Im Having trouble securing my wireless connection for my router?

Question

OK i have a netgear router someone gave it to me anyway i need it so i can get internet connection for my ipod touch. i hooked the router up and on my ipod i see my network as NETGEAR. I want to be able to go on my ipod but i want to be able to type a password to get in that network and make it secure so it can be locked and no one gets in but me. I tried making a ssid number i dont think i knew what i was doing i tried putting a number like 192.168.1.0 and other ones in the addres bar doesnt work wats the right number for Netgear administator username and password to get in please help me with the easiest way to do this. I want my connection secure. when i Type 192.168.1.1 a thing pops up for user name and psw i dont know the password and username and the 192.168.1.1 i think is for Linkys and i need Netgear. i tried on my Pc control panel then network and internet connections, then wireless network setup wizard and that doesnt work i have no intruction or instalayion cd with da router

Answer 1

The password for accessing the router is different that the one that is used for securing the router. You will need to set two of them. The one that you enter the very first time is only used to secure the router's settings. In order to set the network password, you will have to log in to the router and then scroll down until you find the security box. There you can enter the username and password that will secure the network.

Answer 2

192.168.1.1 is most likely your netgear unless you have a Linksys wireless router as well?  192.168.1.1 is commonly used as the default router address by most network hardware manufactureres.

admin is probably the user name or password by default.  Leave the other blank.  Or google your netgear product by model number and look it up.

Some common ways to secure your wireless.  Hide your SSID.  Use WEP, WPA or another style of encryption.  MAC adress restrictions, static IPs and changing the default user and password for the router log in.  This should suffice.

Answer 3

The first thing you should probably do since you got the Netgear wireless router from somebody else is to reset it to the factory defaults. That way, anything special the previous owner might have done to make it work (only) for them has been eliminated. Also after that, you can go to the Netgear support web page at http://kbserver.netgear.com/ and download the manual for your router. (Enter the model number of your router as (usually) found on the bottom (e.g., wgr614v7) into the search box and make sure Manuals and Release Notes is checked. You won't need a CD for any of this. I've never used one yet. One of the things this manual will tell you is the default user name and password for getting to the router's configuration. This is another reason to reset it.

Since it appears that you already had a high-speed Internet connection of some sort, are you using the Netgear wireless router in place of or in addition to the other router? The answer to that question directly affects the way you connect the Netgear.

When your iPod sees the network as "NETGEAR," it is seeing the SSID - the name (service set ID) given to your router. NETGEAR is the default name, but you can change it in the router configuration page. This name needs to be unique if there are other wireless routers in range of your router. There shouldn't be more than one or your iPod wouldn't know which one to connect to. That said, this has nothing to do with security.

To set up security, you will need to connect to the router and use its built-in web site to access its configuration settings. This is most easily done the first time using a desktop or laptop directly connected using an Ethernet cable to one of the ports on the router's switch (as opposed to the Internet port).  

As others have mentioned, usually this is done by using a web browser on a desktop/laptop and browsing to the URL 192.168.1.1 (Linksys' typical default) or 192.168.0.1 (Netgear's typical default). Newer Netgear routers also accept (intercept) browsing to http://www.routerlogin.net/ to get to the login page. Enter the default user name and password. (For the wgr614v7, the default username and password is admin and password, respectively.)

One of the configuration settings will let you change the password for the router. Since many people know the default is "password," you should choose something else. This secures only the access to the configuration pages. It is not the wireless security you need.

Using the router's bulit-in web site, browse to the Wireless settings. Next, look for the Wireless Security settings. The manual you downloaded will have information on how you do this for your router. The first thing you need to do is set the type of security you want to use. WPA2 > WPA > WEP in terms of security, but what you use will be dictated by what the iPod Touch is capable of. That is, you will need to look at the touch's wireless security settings and choose one. (In order listed above, pick the first available).

If the iPod Touch supports WPA2, WPA and WEP, but the Netgear only supports WPA and WEP, WPA is the best you can do. Choose WPA. If WEP is the best you have, WEP 128 is better than WEP 64. Now, you need to enter a wireless security key. For WEP, this is a 10-character or a 26-character hexadecimal key (for WEP 64 and WEP 128, respectively). For WPA (and WPA2), you enter a string of 8 to 64 characters. (The longer, the better. A string like, Th1s1s!An3@syP@55w0rd2Cr@ck is better than ThisIsAnEasyPasswordToCrack.)

Once you have chosen the type of security, entered the key, and applied the changes, you need to do the same on the iPod Touch. I'm not familiar with how the Touch works, but this may be done ahead of time as a network properties or it may happen the first time you attempt to connect. As some point, you will need to pick the same type of security (e.g., WPA) and enter the same security key (e.g.,Th1s1s!An3@syP@55w0rd2Cr@ck).

Entering this data should allow your iPod Touch to connect to the wireless router and through the router to your other computers and the Internet.

Once you have the Internet connection working to your Touch, you should go back into the Netgear (via the broswer on the desktop) configuration built-in web site, go to the wireless settings and look for a setting that lets you restrict the devices connecting wirelessly to certain MAC addresses. A MAC address is a (more or less unique) number given to every wired, wireless, other piece of equipment connecting to an Ethernet network. You should have an option to restrict wireless access to the devices currently connected (i.e., the iPod Touch).

You also will have an option to broadcast or hide the SSID. Don't bother hiding it. It is sent in clear text in every transmission to and from the router. Any decent wireless cracking program will have it in a second whether you explicitly broadcast it or not.