Jul 10, 2018 - We'll help you find just the right router to anchor your home network. Best wireless routers: Reviews and buying advice. In routers, client devices had to take turns communicating with the router, round-robin style.
Each residence hall room has one wired connection to the University network. See below for a list of halls with wireless provided by the University. If you wish to connect more than one computer to the network in a single room, you can do so by purchasing a Wireless Access Point. For your convenience, you can purchase this with preconfigured security from IT Solution Center, located in the University Center, room 108. You may also purchase one before coming to campus, but please make sure that the network access device you purchase is NOT a router. Any room with a router will have its connectivity shut off.
The indoor wireless network is available in most public areas used by students, in academic
buildings, and in a majority of administrative buildings.
buildings, and in a majority of administrative buildings.
Wireless connectivity is available in all rooms in these residence locations:
- Bond
- Brophy/McNerney
- Cardinal, Robin, and Finch Courts
- Clark
- Cramer
- East Campus Suites
- Hallisy
- Miller
- North
- Henderson
- Pickell
- Puterbaugh
- Vandercook
- Ward
- West Campus Apartments
Residents of the above residence locations cannot install a wireless access point; if you install one, it will be blocked.
Wireless activity is only offered in the lobby of the following residence halls, and therefore, residents of these halls who want wireless access in their rooms will need to purchase a wireless access point:
- East Campus Apartment Building H and K
- South Campus Apartments
The wireless range offered by your Internet router will vary depending on which Wi-Fi standard it supports (802.11n routers are better than Wireless-G routers) and also the router’s physical location. You may have bought a new Wireless-N or Wireless-AC router but if there are any thick walls around, they will obstruct the Wi-Fi signal.
Expand your Wireless Network Range with a Spare Router
The 802.11n routers, also known as Wireless N routers, offer a higher Wi-Fi range but even if you get one of these, the wireless signals may still not reach certain areas of your home because of all the physical obstructions.
What should you therefore do to ensure that the Wi-Fi signals are available in full strength in every corner of your house including the lawn outside? There are quite a few options.
You can easily extend your Wi-Fi network with additional networking hardware like Wi-Fi repeaters and Wireless Access Points. The other inexpensive option is that you get hold of an old wireless router, one that is longer in use, and connect it to your existing (main) router using an Ethernet (Cat5) cable.
Use a Second Router as an Access Point
Here’s how I have setup the wireless network at my home using 2 routers connected with an Ethernet cable. The main router is Wireless-N router connected to the ISP’s ADSL modem. Then there’s a second wireless router (Wireless-G) that is connected to the main router over an Ethernet or Cat-5 cable. The main router is in the ground floor while the second one is on the first floor and the entire premises get a good Wi-Fi signal.
Let’s call our main router MASTER (this is the router that is connected to the ISP modem) and the other one as SLAVE (the second router will work as a ‘repeater’ to increase your wireless range).
Now connect the SLAVE router to your computer using the physical Ethernet cable. Put one end of the cable in any of the LAN (Ethernet) ports available on the router and the other end in your computer’s Ethernet port. Make sure the router is powered on.
Step 5: Open the browser again and type 192.168.1.1 which is likely the the default internet IP address of your SLAVE router. If you are not using a Linksys router, try 192.168.0.1 which is the default IP for Netgear and D-Link routers.
Once you are in the router settings, you need to change the values of the Wireless mode, the channel, the security mode and the passphrase such that they match with your MASTER router. You can use a different SSID name for this router so it is easier to distinguish which router your phone or laptop is connect to.
Then go to Setup – > Advanced routing and change the current mode from Gateway to Router. In some routers, this is listed as NAT and in that case, you need to disable it. Next disable DHCP Server since our main router will handle the task of assigning IP addresses to devices connecting to the wireless network.
Finally, change the IP address of the SLAVE router to any free address in your LAN. For instance, if the IP address of MASTER router is 192.168.30.1, you can safely assign a fixed IP address of 192.168.30.2 to SLAVE. Also make sure that the Subnet mask is the same as determined in Step 1. Save the settings of the SLAVE router and close the browser window.
C: Connect Two Routers with a Cat-5 Cable
Now that we have configured the routers, it’s time to connect them with an Ethernet cable. Your MASTER Router probably has five (1+4) ports. The WAN port (or the Internet port) should be connected to the ISP modem. Pick any of the available LAN ports on the MASTER router and connect it to any of the LAN ports on the SLAVE router using an Ethernet cable. We’re done.
Since the two routers are part of the same home network, all your shared folders, music libraries, photos, and other files will be accessible from all computers and mobile devices that are connected to the network.