How to setup a home network with a router

After you've accessed the router, the next order of business is getting the security, SSID and IP addressing settings right. Getting security right is a must, unless you want a neighbour stealing your bandwidth and possibly your data. IP addressing is important because these addresses are used for devices on your network to communicate with the router.

You make all of these changes within the router's management interface. These settings are typically under the "Basic" settings of the interface.

They may also be under "Security" or "Wireless Settings. Okay, on with the steps:. For those who anticipate connecting servers, NAS device or any device that you may access from outside your network, best practice is to configure DHCP Reservation. That may be a scary sounding term for newbies, but all it means is that you are telling the router that a specific device always uses a specific IP address, which is set aside or "reserved" for it.

For example, my router IP is I can give my email server an IP address of You don't want to change the first three sets of numbers though, for most basic home networks. IP addressing has specific rules about formatting, so you want to retain the first three sets of numbers, called "octets. The MAC address is usually printed on a sticker affixed to a device. Again, reserving the IP addresses means those addresses will never be distributed to clients via DHCP and are "held" for the devices you specify.

Reserving IP addresses is good practice for devices you want to access remotely, because otherwise when the IP address leases expire you won't be able to perform remote access. Don't forget to assign the reserved IPs as static addresses on the devices for which you made reservations. There are various ways to do this — on Windows servers and machines you can assign an IP address though the Network settings Control Panel.

Join the discussion. Was this information helpful? Yes No. Thank you! Any more feedback? The more you tell us the more we can help. Can you help us improve? Resolved my issue. Clear instructions. Easy to follow. No jargon. Pictures helped. Didn't match my screen. Incorrect instructions. Too technical. Not enough information.

Not enough pictures. Any additional feedback? Submit feedback. Wired home networks, on the other hand, have no such issues with congestion and can much more easily maximize network performance, with the only real limitations being the speed of their network interfaces, and the Ethernet cables used to connect them.

That makes a wired home network best suited for static devices like games consoles, TVs, and desktop PCs. For smartphones, tablets, laptops, and internet-connected smart devices, a Wi-Fi connection is usually the best solution. Wired and wireless home networks have their limitations. Wireless networks can be inhibited by intervening walls, pillars, or furniture, leading to spotty signals and reduced bandwidth.

They also have a maximum range even in open space, especially at higher bandwidths and on higher frequency channels, like 5GHz. You can also run out of Ethernet ports on your router, making it harder to connect all the devices you want to the network. To improve the range of your wireless home network, you can use wireless repeaters to amplify and re-transmit your Wi-Fi signal, effectively extending its range.

Some of these devices include dual wireless routers, passing the signal between them before sending it on, whereas some use a powerline connection which is then converted into a wireless signal at the other end. Another option for large Wi-Fi networks are mesh routers, which use multiple access points and smart routing of the signal to provide the best performance depending on where you are in your home and the particular needs of your device.

They can be more expensive to setup in the first place, but offer larger homes great coverage throughout the entire property. Network cables come in a few different shapes and sizes, most notably designated by their Category, or Cat numbering. The most current and popular Ethernet cables are Cat 5e and Cat 6 , which represent some of the best options for home network users.

They offer up to 1 Gigabit, and 10 Gigabit connections, respectively, with Cat 6 cables providing slightly better shielding. One of the great things about Ethernet cables, is that you can actually make them yourself fairly easily. Check out some of Cable Matters' options for cables.

The first step is setting up the modem you likely received from your ISP. Plug it in to the phone line and power it on. At this point, power on your own router and connect it to the modem using an Ethernet cable. I just had a quick look trough the manual and it defaults to router mode as you are still using the virgin router put it in access point mode rgds steve.

Hello, I would like to setup a home network using a standard router and then connect the network to the internet using a mobile phone. Are there instructions available for this type of setup? Is there a better way.

Perhaps using a bridge? Regards, Al Plevna Ontario. The easiest way is to use a router with mobile capability. There are lots available as they are used for travelling. In this case mobile is used as a backup. I have an existing Belkin router and need to expand the coverage to three locations..

What do I need to accomplish this task. I have very slow dsl modem, however I want to run my other computer on a home network to share files how can i bypass the slow modem that came with bell to get the connections between the other computers the fastest to share files between the computers. Just get a GB ethernet switch and plug all your ethernet cables into it and one cable connects your GB switch to the modem Ethernet which gives your devices Internet access.

The smart phone picks up its signal from the output of the router. Is there another way, or only with that cable.

Fibre has been delayed in my area for mths. Could that still work through the switch, or would I be expecting too much. Yes you should be able to plug your adsl router into a switch port on the HP device using an ethernet port on the router.

Apparently login is admin no password. Thank you for information. I have a little different issue I am having trouble with. I have windows 10 computer and a windows server as a backup and storage.

I have home movies I want to access from a 3rd Windows 10 computer. I have no cable internet access as I am out of the service area. When I do connect to the internet, it is with my smart phone as a hotspot. I have to work from home quite a bit, so as far as I know, I cannot set up a wireless router and static IP addresses. The server and Windows 10 computer 1 see each other and communicate easily without problems. I have each hard wired into a netgear switch.

I connected Windows 10 computer 2 to the same switch, but cannot connect to each of the other 2 units Windows and server User names and passwords match on each machine. Do you have any advice about how to get the Windows computer to talk to the other 2?

Your advice is appreciated. Thanks, john. John for all computers to see each other they would need to connect to the hotspot on your phone. You can buy mobile wi-fi routers which would be a much better solution. On my work pc. They are both set to automatic IP setting. Thanks, Hamis. I have a work computer and a home laptop. The work computer is wired to my router and a line to my wall.

I use wifi on my laptop. Is my connection for home use private or can my company access my interaction on my laptop since I know they can pop onto my screen to see what I do on the work computer.

What sort of networking would I need to have to prevent them from joining onto my personal laptop? I would assume that the company installed software on the work computer to allow them to access it remotely.

If you have cable or fibre to the home then this is usually a coax cable. Does that make sense? I have a wired Ethernet home network which was installed at least 10 years ago. We were able to share files, printers etc on 3 laptops around the home We had a very good internet service to manage the network. It identified any additional hardware and installed it into the system.

However, it was bought out by Corel some years ago and closed down! Nothing similar that I could find has appeared since. Now with Windows 10 eliminating Home Group we have so far been unable to set up a replacement network. Windows instructions for sharing on a home network are complex to say the least! So what now? Do I need to uninstall the remnants of the old network and install some thing new? What is it? Perhaps there is a programme somewhere like the one described above?

Going wireless is not an easy option because of interfering structures in the home. Thanks for any advice.