Would it make sense for me to get a router?

Question

I am getting comcast cable and internet next week. I was thinking about getting a wireless router. Does a router pretty much just make your internet connection wireless?? Is there any other hardware I'd need to get?? Any suggestions on what kind? I will have a modem.

Answer 1

You just need a wireless router...nothing else...you then connect it up to your modem and it'll send the wireless all over your house (and down the street too...so be sure to put a password on your net so that others arent wasting your usage)

Also your computer/laptop should either have wireless automatically enabled in it otherwise you can buy a little wireless USB and plug/install it on your computer! :)

Hope it all makes sense! :D

and yes it means you can be using the internet anywhere you can get the reception without all the cables! :)

Answer 2

With one pc, router is not necessary, or recommended by most due to the argument that "wireless" is not as secured. My suggestion, just use a cat5e cable.

Answer 3

A hardware firewall is a device that restricts incoming connections.  This is built-into most (if not all) routers.  A hardware firewall is **NOT** a substitute for a firewall program, it's just like a pre-filter.

A router does a couple things - the main thing is it lets you share the internet with multiple computers.  Most new ones also have a wireless access-point built-in so you can be wireless so yes, if you get one that's wireless it would let you use wireless.  You connect the router to the modem (it will come with directions) and any wired computer(s) you have, then set up wireless computers to connect.

If your computer doesn't have built-in wireless and you don't already have a wireless adapter, you need to get one.  These usually plug in with  USB port and look like a big thumbdrive.

Even if you don't use the wireless feature, if your router has wireless you should still secure it (or disable it) so others can't piggyback on your connection.

I like the Belkin 54G router because it's the cheapest name-brand one I've found ($39 at most office stores) and I know it works (I've installed 3 of them) but the brand is really up to you.  Only one of those Belkins has gone bad, and Belkin replaced it for free.  I don't know if all routers include this but the Belkin one comes with a setup CD that guides you through plugging everything in correctly and automatically programs the router to work as well as guiding you through enabling security.

If you only care about internet, 802.11b (11Mbps) is plenty fast. They don't really sell these anymore but what they do sell is 802.11g (54Mbps) which replaces and is backwards compatible with 802.11b.  This is also what most built-in WiFi laptops and handhelds sold today use. I wouldn't get anything else because it's just a waste of money. Residential broadband internet is usually only 1-5Mbps so even WiFi-b is plenty fast.

Put your wireless router as high up as you can and as far from electrical and metal things as you can, that'll give you the best coverage.  Try to put it in the middle of where you expect to be (usually the middle of the house).  If you have 2.4GHz cordless phones you may want to replace them with 5.8GHz, 900MHz, or the new DECT6.0 phones that won't cause interference.  Also, wireless video senders, or wireless cameras that run on 2.4GHz should be set to the farthest channel from your router (e.g. set video sender to 1 or A and put the router on channel 11).  Channels 1, 6, and 11 are preferable because they don't "overlap" with each other.

Make sure you secure the wireless to keep others from piggybacking and/or monitoring your private information:

1. Change the web-admin password of your router (even if it's wired this is good) so not anyone can get into the config page.

2. Change the default SSID (name) and don't use something that identifies you, your location, or your brand of router to outsiders (e.g. "Home", "Cox.net", "My Network", "Wireless", etc).

2. Enable WPA-PSK, WPA-PSK2, or if those aren't supported MINIMUM of WEP128. Refer to the manual or call the manufacturer for directions.

3. Don't hide the SSID. It just makes your life harder and it's easily found out anyways.

4. Don't bother with MAC filtering, if someone can crack your security they probably know how to spoof your MAC address which will circomvent the filtering.

5. Don't use static-IP, it just makes your life harder. Anyone with the slightest knowledge about networking knows how to use a static IP.

The reason you don't want to identify your router's brand/location/owner:

1. Default passwords and settings are available online. Knowing the brand makes it easier to bypass these.

2. Knowing where it is makes it easier to get a stronger signal while staying away. This gives the attacker an advantage of getting a strong signal and being hidden.

3. Knowing who owns it makes guessing your password easier. Most people use names, dates, and other personal info for passwords (bad practice) and if they know you they probably know the things you would use for a password.

I also like to put a piece of masking tape on top of the router and write the SSID and web-config password (maybe encryption key too) so I can't forget them if it's one I don't usually use, or if I'm setting it up for someone else so they can't misplace it.  This doesn't bother me security-wise because if someone can get to the router, they can plug a wire in and use the network without knowing the wireless key...it's not as if I'm posting it for all the world to see.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Here is the long winded (but non technical) explanation of a hardware firewall

When you connect your computer directly to the modem, the modem passes the Internet address (IP address) assigned by Comcast to your computer. Your computer is connected directly to the Internet. If you have a shared drive, then anyone, anywhere, (if they know where to look) can see and access that folder.

Hackers have designed software to do just that. So connecting your computer directly to the modem is really a bad idea

Enter the router. Think of a router as having two separate rooms.

One room is the WAN side (Wide Area Network or Internet) - when you connect your modem with a cable from the modem to the WAN port on the router, all information comes here

The second room is the LAN side (Local Area Network) - all your computers connect here (wired or wireless)

The IP address Comcast gave you only goes to the WAN Room. The LAN room has it's own addresses assigned by the router

The wall between the rooms (actually the hardware in the router) is known as the "Firewall"

The router hardware examines each message (packet) from a computer to the Internet and adds the IP address from Comcast to the message as it moves the packet to the WAN room. The router remembers the address it sent the packet to.

If a packet comes back from that address, and has the correct data links on it, the router passes it it the LAN room, where it is sent to your computer. If the header in the packet does not match, the router blocks it.

This blocking feature is what keeps your C drive off the Internet and makes it harder for a hacker to access your machines. Unless the router "knows" you you want to receive data from a site, the site cannot get data across the firewall

Hope that helps

Answer 5

YES,it has a firewall and will keep anyone out of your computer,i use this one.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=478