Setup Linksys Router

Today we will be looking at the “Basic Wireless Settings” page under the “Wireless” tab. Before we begin you’ll need to login to your Linksys Router web interface, you’ll simply enter your Routers IP in the URL field, if you do not know this you can check out our tutorial on find your Router’s IP address.

Like I said we are looking at the basic wireless settings, this page deals with what types of NIC (Network Interface Cards) can connect to your router, what band to use, the wireless network name (SSID) which shows up when your trying to find a network to connect to, and then also if you wish to display the SSID.

Wireless Network

The first option is the Wireless Network Mode, and it basically controls what type of NICs can connect to your router. One of the first wireless “bands” was the B band, then the next band was the G, and the wireless community is now moving to the N band. Most people would leave this one mixed, which would allow all bands to connect to your router, but if you need to restrict it to a certain band then you may select that one but remember that any device that is not that band will not be able to connect. Alternatively if you want to turn Wireless Network Mode off, just simply place it on “Disabled”.

Now you have the “Wireless Network Name” or the SSID or Service Set Identifier, this is the name people will see when they are searching for a network to connect to. To put one more obstacle in a war drivers / hackers way, you should change it from the default (Which is usually the router’s manufacturers), but also not something that is to identifiable, like your last name or address.

The next thing you will see is the Wireless Channel, and while it appears that it has 1-11 “channels” to connect to, its really only 3. If you found that your signal is interfering with another wireless router that is nearby then you can try switching to one of the channels that is either 1, 6, or 11. There is a 4 signal bleeding area (Leaving the maximum safe signals to 3), so if you go to channel 3 then you’ll get a bleed area from channel 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.

The last thing that is on the page is “Wireless SSID Broadcast”, and this is simply the option to display your SSID to outside users when they are searching for your router’s name. There are simple ways around this, so it’ll be easier (for when you connect new computers) just to leave it to Enabled, and setup some security.

That concludes the basic wireless settings page, and you can check out our Linksys Router Setup category.

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