- •About the Authors
- •Dedication
- •Contents at a Glance
- •Table of Contents
- •Introduction
- •About This Book
- •System Requirements
- •How This Book Is Organized
- •Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals
- •Part II: Making Plans
- •Part III: Installing a Wireless Network
- •Part IV: Using a Wireless Network
- •Part V: The Part of Tens
- •Icons Used in This Book
- •Where to Go from Here
- •Nothing but Net(work): Why You Need (Or Want) One
- •File sharing
- •Printer and peripheral sharing
- •Internet connection sharing
- •Home arcades and wireless to go
- •Wired versus Wireless
- •Installing wired home networks
- •Installing wireless home networks
- •Picking a Wireless Standard
- •Planning Your Wireless Home Network
- •Workstations and servers
- •Network infrastructure
- •Network interface adapters
- •Get the (Access) Point?
- •Industry Standards
- •Who or What Is Bluetooth?
- •Wi-Fi versus Bluetooth
- •Piconets, Masters, and Slaves
- •Wirelessly synching your PDAs
- •Wireless printing and data transfer
- •Integrating HPNA and HomePlug with Your Wireless Home Network
- •Home Phoning (ET Got It Backward!)
- •Network Power(line)!
- •Deciding What Is Connected to the Network
- •Counting network devices
- •Choosing wired or wireless
- •Choosing a wireless technology
- •Choosing an access point
- •Deciding where to install the AP
- •Adding printers
- •Adding entertainment and more
- •Connecting to the Internet
- •Budgeting for Your Wireless Network
- •Pricing access points
- •Pricing wireless network adapters
- •A sample budget
- •Planning Security
- •Selecting Access Points
- •Certification and Standards Support
- •Compatibility and Form Factor
- •DHCP servers
- •Gateways, NAT, and cable/DSL routers
- •Switches
- •Print servers
- •Operational Features
- •Security
- •Range and Coverage Issues
- •Manageability
- •Web-based configuration
- •Software programming
- •Telnetting to your device
- •Upgradeable firmware
- •Price
- •Warranties
- •Customer and Technical Support
- •Before Getting Started, Get Prepared
- •Setting Up the Access Point
- •Preparing to install a wireless AP
- •Installing the AP
- •Configuring AP parameters
- •Changing the AP Configuration
- •Installing device drivers and client software
- •PC Cards and mini-PCI cards
- •Compact Flash cards
- •PCI and ISA cards
- •USB adapters
- •Modifying Wireless Network Adapters
- •Synchronizing and Internet Access
- •Wireless Zero Configuration with XP
- •Easy installation
- •Automatic network connections
- •Tracking Your Network’s Performance
- •Apple AirPort Hardware
- •Pick an AirPort Card, any card
- •Apple AirPort Software Updates
- •AirPort 2.0 software
- •AirPort 2.0.4 software
- •AirPort 2.0.5 software
- •AirPort 2.1.1 software
- •OS 9 Wireless Networks
- •Installing AirPort software on Mac OS 9
- •Upgrading AirPort Base Station firmware on OS 9
- •OS X Wireless Networks
- •Installing the AirPort software on OS X
- •Upgrading AirPort Base Station firmware on OS X
- •Adding another computer to your AirPort network on OS X
- •Connection sharing
- •Routers and gateways
- •Sharing dialup Internet connections
- •Obtaining an IP Address Automatically
- •Windows 9x
- •Windows 2000
- •Windows XP
- •Setting Up Internet Connection Sharing
- •Windows 98 SE and Windows Me
- •Windows 2000
- •Windows XP
- •Mac OS X v. 10.2 (Jaguar)
- •Assessing the Risks
- •General Internet security
- •Airlink security
- •How about a bit more about WEP?
- •What’s wrong with WEP?
- •Clamping Down on Your Wireless Home Network’s Security
- •Getting rid of the defaults
- •Enabling WEP
- •Closing your network
- •Looking into the Crystal Ball
- •Waiting for WPA
- •The future: 802.11i
- •A Networking Review
- •Basic networking terminology
- •Setting up a workgroup
- •Will You Be My Neighbor?
- •Sharing a document or folder on Windows 95/98/Me
- •Enabling sharing on Windows 2000/XP
- •Setting permissions
- •Accessing shared files
- •Be Economical: Share Those Peripherals
- •Setting up a print server
- •Sharing other peripherals
- •PC Gaming Hardware Requirements
- •Networking Requirements for PC Gaming
- •Console online gaming services and equipment
- •Console wireless networking equipment
- •Dealing with Router Configurations
- •Getting an IP address
- •Dealing with port forwarding
- •Setting Up a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
- •Wireless Home Entertainment Gear
- •Expanding Your Home Entertainment Center with Wireless Adapters
- •The Home Media Player
- •The Home Theater PC
- •Internet Content for Your Media Players and HTPCs
- •Making a Connection to Your Car
- •Your car’s path to wireless enlightenment
- •Synching your car stereo with home
- •Getting online with your own car PC
- •Picking wireless gear for your car
- •Using your PDA as a remote control
- •Whole home 802.11-based IR coverage
- •See me, feel me, hear me, touch me
- •Discovering Bluetooth Basics
- •Bluetooth Mobile Phones
- •Bluetooth PDAs
- •Other Bluetooth Devices
- •Printers
- •Digital cameras
- •Keyboards and meeses (that’s plural for mouse!)
- •Bluetooth adapters
- •Discovering Public Hot Spots
- •Freenets and open access points
- •For-pay services
- •Using T-Mobile Hot Spots
- •Using Wayport Hot Spots
- •Using Boingo Hot Spots
- •Tools for Finding Hot Spots
- •Netstumbler.com
- •Boingo
- •Check the Obvious
- •Move the Access Point
- •Move the Antenna(s)
- •Change Channels
- •Check for Dual-Band Interference
- •Check for New Obstacles
- •Install Another Antenna
- •Add a Signal Booster
- •Add a Repeater or Bridge
- •Check Your Cordless Phone Frequencies
- •Your Bath
- •Your Car
- •Your Exercise Gear
- •Your Home Appliances
- •Your Musical Instruments
- •Your Pets
- •Your Phones
- •Your Robots
- •Your Wearing Apparel
- •CNET.com
- •802.11 Planet
- •Broadband Wireless Exchange Magazine
- •80211b.weblogger.com
- •PC Magazine
- •Electronic House Magazine
- •Home Automation Magazine
- •Practically Networked
- •ExtremeTech.com
- •Network World
- •Other Cool Sites
- •Index
Chapter 6
Installing Wireless Access Points
in Windows
In This Chapter
Installing a wireless network access point (AP)
Modifying AP configuration
In this chapter, we describe the installation and configuration of your wireless home network’s access point. We explain how to set up and configure
the access point so that it’s ready to communicate with any and all wireless devices in your home network. In Chapter 7, we describe the process for installing and configuring wireless network adapters.
Note: Chapters 6 and 7 deal solely with Windows-based PCs. For specifics on setting up and installing wireless home networking devices on a Mac, see Chapter 8.
Before Getting Started, Get Prepared
Setting up an AP does have some complicated steps where things can go wrong. You want to reduce the variables to as few as possible to make debugging any problems as easy as possible. So don’t try to do lots of different things all at once, like buy a new PC, install XP, add a router, add an AP, and wireless clients . . . all at the same time. (Go ahead and laugh, but a lot of people try this.) We recommend that you do the following:
1.Get your PC set up first on a standalone basis.
If you have a new computer system, you probably shouldn’t need much setup because it should be preconfigured when you buy it. If you have an older system, make sure that no major software problems exist before
106 Part III: Installing a Wireless Network
you begin. If you have to install a new operating system (OS), do it now. Bottom line: Get the PC working on its own fine so that you have no problems when you add on functionality.
2.Add in your dialup or broadband Internet connection for that one PC.
Ensure that everything is working on your wired connection first. If you have a broadband modem, get it working on a direct connect to your PC first. If you’re using a dialup connection, again — get that tested from your PC so you know that the account is active and works. Make sure that you can surf the Web (go to a number of sites that you know work) to ascertain that the information is current (as opposed to coming from your cache memory storage from prior visits to the site).
3.Choose (and do) which of the following makes sense for your configuration.
a.If you’re sharing a broadband or dialup connection with a router, add in your home network routing option.
This will entail shifting your connection from your PC to your router, and your router will have instructions for doing that. After that is working, make sure that you can add another PC or other device, if you have one. Make sure that it can connect to the Internet, as well, and that the two devices can see each other on the local area network. This establishes that your logical connectivity among all your devices and the Internet is working. Because many of you reading this book are going to be installing an AP on an existing broadband or dialup network, we’re covering the AP installation first; we cover the installation of the router and your Internet sharing in Chapter 9.
b.If you plan to use this machine as the gateway to the Internet (as opposed to a router), turn on Internet sharing on your host PC.
Get that going and working, testing that with other connected devices. Again, check out Chapter 9 for info on this.
4.Now try adding wireless to the equation: Install your wireless AP and wireless NICs and disconnect the wired cable from each to see whether they work — one at a time is always simpler.
By now, any problems that occur can be isolated to your wireless connection. If you need to fall back on dialing into or logging onto your manufacturer’s Web site, you can always plug the wired connection in and do so.
If your AP is in an all-in-one cable modem/router/AP combo, that’s okay. Think about turning on the elements one at a time. If a wizard forces you to do it all at once, go ahead and follow the wizard’s steps; just recognize that if all goes wrong, you can reset the device to the factory settings and start over (extreme, but usually saves time).