never got a prompt to enter the network secure key are both running Windows XP and are 3-5 years old.

Originally when I couldn't figure out the default password to the router, I gave up and bought a Belkin router. To set it up, you are required to run an ethernet cable from the router to the computer you are using to set it up with as you run the software.

I dont have any computers that have wired connections. I have 3 laptops and a desktop and even the desktop runs on a wireless connection. The router is in the attic because I dont need it to be in the house since its not wired to any computers. SO I had to take my brand new laptop running windows 7 into the attic and wire it to the Belkin router to set it up. When I was done setting up the Belkin router (unsecured), I was able to access the connection wirelessly from my other 2 laptops and my desktop, but when I unplugged the ethernet cable from the new laptop, I couldnt connect wirelessly. That when I gave up and tried a different new router which was a Linksys.

I have plenty of extra ethernet cable running from the Fios box so this time I decided to run it out of my attic door and run it to my desktop to do the setup. I read the instructions and went step by step and did exactly what it told me to do. For some reason, the computer wouldnt recognize the router. It just kept telling me that a cable wasnt connected, but trust me, it was. So I went back to the original D-Link router and when i was telling my friend that I couldnt figure out why it wouldnt accept the HEX password that I was inputting, I told him it said it would accept 0~9, A~F and a~f and when I said it out loud I realized it was A-F not A-Z. I made up a new Hex password and it worked.

I unplugged the ethernet cable and tried to connect wirelessly from the laptop running Windows 7. I got a popup asking for the password...entered it and it worked.

Thats when I went to my other laptops (running Windows XP) and tried to connect. Both of them recognize the new network I just set up. Both of them say its a secured network but neither of them gives me a prompt to enter the password when I try to connect. It just denies me access. As I said earlier, when i try to log onto one of my neighbors secured netwoks, I do get the prompt to enter a password so I cant for the life of me figure out why I dont get the prompt when I try to log on to my own network.

For now, I went back into the D-Link router settings and removed the password and made it an unsecured network and it works just like it used it. Laptops have no problem logging in.

Im going to try a different new router next week, but for now my main questions are:

1) Why dont I get a prompt to enter a password when i try to access my secure network on my old laptops but I did on my new one

2) Why couldnt I access the network I set up with the Belkin router using the laptop ( the new one) that I used to set up the router, but I could with the other older laptops.