Setting Up a Home Office Wireless Network Router Part 1

The minimum equipment for a home office wireless network is a wireless router or hub, and a wireless network card. There is really no reason to get anything other than a wireless router as they can be purchased for about the same price as a wireless hub. Even if you don't use the router functionality today, you might need it down the road.

Setting up the wireless router usually involves a direct cable connection. Don't worry, this is only for the initial setup. Install the software that came with your wireless router BEFORE you connect it to your computer. That way, any drivers or other required

software will already be installed and Windows won't try and make it work via some other method that might lead to errors.

Generally the setup software is very friendly, so getting around should be no problem. So, let's get to the setup.

This setting isn't really up to you. If you are connecting to the Internet, then your service provider decides how you set this up. If you have a fixed IP address, then choose to turn DHCP client off and type in your IP address, and your DNS servers manually.

Most ISPs give their clients dynamic addresses, meaning it can change. In that case, choose to turn DHCP client on. Then, your wireless router should get the IP address and the DNS servers manually.

The address configuration above sets the IP address for the outside world, that is for everything that leaves your house. You still have to configure your wireless router for the inside network. Most wireless routers come set with a default IP address of 192.168.1.1. If you don't have a reason to change it don't. Do make a note of what it is! (If your router uses different starting numbers like 10.1.1.1 or 172.16.0.1, then write it down, and make sure you use those numbers below and not the 192.168.1.X numbers.)

The first question is whether or not your router will be a DHCP server. All this means is are you going to configure your computers address number manually on each computer, or do you want each computer to get the address automatically. Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, go with the automatic route. That means turning the DHCP server function on. Then, you need to tell the router what addresses you want it to give out. Unless you have a specific need to do it differently, you want to use addresses that start with 192.168.1.X. Generally your router will occupy the first address, so give it plenty of space and start your range at 192.168.1.100. Set the end of the range based on how many devices will be accessing the network. Don't forget if you have a wireless printer or phone or other device to include them in your count. It is a good idea to leave some room for growth as well. There really is no downside to having more addresses available so just go with a hundred. That makes your ending address 192.168.1.200. (Some routers will ask for a starting address and a number of addresses instead of an end address. For these, use 192.168.1

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Now that your DHCP server is setup, you theoretically have enough configuration to disconnect and manage your router through the wireless, but let's not complicate things. Stick with the hard connection and proceed to Home Office Wireless Router Configuration Part 2.