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Easiest Way to Wirelessly Connect a Kindle Fire?

Peter PrinciplePeter Principle Registered User regular
edited December 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
Mom got a kindle fire for xmas. She's got a Windows 7 computer and a wired router that hooks her computer (via 6 foot Cat-5 cable) and her Wii (via a 100 ft Cat-5 cable) up to the internet.

What would be the easiest way to set things up so that this kindle fire can get online and download games and apps and stuff like that? (Getting free digital books is easy, since they can be d/l'd and transfererd via usb cable, but it doesn't appear that other software will work by this method.)

"A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business." - Eric Hoffer, _The True Believer_
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    ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    The wifi should be in your Kindle's settings... might need to set it up on your home network through there (like, if you have a password on your home network).

    Also: Make sure Airplane Mode isn't turned on, as that disables the wifi.

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
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    bobmyknobbobmyknob 3DS Friend Code 4553-9974-2186 Registered User regular
    If the computer has a wireless card in it you could set it up as a wireless access point, otherwise, the easiest thing to do would be to buy a wireless router and replace the wired router with it.

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    ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    Oh, I totally missed that you don't have a wireless setup.

    Linksys and Netgear make really good wireless routers that are fairly inexpensive and pretty easy to set up yourself. You'd literally just plug it in where your current wired router sits (assuming it's not the actual modem that you're calling a router).

    Allegedly a voice of reason.
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    Peter PrinciplePeter Principle Registered User regular
    So my problem was that I didn't know that wireless routers can also have wired connections. I have purchased a Linksys E1200. I can replace the wired router, still have the computer and Wii pluged in wired, and the kindle can use the wireless feature. This will of course go smoothly, ha ha ha.

    I may run into trouble making sure the wireless signal is secure. Any suggestions on how to ensure that the signal can't be easily hijacked are greatly appreciated.

    "A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business." - Eric Hoffer, _The True Believer_
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    Skoal CatSkoal Cat Registered User regular
    Use WPA2 and an alpha numeric password (special characters, upper and lower case? Those help too)

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    L Ron HowardL Ron Howard The duck MinnesotaRegistered User regular
    Wouldn't hurt to turn on MAC Filtering either.
    You'd have to look up how to do it, but it adds another layer of security.

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    EsseeEssee The pinkest of hair. Victoria, BCRegistered User regular
    edited December 2011
    I've gathered that MAC address filtering doesn't really help too much anymore because it's really easy to spoof MAC addresses these days. I mean, I still have it set up myself because... well, I went to the trouble of getting that set up already, and I don't mind adding in new devices as I get them, but having WPA2 enabled itself is really what keeps you protected at this point. That's what I've read in recent times, anyway. Obviously I haven't gone and looked up the tools that let you do things like that or break WEP encryption, but I have heard of them, and what I've heard is that they're ridiculously easy to get and use.

    Essee on
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    Peter PrinciplePeter Principle Registered User regular
    This router allows guest account log ins. It appears to be different than the main log in. It uses a different account name (the main account name with "-guest" appended) and a different password. The number of guest accounts that can log in at one time can also be arbitrarily limited. The software blurb says that this allows units to log on while disallowing them from accessing the main computer.

    The problem with this setup is that when I look at the info for this network on my phone or the kindle, it says that the security is "open". It allows remote units to log on, and then when they e.g. try to access the internet it asks for the guest password. This stopped me from "hacking" the network but then again I'm no Dave Bowman.

    Just wondering if I should disable this feature our use it.

    "A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business." - Eric Hoffer, _The True Believer_
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