Setting up a wireless network right.

SlyJoker

I just bought a new router (Linksys WRT54g) to replace my old POS, and I want to make sure I set it up correctly to work with my Wii and DS, as well as being able to access my printer from the wireless PC. (I was able to do this at some point with the old router, but it just stopped working one day.)

I also want to make sure it works with programs such as Bittorrent, Wow, AIM, Firefox.

Also, I heard some versions of this router have terrible firmware, so I would want to flash it to the best version.

Just wanto make sure I get it right this time, any help is aprechiated.

fforde

The Nintendo DS supports WEP encryption but not WPA encryption. So if you do enable wireless encryption, you want to go with WEP. However for most cases it is good enough to just turn off your SSID Broadcast but go without any real encryption. This basically means that anyone is really free to connect to your network, but they cant see that it's there on a normal wireless network list. They have to manually punch in the SSID to connect which you would have to tell them. It is not the most secure set up in the world, but for a casual home wireless setup in my opinion it is a good combination of convenience and security. And if you get worried someone IS gonna try to steal your band width you can turn on MAC address filtering. All this is configurable via your router control panel, accessible through a web browser.

Firefox and AIM should work fine out of the box. For bittorrent you will probably have to open up some ports for it. Find out what port your bittorrent client uses and open that and port forward it to your PC running bittorrent. Be careful because some clients (like uTorrent) by default randomize the port it uses each time the app starts up. You'll want to turn off the randomization and fix it to a specific port, and forward it to your PC.

SlyJoker

fforde wrote:

The Nintendo DS supports WEP encryption but not WPA encryption. So if you do enable wireless encryption, you want to go with WEP. However for most cases it is good enough to just turn off your SSID Broadcast but go without any real encryption. This basically means that anyone is really free to connect to your network, but they cant see that it's there on a normal wireless network list. They have to manually punch in the SSID to connect which you would have to tell them. It is not the most secure set up in the world, but for a casual home wireless setup in my opinion it is a good combination of convenience and security. And if you get worried someone IS gonna try to steal your band width you can turn on MAC address filtering. All this is configurable via your router control panel, accessible through a web browser.

Firefox and AIM should work fine out of the box. For bittorrent you will probably have to open up some ports for it. Find out what port your bittorrent client uses and open that and port forward it to your PC running bittorrent. Be careful because some clients (like uTorrent) by default randomize the port it uses each time the app starts up. You'll want to turn off the randomization and fix it to a specific port, and forward it to your PC.

Yeah, I tried the port forwarding stuff last time, but just ended up getting confused.

EDIT: and once I got the ports forwarded correctly (I thought) my BT still didnt work.

fforde

SlyJoker wrote:

Yeah, I tried the port forwarding stuff last time, but just ended up getting confused.

EDIT: and once I got the ports forwarded correctly (I thought) my BT still didnt work.

If you don't forward the ports bittorrent is trying to use, the packets (pieces of files) that other people are sending you will get to your router and your router will just throw them away, cause it wont know what to do with them. If you want to use bittorrent, try to set it up and if you have trouble come here with some more specific questions and maybe someone can help.

SlyJoker

fforde wrote:

SlyJoker wrote:

Yeah, I tried the port forwarding stuff last time, but just ended up getting confused.

EDIT: and once I got the ports forwarded correctly (I thought) my BT still didnt work.

If you don't forward the ports bittorrent is trying to use, the packets (pieces of files) that other people are sending you will get to your router and your router will just throw them away, cause it wont know what to do with them. If you want to use bittorrent, try to set it up and if you have trouble come here with some more specific questions and maybe someone can help.

All Right. But how about useing my printer over the network?

EDIT: And ive never ever been able to set up windows XP fire sharing correctly. Is it because one PC has home and one has PRO?

EDIT: And can anyone enlighten me about the firmware issue?

Ill most likely let this topic stew for a day or so, im not impatient.

vonPoonBurGer

SlyJoker wrote:

EDIT: And can anyone enlighten me about the firmware issue?

Which version of the WRT54G do you have? There have been at least six major revisions, plus some minor ones as well. If you flip it over and look at the label on the bottom, it should say "WRT54G v4.0" or something like that. You're probably best off getting the latest firmware for your version from the LinkSys download page. It's pretty easy to flash the official firmware, just follow the instructions on the admin webpage, and make sure you don't turn it off while it's flashing. Oh, and it's best to do the flashing via a wired connection, rather than doing it wirelessly.

SlyJoker

vonPoonBurGer wrote:

SlyJoker wrote:

EDIT: And can anyone enlighten me about the firmware issue?

Which version of the WRT54G do you have? There have been at least six major revisions, plus some minor ones as well. If you flip it over and look at the label on the bottom, it should say "WRT54G v4.0" or something like that. You're probably best off getting the latest firmware for your version from the LinkSys download page. It's pretty easy to flash the official firmware, just follow the instructions on the admin webpage, and make sure you don't turn it off while it's flashing. Oh, and it's best to do the flashing via a wired connection, rather than doing it wirelessly.

Mine is V6.0, but I heard the latest isnst always the best, and the issue I heard of involved using an unnofficial firmware to fix it, but i think v5 was the one I heard had problems.

blincoln

fforde wrote:

They have to manually punch in the SSID to connect which you would have to tell them.

No, not if they're using any of the freely available wireless scanning tools out there.

WEP is easily cracked now, but it's a lot better than nothing. If you don't at least use it, and preferably WPA, you should expect people to use your access point as if it were a free public service. That is the message that not using encryption conveys, whether you turn off SSID broadcasting or not.

There is no good reason to not use WEP, unless you want to provide a public AP.

fforde

blincoln wrote:

fforde wrote:

They have to manually punch in the SSID to connect which you would have to tell them.

No, not if they're using any of the freely available wireless scanning tools out there.

WEP is easily cracked now, but it's a lot better than nothing. If you don't at least use it, and preferably WPA, you should expect people to use your access point as if it were a free public service. That is the message that not using encryption conveys, whether you turn off SSID broadcasting or not.

There is no good reason to not use WEP, unless you want to provide a public AP.

WEP is inconvienient, that's my reason for not using it. When a friend comes over with his or her laptop, it is a nuisance walking them through configuring their wireless settings. It's not a big deal, but it is much easier if there is no encryption.

If you dont set up any sort of encryption but have your SSID Broadcast turned off, can people connect to your wireless network without your permission? Of course, but the same is true if you have WEP set up. As you said it's easily cracked. If someone REALLY wants to get into your network, either way, they will be able to. Both turning off SSID broadcast and using WEP encryption are just ways to prevent casual theft. It's the same as locking your car doors. If someone really wants to steal your car (or something in it), locking your doors ain't gonnna do shit. But it prevents casual theft.

So I keep an eye on the MAC addresses connected to my network, dont use any encryption and have my SSID Broadcast turned off. I havn't had a single problem. Your milage may vary but I dont really see any advantages to running WEP. It is inconvienient and doesn't really add much security.

tony_important

SlyJoker wrote:

I also want to make sure it works with programs such as Bittorrent, Wow, AIM, Firefox.

this might help a bit.

vonPoonBurGer

SlyJoker wrote:

Mine is V6.0, but I heard the latest isnst always the best, and the issue I heard of involved using an unnofficial firmware to fix it, but i think v5 was the one I heard had problems.

According to Wikipedia, the v5 routers were the worst ones, that was the first revision where they switched to VxWorks instead of an embedded version of Linux. Sounds like the first generation was pretty rough. I don't think you're likely to see major problems with the latest firmware, as yours is a v6.0.

If you're feeling brave, you can also install 3rd party firmware on your router. I use DD-WRT myself, it adds a lot of nifty features over the standard firmware. The Micro version apparently works on the v6.0 WRT54G units. You can brick your router if you're not careful though, so I'd recommend trying to latest version of the official firmware before you go voiding your warranty.

Rook

If I recall correctly, it's not just the firmware on the WRT54 that's bad, the later revisions actually have inferior hardware. We have a WRT54GS in our house and it's pretty terrible, I don't like using it at all but it's not my router so I'd feel bad about flashing it.

SlyJoker

Ok, its up and running, only a few problems.

1. Whenever my 2.4ghz phones are used my net connection shuts down. Ive tried changing the channels, but just said "fuck it" and went and bought some 5.8ghz phones. My old phones sucked anyway. :P

Now my problem is, sometimes it will find my access point and have a strong signal, but not have net connectivity.

vonPoonBurGer

Rook wrote:

If I recall correctly, it's not just the firmware on the WRT54 that's bad, the later revisions actually have inferior hardware.

Sadly, yes. As LinkSys tuned and shrank the embedded OS, they reduced the amount of system RAM and flash RAM in the unit. Check out the chart on the Wikipedia page for the WRT54G. I was lucky enough to get a v4.0 WRT54G, the last version before they switched to VxWorks, which enabled them to cut system RAM and flash RAM in half.

SlyJoker wrote:

1. Whenever my 2.4ghz phones are used my net connection shuts down. Ive tried changing the channels, but just said "fuck it" and went and bought some 5.8ghz phones. My old phones sucked anyway. :P

I had to do the exact same thing three months ago. No amount of channel switching helped for me either. I think most 2.4GHz phones do a shite job of keeping their signal within a single channel, so they just end up steamrolling the wireless signal no matter what channel you put it in.

SlyJoker wrote:

Now my problem is, sometimes it will find my access point and have a strong signal, but not have net connectivity.

Just a shot in the dark here, but does power cycling the router make the problem go away?