Wifi for Dummies

Wifi and wireless connection for newbie’s could become a daunting task without the help of a competent hand. You want a home wireless network, but you're afraid it won't work. Here's how to do it right.Wireless networking is the best thing to happen to the Internet since the browser, but whoever came up with it should have tested it at home first.

The current crop of 802.11 wifi equipment can reach through a room or two, but many homeowners find it's not enough to cover the entire house and yard. Wi-Fi (wifi) uses a microwave radio signal to reach through walls, floors, and ceilings, just like a cordless phone. But these obstacles also dampen the signal just as they do with the phone. The advertised range for Wi-Fi is 150 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors, but in real life it often fails to reach from the kitchen to the living room, or upstairs to the bedroom.When you want to connect your computer to a local area network you use a RG45 connector cable but if you want to connect you presero or HP Laptop having a wifi capability to the Internet you don’t need to plug a network cable into your computer. Wifi for dummies will show any net user determined to exercise his inalienable right to surf the Web from the swimming pool, or someone that want to blanket an entire property with Wi-Fi, using only off-the-shelf consumer hardware and without running more cables.

That meant setting up multiple Wi-Fi bases ("access points," as they're called) linked back to a single DSL line which you connect via the wireless router, a device that connects to the LAN and the high speed/ broadband internet modem by wire, and then shares those connections through wireless radio signals with wireless users in range.

Laptops come with a wireless-transceiver which simplifies Wifi connection on high-speed Internet access. Wifi adaptors in laptops makes it easy to connect computers, printers, fax machines, and phones into a single communication network without having to string wires around your office.

This article: wifi for dummies will not be complete if I don’t explain some simple facts;

A Wifi network is made up of wireless routers; sometimes it may involve a series of routers of AirPort Extreme, Linksys or Belkin. In order to set up a Wifi network, you need a broadband ISP connection, a cable or DSL modem, a wireless router, and a set of wireless receiving devices for the wireless clients you expect to access the LAN which is your laptop.

Fundamentally, there are two types of wireless networks:

Wireless Distribution Systems: WDS; the most common business networks today) and Mesh networks. The fundamental difference is that Mesh networks provide automatic discovery and configuration. That means if one of the links in a Mesh network fails, the network attempts to find an alternative path around the failed router.

If a WDS link fails, you're out of luck until a technician fixes the router or creates a different connection. WDS systems require the network administrator to configure all connections between Access Points manually so each Access Point knows where to find all the other APs in the matrix; Mesh does the job automatically.

Technical issues this wifi for dummies should not include: Ignore it if you care!

All wireless network devices are based on the IEEE's 802.11 standard, but there are 4 flavors:The original standard, 802.11b, is still quite common. It operates at 2.4 GHz and generally achieves 6 Mbps of actual data transfer. One reason that rates so low is that in this frequency range interference from other wireless devices like phones, other notebook computers, even microwave ovens slow the signal. 802.11a was a step up from 802.11b. It operates at a higher frequency (5.8 GHz) in order to avoid wireless interference, but at the same time it is more vulnerable to signal loss through walls and other obstacles, so its range of service is smaller. An 802.11a AP may only cover an area 25 percent as large as an 802.11b AP.

Theoretically data rates can reach to 54 Mbps, but in reality most users seldom exceed 15 or 20 Mbps. 802.11a equipment tends to be pricier than 802.11b. 802.11g, the current standard, splits the differences between "b" and "a" by using 802.11a's higher bit-rate along with "b"s lower frequency band. Real-life throughput is only 25 Mbps, but area coverage is better than "a," and "g" equipment is backward-compatible with the b standard. 802.11n, the wave of the future, is still under construction, but it promises to deliver throughput up to 50 times greater than b, and 10 times greater than a or g.

Power to the AP

If you spend much time looking at Wifi equipment specifications, you'll start seeing the acronym "POE" fairly often. That stands for Power over Ethernet, and it refers to technology that provides connection to Access Points and even remote wireless routers without needing to plug them into a wall outlet. The power comes down the same Ethernet cable as the data. It comes in very handy for deploying APs quickly and inexpensively.

Be sure to follow the instructions slowly and type in configuration numbers carefully. Unlike most computer setup operations, mis-configuring a wireless base can have dire consequences—including disabling all your wireless hardware. To start configuration poke at the factory reset buttons with a paper clip to start over from scratch.The most important factor in Wi-Fi is location.

Distance saps wireless strength, and so do most construction materials. Keep your base stations away from solid walls and doors, as well as any metal objects or computer equipment. Put them near windows or hollow walls instead. Our test home's lightweight California stucco walls turned out to have impenetrable wire mesh inside them. To reach outside, we placed the unit in sight of a window facing the pool. Most home window glass is transparent to microwaves as well as light, so a window is better than a wall or a door.Walls and other equipment indoors interfere with the radio signal and reduce the radius of effective wireless coverage. You can expect to get an effective 100 foot radius of indoor service from a router or AP, and 300 feet outdoor (where there are fewer obstacles to interfere with the radio waves).

To expand the service area of your wireless network, you can add additional APs and interconnect those using standard Ethernet cables or special wireless connections. If you're fortunate enough to live somewhere bigger, additional bases on upper and lower floors will stretch your network's range. This device have spherical coverage pattern into a circular disk that reaches further horizontally, at the expense of vertical coverage to floors above or below. Before you buy more hardware, though, it's always worth moving the base station to a different spot, rotating it, or standing it on its side.

The results may defy common sense, but go with what works.Under our plan blanketing your estate in Wi-Fi will cost at least $249 and could run to a thousand bucks or more for a castle in the Hamptons. But as with your first computer or first Internet connection, you'll get a return on investment that can't be counted in the household budget.

The first time you dispose of a tedious backlog of e-mail while kicking back in your favorite lawn chair, you'll know instantly your new network is worth every penny.The average user has no idea of the risks associated with public Wi-Fi hotspots. Here are some very simple tips for them to keep their network access secure. Many hotels provide free wireless access with little or no security in cooperated into it. Anyone who uses free WiFi without understanding inherent data risks is left at the mercy of hackers

WEP and WPA

Most people know by now that they should connect to a wireless connection using one of two encryption technologies: either WEP OR WPA Sure, WPA is a heck of a lot better than WEP, but even WEP is better than nothing. However, that's what most hotels use: nothing. Free wireless is an add-on, so they want to keep costs low. WEP or WPA would add additional complications and expense, and additional customer support where none would be available, so most hotels just run their wireless wide open. That means that unless you're specifically given a WEP or WPA key to enter, assume that everything your computer is sending or receiving is sent in the clear. Meaning, anyone who knows what they're doing can see many of your passwords once you type them in.

To use that wireless connection securely, then, you need to worry about the programs you're using to access the Net.Wifi users use the web for sending and receiving email, and IM friends and associates. Sure, lots of programs use the Net in some way, but the three I just mentioned are the most common.

Web: When it comes to web browsers at the hotel, there's one big piece of advice you should adhere to: don't use Internet Explorer! Yes, Microsoft has released a preview of the beta of the forthcoming IE7, and it does look better in a lot of ways (although holes were found almost immediately upon its release, but hey, it's a preview of a beta), but that final release is still a long ways off. For now, use IE 6 only if you are absolutely forced to.So what should you use instead? Use Firefox, Opera - or Safari if you're a Mac user. All three are free, powerful yet easy to use, and all are safer than Internet Explorer. I'm partial to Firefox but you should be interested in Firefox for its excellent security record (especially when compared to Internet Explorer's truly abysmal security problems) and the extensions that help you secure the browser and your Internet usage even more.

Once you have your browser open, use your head. Avoid web sites in which you're viewing or entering user names, passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other sensitive data ... unless those sites use https instead of http. If you have to log in somewhere, but the web page's URL begins with https, then it's using a technology called SSL, and it's OK; if the URL begins with http, be careful.

If you're just reading the news or sports scores, don't worry about it, but if you're working with sensitive data, do not view or enter information on those types of pages.If your company provides you with VPN access on your laptop, use it. That's a sure fire way to ensure that everything you send and receive is encrypted, and it makes your surfing much safer.

Email

You can check your email in two ways: using a web browser, or using an email program running on your computer (like Outlook, Outlook Express, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora, and others). Let's talk about each of those in turn. Email via Web Browser. There are companies that provide email primarily through web browsers, like Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo! Mail, but most ISPs who allow people to download their email using programs also provide access to that same email using web browsers. Most every web mail out there provides a secure (https) page for logging in to check your email, but that's it. Your password will be safe, but none of your emails. Reading and writing emails is done using plain http, which means that everything is sent in the clear, not good.

I like Gmail a lot, but Gmail doesn't use https for reading emails (it does use it for logging in, though). To get around that, I installed the Customize Google extension for Firefox (and it only works in Firefox). Once the extension is installed, go to Tools > Customize Google Options. Go to the Gmail tab and make sure that "Secure (switch to https)" is checked. Press OK to close the window, and you're done. Now you'll log in to Gmail on an https page, and you'll read and send mail on https pages as well.

I like this solution because you don't have to think about it again.You can switch to https once you're in Gmail by simply clicking in your address bar, changing the http to https, and then loading the page. Now everything is secure ... as long as you don't close your browser. If you do, you need to manually change to https again, and again.

The Customize Google extension does this automatically, so it's a better solution.Hotmail offers a "secure mode" that uses SSL, but by default you login at an insecure http page, just like you do with Yahoo! - which isn't good. For either service you can click on the tiny "Sign in using enhanced security" or "Submit over SSL" link that most people will never see.

Advice

Furthermore, it is advisable to use access points all of the same model of hardware, rather than mixing one kind of central base station with different satellite units as I have noticed some tech guys do. Finally, you should chosen wifi equipment that has mass-market consumer hardware, not something sold to the "enterprise" niche of office IT professionals. That way, one could send any dummy to the mall with only one model of gadget to purchase, one for which they could find enough customer support. So that we could start with one, and then keep adding more of them until they covered the whole house.

Conclusion

It's possible to use your laptop safely in a hotel, but you have to take a bit of responsibility for that security. You'll need to use your common sense, change a few habits, and perhaps install and use some new software. I know that this is a lot for most people, but aren't your private data and conversations worth it? And if you have any questions, you know who you can call. If you're a security professional reading this column, why not show it to the Philips in your life and offer your help; if you're a Philip, try the advice in this column, and feel free to ask the computer person in your life for aid. I know they'll be glad to help.