The wireless router has lots of useful options people can configure at the administrative console panel of router. Many users do know the existence of certain features unless they dig through the configuration pages of router. People have to keep in mind that the router brands have different options. With wireless router setup, they can change the wireless network name easily and change the wireless security settings. A strong wireless password is very important to protect the wireless network against some unwanted connections from other unknown users. They have to provide this wireless password if they like to connect a particular network that they have set up. Let us see how to change or alter the options in the wireless router settings.
How to adjust the settings of the wireless router
People may adjust the settings of a router after it is connected to a home network. Follow these steps to make changes in the router settings.
- First thing they have to do is to ensure that the computer or laptop is connected to the router through any of the wired ports. If they are using wireless router, they have to connect the computer wirelessly to the router. The computer must not be connected through the internet or WAN port.
- Next, they can open any of the web browsers to get access to the router’s admin or login page.
- Enter the IP address of router in the address bar. If you are using 192.168.1.254 as the default IP address of your router, you have to type http://192.168.1.254 and hit enter. In case this is not the address, you need to determine the IP address. Read more on this site : ipaddressdefinition.com
- If the IP address you have entered is correct, a prompt window will appear asking for a password and user identity. You can get to know about the username and password by reading the manual of the router. In case you forgot the recently set password, you can reset the router to its default settings.
- After providing the correct details, they can see a configuration or setup screen where they can adjust the wireless router’s settings.
Changes that can be made in router’s settings
Here are some changes people can do at the set up page of the router.
- The SSID or service set identifier is the name used to establish the wireless network. Users can enter a different name to distinguish their wireless router from other available wireless networks. Users have to keep in mind that the name of the network is case sensitive. The name should not be more than 32 alphanumeric characters. The name of wireless network has to be same on all devices that get connected to the gateway.
- The transmit channel feature lets users to choose the channel or frequency for their wireless network. They can choose a channel from 1 to 11 from drop down box. Every computer in the network should use the same frequency to connect to router’s gateway address. If they encounter any interference with other routers running on the same channel, they can choose a different channel.
- The most common security feature available in wireless routers is WEP encryption. WEP let user’s wireless data to get encrypted every time it travels between the computer and router. The WEP key on the gateway lets computers and gateway of users to communicate each other.
- Wireless router users can choose 64 bit WEP from WEP encryption strength options for basic security. They can choose high level of security by choosing 128 bit encryption. They can make this change only when they get access to the router’s admin page.
- WEP passphrase feature is used for generating WEP key and it can be used for securing the wireless network. Passphrase is a password up to 31 characters. Users can select a unique passphrase or password and provide in the field of WEP passphrase. This will generate a WEP key with 10 to 26 digits depending on the encryption strength.
Find the gateway address before accessing router’s admin page
In case you enter a wrong IP address in the web browser, you cannot access the admin page of the router. So, before you try accessing it for making changes, you have to determine the default gateway of your device. People who are using windows computer can enter ipconfig in the command prompt window. Then they will get few lines of data in the command prompt window. The default gateway of the router will be displayed in the window along with the subnet mask and IP address. If they still fail to get access, they can reset the router to its default settings and username and password. Then they can enter the default login details with no doubt and obtain access to make changes in the wireless router’s setting.
