Linksys Wireless access Point HELP

I am in a dorm at my college, and we have only hard connections, but I have an access point that works and I can use. But I want to know how to Security Enable it because I don't wnat anyone else using it????

Also we are not Technically allowed to use them in the dorms. So what i want to know is if i security enable it, can they figure out that it is ME using it....???? we have our computers registered on the network if that helps... thanks....


HELP


Logan

 

In the setup there is section to clone your mac address, do so using the port normally used to connect with. Then setup WPA(2) using a strong key, 20+ all printable chr. Then since your the only on it, set it up for static IP or DHCP, allowing only 1 connection, then turn on mac filtering, with your MAC address entered in the table. You may want to entered both wired and wireless mac address here, otherwise you may lock your self out. Turn off SSID broadcast, so it's transparent. Now what you may run in to is when your in class, it may show that you have connected twice, so you may want to turn it off when not there. Now since this is not allowed, you may want to do the setup away from school, so it will not show-up during setup process.

 

Are these directions in regards to a wireless access point or a router that has wireless capabilities? Is it possible to do this same concept on a school network with just a normal WRT54GL router? As far as I know, in the school I'm dealing with, doing this is not yet against any rules so I'm thinking of giving it a shot with my wireless router.

 

It applys to both. A wireless router is just a router (NAT + Switch) and a AP in one package. I have all ways used seperate componets, wired router (8 port + 16 port gige switch) and a AP set on the other side of the house where my nb is most of the time. Just gives you more flexibility. A true AP gives you more options, bridge, multi-point bridge, client mode, beside the std AP.

The GL version allow you to load the std version of dd-wrt firmware, which gives you more control and features.

 

Here's what I tried:

1. Connected to the school's wired network via an ethernet cable.

2. Ran IP config

IP Address: 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1

There was no DNS info or anything else.

3. Connected the WRT54GL to the school's network via the WAN port

4. Connected the laptop to the WRT54GL via one of the LAN ports.

5. Tried to get the router to connect to the school's network using Automatic Config...no luck

6. Set WRT54GL to Static IP. Set WRT54GL Internet IP address to 192.168.1.102 (same as what the school network had assigned my laptop). Set subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. Set Gateway to 192.168.1.1

I believe this may have worked for a short time. I tried numerous other things and it worked once and this is what I thought I had it set at when it worked. It quit working whenever I tried to set up wireless security though and eventually I couldn't get anything, even without any wireless security to work...

This is actually for someone I know. I am not a student there but I know someone who is. They are in a situation where there are 6 people in the same dorm setup who will be using this.

There is another difference. Their computers are not registered on the network with a MAC address like the previous poster said.

What I really want to know is why would it not connect using DHCP (Automatic configuration)? As you can tell, I'm pretty much lost. Thanks for the advice.

 

I would guess they are using some type of auth, most all do. The reason you got bumped. You need to have your router setup to use a different subnet that what is being issued. Otherwise there will me 2 pc's with the same IP.

If you cloned your mac address into the router what did you get?

Some univ require you to login, doing so may register your MAC and provide you a proxy server to got through.

 

I did try cloning the laptop mac address last night and that did not help. I also experienced a problem with two computers having the same IP address like you said. Immediately after it gave me that message one of the room mates complained that her internet went down. The wired internet did not work for almost a day after that. I don't know if I confused the school's router and they didn't get it fixed for a bit or if it was just a coincidence because the school's internet is not incredibly reliable anyways. Could that subnet problem you mentioned have caused the outage?

 

Yes, networks complain badly when 2 pc have the same. Where I use to work at, we had a user connect using a static IP as one pc that did criticle processing and brought it down. It only took a phone call for them to track the user down. They really frowned on it. We ended up do a lock down till we located the pc. Needless to say they were not happy.

 

I'm afraid of causing a problem like that again. I'm nervous about even plugging the router in. It appears that I have only enough knowledge to make myself dangerous. Is it correct that as long as I make the subnet on the router different than the one the school provides I won't cause any significant problems to the school's network? I'm contemplating giving up to keep from causing serious problems.

 

As long as your subnet is different you will be find. But you have no way of knowing how may of the private 192.169.XXX they are using. It would be safer to jump over to 10.xxx.xxx sub nets. But like you saw it can cause serious problems.