Which wireless router and network adapter would you suggest?

The router's web interface is foolproof enough that what marscay said should make plenty of sense once you've got it. You'll be asked for a passphrase for WPA though - don't use a word you'd find in a dictionary, and mix numbers and symbols in too.

Don't bother with the CD that comes with it though, it's pointless.

There's no more risk of killing the router installing Tomato than installing a firmware upgrade that Linksys give you, and there are tools to recover the router if the worst happens.
 
TheSwede said:
That don't tell me anything I'm afraid! :confused:

Is this safe to do? Read a little about the "tomato" in another thread and it did sound interesting, might do it if its safe and not at a risk to ruin the router! :eek:

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

no problem :) use WPA protocol for the wireless connection ...don't use WEP it's a 5 min hack job for anybody with the tools.

as far as Tomato firmware, it just opens up the router with a lot more options and toys to play with than the default netgear firmware. unless he knows what he's doing (which sounds a negative) forget about it, unless you need to boost the wireless signal on a weak reception for example.

tomato is very safe but if you/he don't need the options then there's no point, there's always the chance of a bad flash.
 
it makes the router easier to configure more than anything. it's linksys btw, not the netgear one
 
Thank you guys! Its will hopefully be here end of next week so if I can't get it working I will be back with some more questions!

Really appreciate all the help you been giving me so far! :D

Cheers
Tom
 
Uhmm me again! :o

I just tried to connect it all and can't access the net.. I connected it like this..

Broadband cable -> Virgin/NTL modem -> Router -> PC

I have not installed the software that come with the router since it was pointed out here that the CD is pointless so I got the impression that my OS would do it all, I am using XP Pro SP4.. am I missing something or should it work just by connecting it all?!?

Cheers
Tom

PS Just trying to get it to work through wired connection as of now, and the later do the wireless.
 
So what doesn't work - is the router getting an IP from the modem (it should say in the web interface)?
Have you gone through the whole process of switching the modem off and back on and waiting for the lights to settle down before connecting the router to it?
 
did you buy the linksys?

this is how i connect mine..


have pc on, turn on router and plug it in to pc through the ethernet port (one of the LAN ports), wait about 5-1 seconds for it to assign your network card an ip (make sure all settings for network card are set to 'auto', and not a manually typed in ip)

to verify if it's connected, type 192.168.1.1 in your browser, and it should give you the login page for the router, usually admin is the username and the password

now turn on the modem and plug in the ethernet cable from the modem to the WAN port on the router

WAN = wide area network (the internet) it'll take about 5-10 seconds to establish the connection / initialise the modem

now internet should work on the pc
 
I just tried doing this and I do get the login page for the router but after adding the modem through the WAN port with a ethernet cable I can still not access the net?!? I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I will try and play around with it some more later tonight, and see if I can get it to work!

Thanks for your help guys!

Cheers
Tom
 
Go past the login page and see if the router is being given an IP address by the modem - it'll be in the Status tab somewhere.
 
Try turning the modem on first, then turning the router on. If you've previously had the modem connected to another device it has to re-register the new device with the ISP and that usually means having them switched on in a particular order (i think its that order)
 
Thank you everyone for your help! It is now up and running as it should be and my friend has net connection also! :D

Just a quick question, on the Wireless Security I have it on:

Security Mode: WPA Personal [Disabled, WPA Personal, WPA Enterprise, WPA2 Personal, WPA2 Enterprise, Radius, WEP]
WPA Algorithms: TKIP [TKIP, AES]
Group Key Renewal: 3600 seconds

Is that ok or should I change anything? For example what is the difference between Personal and Enterprise? Also, WPA and WAP2, is one better security then the other?

Cheers
Tom
 
Thank you tolien! Much appreciated!

One last question.. I hope! The WPA Algorithms, TKIP or AES, does it matter which one you using?!?

Cheers
Tom
 
Depends how often you have other machines that you want to connect to the network - MAC address filtering isn't that useful because once the encryption is cracked (and so long as you're using a decent passphrase with WPA/WPA2, that's unlikely to happen) it's fairly trivial to spoof a MAC address.

It's a useful bit of defence in depth, but only if it isn't causing more of a PITA than it saves.
 
Uhmm me again! Sorry for bring the thread back from the "dead" but something wired is going on here. :confused:

Since it was installed last week its been working fine, but today when my friend started his PC he can't get a network connection through the card. He removed the card and then uninstalled the software, then reinstalled it again, plugged the card back in and still nothing.. I have checked the router and its working fine.. also, the router is detected on my friends PC but for some reason it wont connect?!?

Any suggestions as to what can be done?

Cheers
Tom
 
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