Many people finish up frustrated & confused when trying to set up a wireless router themselves. They usually try to follow the setup CD or instructions that came with the router & finish up giving up or paying somebody else to do it for them.

This news story will outline the basic ideas you need to understand to set up a wireless router yourself. I'll show you how to do it without using the setup CD that comes together along together with your router & without any of the fancy devices or push buttons designed to make setting up a wireless router simple. While these methods may appear simple on the surface they don't always work. They also keep you isolated from any understanding of what is actually going on. If a simple mistake is made you may get stuck & be forced to turn to somebody else for help.

 Time you understand how to set up a wireless router you'll also understand how to set up any wireless device on the market including printers, game consoles, iPads etc.

The basic ideas you need to understand about wireless routers & wireless networking security are:

1. Your SSID - Service Set Identifier. This is a huge sounding word that fundamentally means the name of your wireless network. It is best to alter this from the default & give it a name that means something to you but means small to somebody else. Something like ILHMAP for "I Love Home Made Apple Pie" is lovely.

2. You’re Encryption Type - You need to understand the hierarchy of wireless encryption. It began with WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy. This came standard with most B & G routers. As computer processors speeds increased WEP became simpler & simpler to crack so a brand spanking new standard came out call WPA. WPA makes use of TKIP as it is encryption. Soon after WPA came out WPA2 was introduced. WPA2 makes use of an even stronger kind of encryption called AES. Some older operating systems & game consoles will only work with WEP. When you are you able to need to make use of WPA or WPA2. Lots of times you can select WPA/WPA2 which lets you make use of both types of encryption with the same password. This is a well-liked choice when setting up security on a wireless router.

3. Your Pass phrase - This is also called the password or "encryption key". It is often confused with the router password. The router password is fundamentally the password you use to log in to the router. The encryption key is what allows a computer, printer or other network device to connect or "associate" with the wireless router. WEP passwords are generated by typing in a word or phrase. The result is usually scrambled in to something like "17B295FcA8". You then must type these hexadecimal characters in to each of your devices. Not user-friendly. WPA & WPA2 do not generate difficult to keep in mind hex numbers like WEP. You can fundamentally type in 8-63 characters such as "My dog barks loud". In this example spaces count as characters & the "M" in "My" MUST be capitalized.

Now that you understand the basic ideas involved with wireless networking let's put them to make use of.

All that is left to do now is access the routers web interface & enter the parameters mentioned above.

In order to access the routers web interface you need to know things.

1. The routers IP address.

2. The routers user name & password.

3. In case your computer is on the same network as the routers IP address.

IP Address

The routers IP address is usually something like 192.168.0.1, 192.168.2.1 or even0.0.0.1. The documentation that came with the router ought to provide this. In case you don't have the documentation fundamentally do a search engine search for "router make & model default IP."

Username & Password

The routers username & password is usually along the lines of "admin" & "password". If these don't work fundamentally do a search engine search on "router make & model default password". If it is a used router you may require to hard reset it to get it back to it is default. Hard resetting usually involves poking a paper clip in to a little hole in the back of the router & holding it for 15 to 30 seconds & releasing. Time you release the router will reboot & return to it is factory default settings & you'll be able to make use of it is default username & password to log on.

Same Network?

In case your computer is on the same network as the routers IP address you'll be able to connect. If not you won't be able to connect. Network devices require being on the same network to communicate with each other unless them are using a special configured router to join their separate networks. time you know your routers default IP address fundamentally go your computers command prompt & type in IPCONFIG. This will return your computers IP address.

If the first "octets" of your routers IP & your computers IP line up you’re on the same network. In the event that they don't you won't be able to connect.

Let's look at some examples of this:

If your routers default IP address is: 192.168.1.1 & your computer IP address is 192.168.0.4 you won't be able to connect.

A better illustration of this is as follows:

Same network:

192.168.1.3

192.168.1.30

Different network:

192.168.1.3

192.168.0.30

So if your PC is not on the same network as the router what do you do?

Fundamentally connect finish of an Ethernet cable to of the ports in the back of you router & the other to the network port in your PC & reboot.

When the computer reboots it will automatically pick up an IP from your routers built-in DHCP server that will let you connect to the router.

Now that all the stars are all properly aligned it is time to connect to the router.

To do this fundamentally:

. Enter your routers IP address in to your favorite browser (IE, Chrome, and Firefox etc.) & hit "enter".

. Type in the username & password to access the router.

. Find the "Wireless" or "Wireless Security" section in your router & enter the SSID; Encryption & Pass phrase parameters as discussed above.

That is it!

 Time you are done you require to enter the pass phrase you created in to the wireless utilities in each of your network devices. This is a simple matter of clicking or tapping on your SSID, entering you pass phrase & clicking on "connect!"

Now that you understand the basics of setting up a wireless router you can set up any wireless networking tool you like. Whether you’re setting up a Wireless G router, a Wireless N Router, a wireless printer, an iPad or iPod the principles are the same.