Set Up A Wireless Home Network

By Maryanne Murray Buechner

Your home has one high-speed Internet connection and several computers, and you'd like them all to share that fat pipe. But a home network? You can't bear the thought of drilling holes in your walls and snaking cables around the house. Here's the good news: you don't have to. You can go wireless.

More and more consumers are doing it; sales of wireless home-networking products in 2001 were 12 times what they were the year before, according to Stephen Baker, director of research for NPD Techworld. And it's easy to see why. Not only does a wireless network give you the freedom to roam around the house or yard with your laptop without losing your Internet connection, but the latest equipment has also got considerably cheaper and more reliable.

There are disadvantages: interference from microwaves and baby monitors; ranges that vary from several hundred yards to just a few dozen feet; and installation procedures, although marketed as do-it-yourself, that turn out to be complicated and not at all intuitive. They can easily eat up an entire weekend. They can drive you to drink.

But when you see those little green lights blink--when your computers are finally talking to one another and surfing at the same high speed--you'll know it was time well spent. Here's how you get started:

STEP 1 Get the Gear

First, make sure everything you buy conforms to the dominant wireless standard, known as 802.11b, or Wi-Fi (short for wireless fidelity). That way, if you want to mix brands or network a Mac to a Windows PC, everything will still work together.

The heart of your network will be a wireless access point and cable/DSL router, preferably one device that does both. These two-in-one units, sometimes called wireless gateways, start at $150 and often throw in a few Ethernet ports too, so you can connect a printer or desktop PC using a standard Ethernet cable. I had a smooth experience with the Linksys Etherfast Wireless AP+Cable/DSL Router ($169). Similar products are made by D-link, Intel, NetGear, Siemens, SMC and 2Wire.

To add a desktop PC to your network, you will need a wireless PCI card ($50 and up), which slides into any free slot inside the computer tower. Better yet, consider a wireless USB network adapter, which saves you the trouble of opening up the case. Linksys sells one for $99.

To connect a notebook PC, you'll need a wireless PC card, a slim metal plate that slides into the laptop's PCMCIA slot and has a small antenna sticking out from the end (also $50 and up). To connect a Mac desktop or notebook, get an Apple Airport card ($99). If you're buying a new notebook, most major PC manufacturers will sell you one with Wi-Fi capabilities built in.

STEP 2 Install and Configure

Wi-Fi routers and network cards come with software to walk you through the installation. The steps will vary slightly, depending on each computer's operating system. The older the OS, the trickier it can be; Windows XP is designed to detect and configure a PC card to talk to an existing network, and getting an iBook running Mac OS X to communicate with my Linksys router was a breeze.

Before you start installing anything, make sure you have the following information handy: your broadband connection's IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS IP addresses. You can get these things from your Internet provider; your customer-service rep will know what you're talking about. Each is just a series of numbers (e.g., 123.43.2.1) that you'll be prompted to plug in during setup. (If your provider supports a protocol called DHCP, your router should retrieve these settings automatically when you plug it in.) You may also be asked to choose an SSID (service set identifier), work-group names and a wireless channel; keep these consistent for all of your machines.

STEP 3 Cut Your Losses

If several hours (or, God forbid, days) pass and your wireless network still isn't working and you're getting nowhere with tech support, it's probably time to call in a pro. Ask your cable guy for a referral--some do network installs on the side--or search HomeNetHelp.com's database. The house call will cost you a couple of hundred bucks. But if you don't tell, nobody has to know.