Five Easy Steps to Going Wireless

by Dave Donovan

Five Easy Steps to Going Wireless

With laptop and desktop computer prices lower than ever, it's not uncommon for everyone in the family to have their own computer. After all, you don't want to be sharing your work computer with your children and to be honest; they don't really want you using theirs either. Individual computers are fast becoming this generation's variation of the television set – one in every room.

The problem with this scenario is that not every household has wireless Internet capabilities. If yours is one of them, this places you right back at square one, with everyone clamoring over the one computer that they can get online with. To help you prevent mass hysteria, you may want to opt for a wireless network in your home. It's not as hard to set up as you might think and by doing it yourself, you won't have to pay your broadband provider outrageous installation fees.

The Components of a Wireless Network

• Broadband Internet Connection (DSL, Cable or FiOS)
• Broadband Modem
• Wireless Router
• Wireless Network Adapters
• One Ethernet Cable

Many new laptops come with wireless network adapters already installed and wireless PCI cards for your desktops can be purchased at any electronics chain retailer if you need them.

Setting Up a Wireless Network – Layman Style

Step 1 – Unplug your modem's power cord. Then, unplug the Ethernet cable from your computer and plug it into the WAN port on the rear of your wireless router. So in essence, the Ethernet cable will come out of the modem and travel directly into the wireless router.

Step 2 – Plug first your modem's power cable back in and wait for all of the lights to return to normal. Then, plug your wireless router's power cord into a working outlet. At this time, you will see a series of lights on the router light up as it goes through its diagnostics.

Step 3 – Turn off your computers and install any wireless network cards. Boot the computers back up and the computer should automatically recognize the new hardware. Insert the CD that cam with your network card and go through the easy configuration set-up.

Step 4 – If your laptop already has a  wireless card installed, just go into your computer's Network and Internet settings to make sure that it is activated. Just right-click on the wireless icon and choose "enable." On the computer that was previously hard-wired to the modem, right-click on the LAN settings and choose "disable."

Step 5 – Reboot all of your computers one more time and they should recognize the wireless router and connect automatically.

Dave Donovan is a freelance copywriter living in Atco, N.J. An electrician for 15 years, an injury forced him to pursue his true passion - writing.