I hav a linksys wrt54g router. should i connect to it wired or wireless?

Question

I hav a linksys wrt54g router. should i connect to it wired or wireless?

Answer 1

Go wired when ever possible.  If not possible, consider powerline as desribed here: http://www.cnet.com/4520-7390_1-6274537-...  If you want the maximum mobility, then wireless should be your option.

The big thing with wireless is security.  If you decide to go wireless, here are instructions for you to follow to setup a secure LInksys wireless network:

Do this. On the back of the router, take a paper clip and stick it in the reset hole. Hold it down for a few seconds until the lights start blinking.

With all of the cables connected properly, go to a computer hooked directly to the router with a cable. Open up Internet Explorer. Go to this web site: http://192.168.1.1

Now it will ask you for a login prompt. Leave the username field blank. Type "admin" for the password without the quotations.

Now go to the Administration tab. You want to change your password to something different. It has the usual thing where you type in your password twice. Make sure you can remember this. Make sure you save your changes by clicking on "Save Settings" at the bottom.

Now go to the wireless tab. Under Network Name (SSID), change it to what ever you like. It is usually best not to put your last name in. Using your ID for your Yahoo account is not a bad idea. Make sure you remember this SSID. Write it down on a sheet of paper because you will need to know this when you configure the computer.

For SSID, disable your broadcast. Save the changes.

Now go to the "Wireless Security" sub tab. Under Security Mode, choose WPA2 Personal or WPA2 PSK. If you do not have WPA2 or your computer's wireless card does not support WPA2, choose WPA Personal or WPA PSK instead. WPA2 is the strongest. What down what version of WPA you used including whether you used WPA2 or WPA. Also write down if you used the enterprise or personal (PSK). If you used WPA, write down whether you have it on AES or TKIP. AES is the strongest, but not every card supports it. WPA2 only used AES.

Now type in a Passphrase. Make sure it is easy for you to remember and hard for others to guess. Once that is done, save the changes. Write down what password you used.

Now you are done with the router. You should have recorded on a piece of paper the following: SSID, what version of WPA you used including personal or enterprise (it's personal), whether you used TKIP or AES (WPA2 is AES only), and your WPA passphrase.

Now you are ready to configure your computer.  Here are instructions for Vista only. If you have Vista, go to Start, start typing in Network Sharing Center. Open that up. In the pane on the left, click on "Manage wireless networks." Click on "Add." Click on "Manually create a network profile." Now you can see why I had you write down all of the information. Your network name is your SSID. Your security type is WPA personal or WPA2 personal. Your security type should be AES (hopefully!). Then just type in your security passphrase. Those bottom 2 check boxes might be a good idea and will save you some time.

It is pretty easy to do with Vista. It is not that much more difficult to do with XP. With XP, you run the network setup wizard in Start, All Programs, Accessories, Communicatoins. Make sure you tell the thing to do it manually.