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Chapter 2

Wireless Settings and Security

This chapter describes how to set up the wireless features of your WGT624 v4 wireless router. In

planning your wireless network, select a location for the wireless router that will maximize

performance. Also, consider the level of wireless security required.

Optimizing Your Wireless Connections

The speed and range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the location of

the wireless router. Choose a location for your router that will maximize the network speed.

To optimize wireless router performance:

•

Identify critical wireless links.

If your network has several wireless devices, decide which wireless devices need the highest

data rate, and locate the router near them. Many wireless products have automatic data-rate

fallback. This lets you connect from farther away, but the connection may also be slower. So

the most critical wireless links are those where the traffic is high and the distances are great.

•

Choose placement carefully.

For best results, place your router:

–

Near the center of the area in which your computers will operate.

–

In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected computers

have line-of-sight access (even if through walls).

•

Avoid obstacles to wireless signals.

–

Keep wireless devices at least 2 feet from large metal fixtures such as file cabinets,

refrigerators, pipes, metal ceilings, reinforced concrete, and metal partitions.

–

Keep the devices away from large amounts of water such as fish tanks and water coolers.

Note:

The router factory default settings are shown in

“Default Configuration Settings” in

Appendix A

. You can restore these defaults with the Reset button on the rear panel.

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•

Reduce interference.

Avoid windows unless you want to communicate between buildings.

Place wireless devices away from electromagnetic noise sources, especially those in the 2400–

2500 MHz frequency band. Common noise-creating sources are:

–

Computers and fax machines (no closer than 1 foot)

–

Copying machines, elevators, and cell phones (no closer than 6 feet)

–

Microwave ovens (no closer than 10 feet)

•

Choose your settings.

–

Use a scanning utility to determine which other wireless networks are operating nearby,

and choose an unused channel.

–

Turn off SSID Broadcast, and change the default SSID. Other nearby devices may

automatically try to connect to your network several times a second, which can cause

significant performance reduction.

Setting Up Your Wireless Connections

When you are setting up wireless connections, these guidelines will help make the process simpler

and easier:

•

Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the router when you are setting up or

changing wireless settings. If you are connected wirelessly and make a change, you will lose

your wireless connection when you apply the change.

•

Remember to note what your wireless settings are. For help keeping track of them, see

“Information to Gather Before Changing the Wireless Settings” on page 2-3

.

•

Wait until after your wireless connection is up and running before you enable wireless security

(

“Understanding Wireless Security” on page 2-6

).

Note:

Before you can set up your wireless connections, you must install the router and

connect to the Internet. See

Chapter 1, “Connecting the Router to the Internet”

.

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Information to Gather Before Changing the Wireless Settings

Before changing your wireless settings, print this form and record the following information. For

an existing wireless network, the person who set up or is responsible for the network can provide

this information. After you set up wireless security for the router, you must set up each computer

with the same wireless security settings in order to for it to join the wireless network.

•

Wireless network name (SSID)

:

______________________________

The SSID, also called

the wireless network name, for the wireless network. You can use up to 32 alphanumeric

characters. The SSID

is

case-sensitive.

•

If WEP authentication is used,

circle one:

Open System

,

Shared Key, or Auto

.

–

WEP Encryption key size

. Choose 64-bit or 128-bit. The encryption key size must be the

same for the wireless adapters and the wireless router.

–

Data encryption (WEP) keys

. There are two ways to create WEP data encryption keys.

•

Passphrase method

. ______________________________

These characters

are

case-

sensitive. Enter a word or group of printable characters and click

Generate Keys

. Not

all wireless devices support the passphrase method.

•

Manual method

. These values

are not

case-sensitive. For 64-bit WEP, enter 10 hex

digits (any combination of 0-9 or a-f). For 128-bit WEP, enter 26 hex digits.

Key 1: ___________________________________

Key 2: ___________________________________

Key 3: ___________________________________

Key 4: ___________________________________

•

If WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK Authentication is Used:

–

Passphrase

: ______________________________

These characters

are

case-sensitive.

Enter a word or group of printable characters.

Use the procedures described in the following sections to configure the WGT624 v4. Store this

information in a safe place.

Note:

If you select

Shared Key

, the other devices in the network will not connect

unless they are also set to Shared Key and are configured with the correct key.

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Viewing or Change Wireless Settings

To view or change wireless settings:

1.

Log in to the router at its default LAN address of

with its default

user name of

admin

and default password of

password

, or using whatever LAN address and

password you have set up.

2.

Click the Wireless Settings link in the main menu of the router.

3.

View or enter the wireless settings for the router.

•

Wireless Network Name (SSID).

The default SSID is NETGEAR. It is a good idea to

change this to a name that you can easily recognize in case there are other wireless

networks in your area. You can enter up to 32 alphanumeric characters.

•

Region.

The region where you are located. The Smart Wizard prompts for this during

installation. It may not be legal to operate the wireless features of the wireless router in a

region other than one of those identified in this field.

•

Channel.

The channel determines the operating frequency. The default channel is 11.

Figure 2-1

Note:

The network name (SSID) is case-sensitive. If NETGEAR is the network

name (SSID) in your wireless router, you must enter NETGEAR in your

computer’s wireless settings. Typing nETgear will not work.

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You need to change the channel only if you have interference problems with another

nearby wireless router or access point. If this is the case, select a channel that is not being

used by any other wireless networks within several hundred feet of your wireless router.

For a link to more information on the wireless channel frequencies, see

“Wireless

Communications” in Appendix B

.

•

Mode.

The data communications protocol that the router will use. You can select Auto

108 Mbps, g only, or g and b. The g only option dedicates the wireless router to

communicating with the higher bandwidth 802.11g wireless devices exclusively. The g

and b mode provides backward compatibility with the slower 802.11b wireless devices

while still enabling 802.11g communications. The Auto 108 Mbps mode works with

802.11g, 802.11b, and NETGEAR 108 Mbps devices.

•

Security Options:

For initial set up and test, leave or set Security Options to None. For

more information about Security Options, see

“Understanding Wireless Security” on

page 2-6

.

4.

Click

Apply

to save your changes.

Set up the wireless adapter for each computer that will connect to the router with the same

SSID and wireless channel as the router. The SSID for the wireless adapters must match the

SSID for the router or you will not get a wireless connection.

Test each computer to make sure that it can connect wirelessly to the router and is able to obtain an

IP address by DHCP from the wireless router.

After your computers can connect wirelessly to the wireless router, then you can set up wireless

security for your network.