Can I setup a Wireless Network in one place, then relocate it without having to reset anything? Question on hidden networks too?

Ok, I just bought a Netgear N600 Dual-Band Router. I'll be leaving for college this Saturday. I need to setup my Xbox 360, Windows Phone, Laptop, and Printer to the network. I've never setup a network before, only reset our home network.

Can I setup a secure wireless network off my home internet (and connect all my devices)? Then disconnect from our home modem, and relocate it to my dorm room connecting to the wall ethernet outlet and everything will automatically be setup and all my devices will connect no poblem?


Second question, how do I setup a hidden network. I've only once connected to a hidden network at a business location, it was interesting, but I like the extra security of being hidden. Not sure though if my Xbox, Printer, or Phone can find a hidden network. I know my laptop can.


Thanks for all the help.

 

I don't know how your school does their internet, but I know the school I went to block all forms of routers in the rooms(ways around... just don't get caught if they disallow using routers). They did have networks setup for use of game systems to help with the bandwidth issue. I would look up the rules on your campus to see if they allow routers in the rooms before you do anything.

On the hidden network part I believe that all you would have to do is turn off the SSID (Or name) from being broadcasted (do not know if you have to do anything besides this). Should be under security settings in your router.

 

Thats a good point. It isn't the school's internet as this is considered Private Certified Campus Dorms. They have their own internet setup. I lived there 2 years ago. All rooms are given a wired connection to access through a wall outlet. I've seen them use wired routers before when only 1 of the 2 jacks in the wall work. Also, for the lounges they have full wireless access. So I'm assuming I can. I remember seeing many Wireless networks broadcasted there before as well. If not, Best Buy has a 30 day return policy and I've never been questioned before when returning an open product.

What about if I set it up at home? That whole mess I described in my OP, do you know if I can do that or not?

 

If by secured wireless network you mean just conencting the router to the modem and setting up a password etc for the wireless connection? Then all you'll have to do it plug the router into the wall outlet. Connect to it and should be golden (Could always broadcast the SSID at first in your dorm room to connect all your devices then turn it off after everything is all set).

 

What I mean is can I setup my wireless network (SSID) at my house (by connecting my router to my home modem) then connect it to my dormroom internet and all my configurations (SSID) are already setup (this way I don't have to wait till I move into my dorm to setup my wireless network)?

If I can (which is what I'm hoping), then I will hook up my router and configure all my settings and devices. Then I will disconnect the router and plug everything back in when I move into my dorm. If I cannot, then I'll just wait till I move in to setup my network.

 

The router should pick-up the change in network settings and update itself (Dunno how user friendly the router is). If so then it should work since all the router does basically is take the modem and allow multiple conenctions to it. So, all your doing is chaning networks. All your settings aka ssid name/password should stay the same going to your dorm rooms. I'm not a network guru anything, but it should work if I'm thinkigng correctly.

 

It should work. I did this before moving, configured the wireless network and when i moved i simply had to plug the router in and everything was working fine. You may have to tweak one or two settings concerning your internet settings on the outer, but the settings regarding the wireless network and the devices connected to it won't need to be changed. If you hhave a dual band router, put yourself on 5GHz if possible so you'll avoid the probably overcrowded 2.4GHz band in your dorm.

 

Thanks, I will be setting up my Router today. I might hold off on setting up my printer though since I'll be clean installing Windows 7 in a couple days on it. I'll definitely be using the 5GHz band, its the whole reason I dropped the extra $30 on Dual Band.

 

Is hiding your wireless SSID more secure?

short answer: no.

 

Ok, not going to hide it then, I am using WPA2-AES encryption though with some 10+ character passphrase so I feel comfortable on security. It's just I didn't want to annouce to everyone in the dorm that hey, I'm running a dual band wireless network. There are some 12 or so bedrooms per floor and 6 floors and I'm smack in the middle giving max possible coverage. I don't think my phone or printer support hidden networks anyway. The only thing I don't feel comfortable with on my router is an easy connect button which holding for 5 seconds opens it up to connecting a WPS supported device like many wireless printers. My laptop required me to press that instead of entering the passphrase to connect to the network. Personally didn't like that, it may have been though because I was connected wired at the time too.

 

With Linksys router, just skip the quick config and go straight to the web interface. That's what i did for my E3000, no quick connect button press needed. You can also deactivate the 2.4GHz band if all your devices are 5GHz compatible.

You can also download a program called inSSIDer which will show you all networks in range of your computer. You can see hidden networks with this program so there's no point not broadcasting your SSID. Besides, there's always someone running a poorly protected network. If someone gets hacked in your dorm, it will be the guy running a WEP or WPA network instead of WPA2-AES.

 

Um, the quick connect button I'm talking about is for devices, WPS, not initial setup. The network is already setup, and disconnected as I plugged back in my dad's home network, it's a Netgear, not Linksys. I won't be plugging back in my network till I get back to my dorm room. Hopefully everything sets back up without any hassles. After checking the settings, I left everything default, however I changed my 2.4GHz channel from Auto to 6. I think when I hook it back up, I should probably go back to Auto. Let me ask this, is it foolish to use your name on the SSID? My style for my devices (MP3 players, phones, computers, basically any electronic device with a naming configuration) is First Initial, Last Name, Hyphen, then device nickname/abbreviation. In this case -2 for 2.4GHz and -5 for 5GHz. Should I not use my name at all?

I don't understand the difference between WEP, WPA, and WPA2. How is it that the first two mentioned are less secure? Of course I went with WPA2 since it said it was the most secure, but for example, on my dad's old Linksys, we are using WEP.

 

I wouldn't use my last name in SSID- that's kinda helpful for anyone trying to single you out of the networking crowd. Using your address as SSID (which I've seen people do) is not a good idea as well. It's like asking for a burglary.

As for WEP, WPA, WPA2- it's a bit too complicated to explain but these were launched in this very order meaning WEP is the oldest, WPA is far better but only WPA2 with AES (rather than TKIP) is the best security solution.
It's been proven that WEP can be cracked in a minute. It's unlikely than an average attacker could do it in a minute but it's clear that it can be done in less than a day by almost anyone.

 

I know on my Linksys E2500 there is an option to disable WPS.

I would look to see if you can do this on your Netgear.

As for the SSID, make it something obscure that doesn't mean anything. Like, myWireless or something. And I second downloads: WPA2 + AES is the best consumer security setup for wireless.

 

My 14 year can and has cracked WEP protected networks. For demonstration purposes only of course.

There should be some kind of setting to disable that button. Or at least run tomato or dd-wrt or openwrt so it's not enabled I guess. As for your laptop needing it, yeah, when connected on wired, windows will disable connecting via wireless so you don't have > 1 path for networking. You should NOT need that button to configure your laptop if you're just on wireless.

I like "FBI Surveillance Van" for an SSID. Or echelon. For further choices, look at this:

 

Well, since I just installed Windows 7 on my laptop, and since I want to change the SSIDs I used, I'm going to hook my network backup, I'll see if it offers the ability to turn off the WPS button, I'd rather have to enter the WPA2 Passphrase. I don't like the idea of press and connect, because then someone else could easily walk into my room and connect wirelessly. I would only know if I detect them in my network, or log into my router settings and check devices (but even then it doesn't allow you to block the device, it only displays them).

 

Not only that, they'd now have a copy of your passcode in their computer, so you'd need to change that now. if someone managed to sneak in and set themselves up they could then hand it out to others to get access until you noticed.

 

Ok, here's the problem. I went into the security and under advanced wireless setup, it has the WPS options that I'll underneath in a screen cap. I read the sidebar info and I'm not sure what to do on this.


I selected the PIN option so that someone can't just read the pin number on my router and enter that option. However, I don't see an option to diable the WPS button. This is what the sidebar for this section says:

 

Hmmmmm. Can you put tomato or ddwrt on that thing? That'll shut off that pesky WPS for sure.

 

I don't know what those are. I'll bank on these few facts, most network devices will show up from my laptop so I'll know if someone snuck something in, hold trust in my roommate/suitemates, the fact that you need to hold the button for 5 seconds and that it doesn't actually look like a button so requires knowledge of the router, and finally the tell all, just check the router settings for any devices I don't recognize. I'm sure I'll be fine. Even if someone accesses my network, I restrict how my data is shared on my devices only to specific devices anyway plus have password protected sharing. I only share my media.

 

It's not hacker-proof necessarily but you could always use MAC address blocking. Block any MAC address that is not yours from connecting and that will stop the average person from accessing your wireless even if they somehow get your wifi password. A somewhat decent hacker could still get past that, but what do you have that is worth hacking? Hackers go for low hanging fruit.

 

Kindof an older thread and was probably resolved for the OP already. but since it was recently brought back...

first thing, so you don't loose your current settings as you experiment, backup your settings under Maintenance > Backup Settings

Then, to avoid the whole WPS stuff go to Setup Wizard > select the "I Want To Configure The Router Myself" option.

Go to Advanced > Wireless Settings > WPS Settings > Disable Routers PIN. (check that box).

Go to Setup > Wireless Settings and change your SSIDs to whatever you like

It's your choice on if you want to broadcast the SSID or not. No harm in hiding it. Simply means it won't display on someones laptop or console when scanning for SSIDs. Doesn't mean they can't find it some other way.

Use WPA2 AES encryption

*This is where it would help to just ask the sysadmin of the dorm a simple question on how they recommend you setting up your router. Ask if the dorm already has a modem and primary router or if you should provide your own dsl or cable modem. If the dorm has their own modems in the attic or basement and they already have a DHCP server on their routers then you'll need to ask them to recommend an unused IP address for your router (to avoid conflict with the ip of the dorms primary router and the DHCP IP address window). Disable the DHCP on your router. Basically making your n600 act as a simple access point. all dhcp ip address to your rooms devices on your SSID will come from the primary dorm router in that case. Likewise all port forwarding would be handled on the Dorms primary router. *you won't have control over port forwarding since that would be handled by the dorm primary router.

 

Just to pick a nit, there is harm in hiding it, in that many devices like smart phones etc cannot connect to hidden SSIDs. If you have none of those devices then yeah, your choice. But it's not security, not even close.