As we have already said before, the main problem with wireless broadband routers is that their wireless capability works out of the box but without any encryption enabled. So after you turn on your router for the first time anyone with a wireless network card in the neighborhood can have access to your network. Of course we need to change that as soon as possible!
The first thing you need to know is the configuration panel IP address for your router. This information is written on its manual. It is usually 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1 or 10.0.0.1. So, launch your web browser and open http://[IP address here]. The router used on our examples uses the address 192.168.1.1, so we would need to open http://192.168.1.1. Of course you need to change that according to the IP address used by your router.
This address will only work automatically on computers connected to the router thru a regular network cable. On computers with wireless connection to the router, you will need first to connect it to your network, subject that we will be talking about on next page. This is one of the reasons we recommend you to make the initial router setup using a computer connected to your router using a regular network cable.
All configuration options vary according to the router model. So, maybe you won’t find the options we are describing here with the exact same name, but they will exist, since we are talking only about basic options right now.
Usually the very first configuration page asks you to choose between a quick setup (or “installation wizard”) and an advanced setup. The basic setup (or “installation wizard”) is enough for the majority of users building a small network. After you go thru this basic setup, your wireless network will be up and running. Nevertheless you may want to explore the advanced setup options your router provides, such as blocking Internet access during certain times of the day, blocking certain websites from being viewed, etc. You may find very interesting options there that may be perfect for your location.
Anyway, let’s talk about the basic setup. Some routers ask for a password even when your access its control panel for the first time. If this is your case, you need to read on its manual which user and password you must use (in our D-Link DI-524 router the user was “admin” and the password was not set, i.e. was blank).
click to enlarge Figure 12: First screen on the router configuration panel.
We chose “Run Wizard” and went thru a series of screens. The first one was to set a new admin password. It is very important that you set an admin password otherwise any user can change your network configuration (including bad-intentioned neighbors, as your admin control panel is available using wireless connections and so far we didn’t enable data encryption). After setting your new password click on Next.
Figure 13: Setting an admin password.
In our case the next configuration was our time zone. Configure this according to your time zone. Click on Next.
