About 5 years ago, my brother designed a new house for my parents and when we got it built, we took the opportunity to run Cat6 cable to 18 locations in the house. I pulled all that cable and set up faceplates all throughout the house. We even built out a wall rack with modular patch panels, a network switch, a firewall, and battery backup. It was great to do all of this during the construction prior to all the walls being sealed up. 

And then I went home to my Cape Cod that was built in 1949 with plaster and lathe walls, knob and tube electrical wiring, and a light switch in the kitchen to turn off power in my backyard garage. Running that same cable at home just wasn’t going to happen.

So, what do you do in older houses or even new houses that you don’t want to – or can’t! - cut a bunch of holes in the wall to get network from one end of the house to the other? There is Wi-Fi, but some devices might still need to get an ethernet connection. Or, maybe you have a situation where the house cannot do Wi-Fi from a single access point easily, either because of thick walls or other signal-disrupting issues. And most people don’t want to run 100 feet of ethernet cable along the floor of their hallways.

I’ve put together 5 common ethernet alternatives designed to get strong internet wherever you need it. They are:

1- Powerline Adapters

2- MoCA Adapters

3- Wi-Fi Extenders

4- Wireless Mesh Systems

5- Wireless Bridge Kits 

Powerline Adapters

Ethernet over Powerline (EoP)

Powerline adaptors utilize your existing electrical wiring to create a connection. They’re incredibly simple to use – plug one adaptor into your outlet then connect it to your router with an ethernet cable. This places a signal on your internal wiring that can be accessed by plugging another adapter in another outlet, anywhere else in your house (so long as both adaptors are on the same circuit – in a vast majority of cases they will be, but unique situations can always happen). 

These adaptors can get speeds anywhere from 500 Mbps to 1200 Mbps on a range upwards of 300 meters. This is further than the maximum distance you can run on a Cat 6 cable. So, it may be useful if you have a garage or barn on your property that you want to get signal to – or just an upstairs gaming PC. 

As mentioned above, your mileage may vary here. Assuming all of your wiring and grounding in the house is good, this may be a great solution for you. But, depending on your wiring, you may lose a lot of speed if it makes it to the second adaptor at all. Unfortunately, the only way to know is to test them, but when they run as low as $30, it’s almost certainly worth a shot. Especially since they are amongst the easiest options to use.

There is no limit to the number of adapters you can use, though the more you have, the more it will stretch your bandwidth thin.

Many powerline adapters are sold in pairs so you’ll be good to go out of the box

Recommendations:

NETGEAR Powerline Adapter PLP2000 Kit

TP-LINK AV600 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit

MoCA Adapters

Multimedia over Coaxial Cable

Many houses built in the 80s have a nice abundance of Coax Cable running through the house, either for Cable TV or for an Antenna on the roof. Much like the Powerline adapters, you can use the same existing cable in the house and piggyback an ethernet signal across it using a signal adapter. These adapters do offer higher throughput speeds (up to 2.5GBPS) than the powerline adapters but they do have a slightly higher price point as a result. You’ll also need to have power available to power both ends of the adapters.

Much like the Powerline adapters, your mileage may vary based on the installation quality of the cable and whether or not you have any distribution hubs set up in the house.  Many of these MoCA adapters also offer 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi from the device as well, so you can use it to get Wi-Fi in hard-to-reach areas without setting up a separate Wi-Fi router.

MoCA adapters are typically sold individually.

Recommendation:

Motorola MM1025 MoCA 2.5 Adapter for Ethernet over Coax, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet speed, Boost Home Network for Better Streaming & Gaming

Wi-Fi Extenders or Range Extenders

Often referred to as Wi-Fi boosters, extenders utilize your existing home Wi-Fi and repeat the signal, increasing its range. These are most commonly used in covering dead spots in the house. These are easy to set up in that the compatibility is typically wide, what you are doing is setting up a device to connect to your Wi-Fi using your wireless key as you would any other device. It takes that connection and rebroadcasts the signal to the surroundings. These devices typically only need to plug into a wall outlet so they are easy to install and move around if you just need it for a temporary solution. 

A quick diversion about the physics of Wi-Fi

All Wi-Fi is half-duplex, meaning the antenna – whether on your router or another device - can only send or receive a packet one at a time. It cannot send and receive packets simultaneously. So, depending on your needs, you may only be getting half the speed you expect. For things like streaming where you are only receiving streams of packets, it is not that noticeable. But if you are in a situation where you may get a lot of interference or cannot get a signal through walls, you will start to notice slowdowns or stuttering.

This slowdown can increase as you add more and more devices to your network, as the router sends a packet at a time to each device connected to it one at a time, sending a packet to each device before starting from the top again. If you’re seeing a lot of inf interference, a rebroadcast packet can take longer to get to you, especially if you have a lot of devices connected.

With that in mind, extender technology is basically capturing those packets and rebroadcasting them on the same antenna, which does add some latency. This is your biggest tradeoff, but shouldn’t have much of an impact on non-gaming households.

Recommendation:

TP-LINK Range Extender RE815XE - AXE5400 WiFi 6E Tri-Band Gigabit Wireless Router with Mesh Support

Wireless Mesh Systems

Many folks confuse mesh systems with Wi-Fi Extenders, as they function similarly, but the technology and software are different. Rather than rebroadcasting a packet from the wireless router, these devices are set up to communicate as a single system, essentially creating a network of routers. This is done by utilizing a dedicated antenna to connect to the other mesh devices. This creates a seamless web, or mesh, of antennas, helping to cover more of your house with strong, unbroken signal.

You are still limited to the half-duplex here, but because that antenna is not also sending data to your tv or other devices, latency is greatly reduced. There is incredible software built into these systems to allow some great analytics on how your devices are being used and also allow for some content control, like a firewall. Mesh systems are considered a whole house solution and are set up as a single system. These devices also typically have ethernet ports on them to allow you to plug in a printer or other ethernet device using wireless bridging, which we’ll get into deeper in the next option. These are often sold as pairs, 3 packs, or singular add-ons.

Recommendations:

TP-LINK Deco X25 - AX1800 WiFi 6 Dual-Band TP-Link Mesh Whole Home Wireless System

Google Nest Pro - AX5400 WiFi 6e Dual-Band Google Mesh Whole Home Wireless System

Wireless Bridge Kits

Used less often as a solution for within the house, wireless bridge kits can be used to connect buildings together. If you have a barn or garage on the property that is some distance away, you can set up a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint connection to carry a signal directly to it from your home to your other endpoint. There, you can set it up as a network switch to connect multiple ethernet devices or even a Wi-Fi access point. Wireless bridge kits can even be used to connect wireless, outdoor surveillance cameras

You will still be dealing with the half-duplex issue on the backhaul, but the transmitter and receiver is far more powerful and should be working in direct line of sight, so your rebroadcast of missed packets is dramatically reduced. And while they are fast – often delivering several gigabits of speed - the most impressive feature is the range, as they often measure performance in kilometers. 

With the price as low as it is, especially compared to the potential tens of thousands of dollars for fiber, wireless bridge kits are a great way to set up long-range wireless networks. You will have build-outs that occur, as you’ll need to get an ethernet cable outside and in some cases up a mast, but they are PoE devices so at least the sending side doesn’t require running additional power to the outside. I use these professionally all the time and have been able to even run business phone systems on them.  

Wireless bridge kits can be sold in pairs or individually.

Recommendation:

Ubiquiti Networks NanoBeam AC Gen 2 airMAX CPE with Dedicated Management Radio Access Point

I hope that you have found this helpful and see that you have a plethora of options when it comes to networking in difficult environments. Micro Center offers products in all of these categories and our associates are happy to talk you through your Wi-Fi needs to help you find the best solution for you. And, as a final bit of good news, set up on all these solutions is relatively simple, so you won’t need a degree in electrical engineering to get your home connected!

More from the Micro Center Community:

Looking for more information about Home Networking? We’ve got Home Networking guides as well as articles on How to Boost your WiFi Signal, How to Troubleshoot Network Problems, and How to Access and Configure a Router. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate to post a new discussion and the Community will be happy to help!

Not sure what router to get? Check out our ASUS Router Finder!

ASUS RT-AX3000 AX3000 Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Router by @Julia_V

The ASUS RT-AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Router is the best router I have ever used at home. This router is perfect for a multi-bedroom apartment or a small house, as it gives you great coverage and speed. With a total networking speed of about 3000 Mbps, the RT-AX3000 is 2.5x faster than 802.11ac 2x2 dual-band routers. The RT-AX3000 can be paired with any stand-alone modem and supports service from major ISPs. For a quality upgrade to your home network without breaking the bank, this router is the way to go.

I have used the RT-AX3000 for about 2 years now and I can confidently recommend it to anybody who wants to game, stream 4K movies, and support a large number of devices all at the same time. The 2.4GHz band has such a wide coverage that I can get a Wi-Fi signal from outside of my apartment on the street, and the 5GHz band is blazing fast that it competes with the speed of my wired-in Ethernet connection. I don’t have to wait long for my games to update or download or wait for large images and videos to load when I’m browsing online. Switching to the RT-AX3000 has significantly boosted my productivity and quality down time at home.

I also love that the RT-AX3000 is ASUS AiMesh compatible. This means that it’s possible to take any amount of ASUS AiMesh compatible routers and create a whole-home Mesh Wi-Fi system. While the coverage from the RT-AX3000 is already amazing on its own, sometimes changes in room layouts or construction materials can prevent the delivery of reliable Wi-Fi to every corner of your home. With this feature in place, I can easily add any ASUS router to my home Wi-Fi system to get more coverage and speed everywhere in the house.

TP-LINK Deco X - AX4300 WiFi 6 Dual-Band TP-Link Mesh Whole Home Wireless System by @elcurr

The TP-LINK Deco X- AX4300 is a great way to expand your whole home Wi-Fi network. It is a dual-band whole home Wi-Fi system that will take your gaming and streaming to the next level allowing 150+ devices to stay connected without slowing down. The Deco X has 4 channels of 5GHz bands that can run up to 3843 Mbps of speed and 2 channels of 2.4 GHz bands that can run up to 459 Mbps of speed. The device also provides a strong wired connection with a 2.5GB ethernet port. Not only does the Deco X allow whole home coverage, speed, low latency, and tons of connected devices, but it is easy to set up and manage. I personally think one of the best features is that the mesh system is set up under one network name and password.

NETGEAR Powerline Adapter PLP2000 Kit

If you've got a gaming desktop, you're probably going to want to be hard-wired into your network. Unfortunately, your setup might be rooms, if not whole floors, away from your router. And if you don't want to drill holes in your walls to run ethernet, you might think your only option is a really really long ethernet cable. Thankfully, you can re-spool that 200ft cable in favor of a powerline adaptor!

Powerline adaptors essentially turn the wiring in your house into ethernet cables. Connect one of the two adaptors to your router then plug it directly into a wall socket (surge protectors will mess with the connection, resulting in slower speeds if the connection works at all). Once you've got that setup, simply connect the other to your system, and plug it directly into a wall outlet and boom, you're got a wired internet connection on the other side of your house, all without long, unsightly wiring or home DIY projects!

I've used these at nearly every place I've lived and they are absolutely fantastic. They're also a really great way to game at peak speed without losing your rental deposit because of "odd, small holes throughout the house."

ASUS ZenWiFi ET8 - AX6600 WiFi 6E Tri-Band Gigabit Wireless Router with AiMesh Support by @Lesaol

The Asus ZenWiFi AX6600 XT8 is a two-pack WiFi 6 mesh router system that provides amazing speeds, great range, and seamless connectivity. Using Asus AiMesh Technology, one module acts as the main router and transmits the main signal, while the second module takes the original signal and extends it further, very much like your typical range extender. However, unlike a standard range extender, there is no need to configure a new network name and manually switch Wi-Fi connections when entering the area where the second node is. While communicating, the two nodes also take full advantage of its high-speed Tri-Band signal by using an additional 5GHz band to communicate directly with the main router, preventing it from having to deal with clutter on the network. This ensures high speeds from the secondary node’s 2.4GHz band and primary 5GHz band.

Another great feature that the XT8 uses is MU-MIMO technology, which helps keep a stable signal when multiple heavy users are connected to each Wi-Fi node. ASUS routers do require downloading the ASUS Router App for setup, which gives you the ability to configure the network and adjust settings if you’re a more technical user or if you just want more restrictions like parental controls. It also has a clean, modern mono-color design, unlike many other high-end routers that have crazy designs and antennas, making it a little easier to blend in with the aesthetic of your home. 

So, let's walk through everything about home networking, including how to set one up, connecting devices to a home network, how to properly secure your network, and more.

Benefits to a Good Home Network

 Almost everyone has a home network of some sort today. Whether you’ve got a wired-only house or one filled with WiFi, there are lots of reasons to maximize your home network, including:

1.      Network File Sharing

A home network allows home users to easily share files between different home computers. Sharing devices over a home network is often much faster than the alternative of transferring the file from device to device via external media, such as a USB flash drive or SD card. This ability to share files with one another simplifies many home computing processes. For example, home users no longer need to email large files to one another. Instead, home users can simply place the file on their home server and allow other home devices to download it from there.

2. Sharing Printers and Other Peripherals

A home network allows home users to easily share devices such as printers and external hard drives between home computers. The use of a home network simplifies the otherwise sometimes tedious processes and makes it easier for everyone in the house.

3. Video Game LAN Support

Older home video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2, support LAN connections to other home consoles or home PCs. A home network allows home users to easily connect their home gaming console to others in the home without the need for any special equipment, and play online games with others in the same household.

4. Better Security

The use of home networks also allows for better security. When home computers are connected in a home network, home users can set up password protection for their home wireless networks. This prevents other unwanted home devices from accessing the home network when not authorized.

How to Set Up a Home Network

Step 1: Choose the Right Wireless Router

The first thing you'll need to do in order to set up a home network is pick out a wireless router. There are many different home networking devices available, however most home networks will use routers. These devices allow for multiple home network connections (both wired and/or wireless), while also allowing you to connect home theater devices like game consoles, television sets, sound systems, Blu-ray players, etc.

Be sure that the router you're using has enough Ethernet ports for all of your home network’s needs. In most home networks, a minimum of four Ethernet ports will be necessary. Pick a router capable enough to fulfill your home networking needs, but remember that you don't need to break the bank in order to find one suitable.

Step 2: Connect Your Modem and Router, Then Configure Your Network

After you have installed your home network equipment, it's time to configure it. Begin by plugging in the router and turning on the modem.

Once everything has been plugged in, open up a web browser on any device connected to one of the home Internet ports. You can obtain the home network's password by checking your home router's documentation. If you are still having difficulties, contact the home internet service provider for more help.

Many home wireless routers can be easily set up using a simple application on a computer or mobile device instead of navigating through the default router interface with your web browser. For example, some home wireless routers allow users to connect their mobile devices directly to the home network name (sometimes called an SSID) and enter the security parameters into an application on that device to configure home network settings.

Good Wireless Router Locations

The best locations for home wireless routers would be in the central area of your home. Typically, this is at or near the highest point of your house--wherever you get consistent Wi-Fi reception without obstructions. The importance of having a good home network router location can't be stressed enough.

If you're using an older home model router that doesn't support multiple bands or beamforming antenna technology, then its range and coverage areas are limited to where it can transmit wireless signals at full strength. If it's too far away from where you usually use your home computer (or other devices like laptops, tablets, game consoles) chances are the connection speed will suffer significantly depending on how many walls and separate them from your home wireless router.

Absolutely avoid putting the router within closets, cabinets, or other small spaces as this will negatively affect your internet reception greatly.

How to Connect Wi-Fi Devices to Your Network

Now that you've picked out the best location for your home wireless router, you'll want to connect all of the devices to it that need an internet connection. This will include things like home computers, laptops, tablets, smart TVs, gaming consoles, and more.

Start off by plugging the home wireless router into a power outlet and turning it on. A solid blue light on most routers means that it's powering on successfully.

Next, you'll need to find out what type of Wi-Fi network name or SSID your home wireless router is broadcasting so you can tell which one to choose from your device's home screen as you connect to it. Each home wireless network has its own unique SSID, so keep this in mind. Once you know your home Wi-Fi's SSID, it's time to connect.

Now that the home wireless router is turned on and broadcasting a wireless network, we can start connecting home devices to it wirelessly. If you have a laptop or desktop computer with a wireless card built in, it should detect the home wireless router right away when you open up your home screen. Select your home network from the list of available networks and then enter in any security key or password that might be set up by default with your home router. This will be different depending on which brand and model of home wireless router you have purchased so check with the manufacturer if needed.

Once connected, load up a website just to make sure everything is working properly. Once confirmed, try another home application that you use to see if it works. This includes video games like Xbox or PlayStation, streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, home entertainment systems like Roku or Fire TV, home security systems like Ring Video Doorbells, etc.

How to Secure Your Home Network

 While home networks may be easy to use and set up, they also pose great security risks as these home-based systems aren't usually protected to the same degree as a company or business network. With the home network now plugged into the Internet, you suddenly have access to hundreds of devices – computers, mobile devices, tablets – and each device also has potential access to your network, as well.

Luckily, there are many ways that you can strengthen the security of your home network in order to prevent unwanted users from accessing your home network.

1.      Make a Custom Password

In order to see all of your home's devices, a home network needs a password. This is the first step in strengthening home network security. Make sure that this password is difficult to guess. Avoid identifying the home network as yours by not using your name or initials either. For home networks that use a router, it is particularly important to change home network passwords as often as possible.

2.      Turn on Wireless Network Encryption

This may sound confusing and unnecessary for home networks, but wireless encryption is an excellent way to prevent home devices from connecting with the wrong home network outside of your home. But this may be more necessary than you think, however.

3.      Use Firewalls

Firewalls are an extra layer of protection for home networks. Firewalls block connections from home devices to the outside world, which is something you don't want as it limits how much browsing and other home network activities can be done online.

4.      Turn Off your Wi-Fi while not at home

Though this may seem weird, as wireless internet is fairly common in houses these days, one sure-fire way to prevent unwanted users is to simply turn off your home router.

5.      Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

Virtual Private Networks (or VPNs) have really grown in popularity recently, as they provide an extra level of security to home devices. A VPN will encrypt all the information sent and received on home devices, increasing privacy and keeping hackers out of your home network. And though VPNs have an additional monthly cost, many consider them crucial if you're trying to keep your device information private.

Conclusion

Overall, there are a ton of advantages to having a private home network. And while it might seem a bit confusing if you’re brand new to home networking, the act of properly setting one up is actually quite straightforward and easy. If you follow this guide, you should be able to have a home network set up and ready in no time.

 More from the Micro Center Community:

Looking for more information about Home Networking? We’ve got Home Networking guides as well as articles on How to Boost your WiFi Signal, How to Troubleshoot Network Problems, and How to Access and Configure a Router. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate to post a new discussion and the Community will be happy to help!

How to Troubleshoot Network Problems

• Router Manufacturer Support
• Windows and macOS
• Common Internet Problems/FAQ
• How to reset your router
• Why can't I see my Wi-Fi?
• How to disable power management for the wireless adapter
  
• How to reset the network adapter and settings
• Questions or Comments

There are many different devices that you can use such as wireless repeaters, signal boosters, and antennas. Each of these devices will offer different features and will be set up a bit differently.

• IP Address = The unique network address that identifies a computer or a device on the internet or a  network. Example: Your router's IP address is 192.168.1.0 and your Dell Computer that is connected to your router wirelessly, has an IP address of 192.168.1.3. The next device or computer that is connected to your router may have an IP address of 192.168.1.11. 
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) = A network server that assigns IP addresses to computers and devices that are on the internet or a network. Example: Your router will have a DHCP server feature that will enable it to assign IP addresses to each computer and device that is connected to it (Router).
• Domain Name System (DNS) = A system or service that translates and transforms domain names into a IP Addresses. Example: Microcenter's website is "Microcenter.com". Microcenter.com is the domain name for that website. But behind the domain name the website sites on a web server that is on a network. DHCP (see above for the meaning) assigns an IP address (see above) of 10.10.10.10 to the web server for Microcenter.com. DNS allows your computer to identify the IP address for domain names such as Microcenter.com or CNN.com. All websites have an IP Address for the server the website sits on even though the name (domain) is only seen. 
• Local Area Network (LAN) = It identifies the collection of multiple devices and computers connected together in a physical location as a network for a home or small business. Example: Your router will connect your computer, smart TV, smart cell phone, etc., all together in a network locally in your home and location.
• Wide Area Network (WAN) = It connects multiple computers and devices over a wide spread area such as cities, states and countries. LAN's are connected or linked together to make up WAN's. Example: The internet is a WAN. To see the Microcenter.com website from your computer at home, different LAN's have to be connected or linked over the internet to enable the website to show up on someone's computer, wherever they are located.

Nowadays, a wireless router is required for nearly every home. I personally do not know anyone that does not have one in their house. A lot of you purchase routers with a lot of great features but may not know how to use them. Even if you do not consider yourself an expert with computers, you can learn how to use them yourself.  I will walk you through how to change some basic settings that will benefit you and anyone that is connected. I will also do my best to explain some of these settings and features so that you are aware of how the changes you make will affect you and your home network.

How do I access my router?

There is a label either on the bottom, side, or back of your router. It should have things like hostname, IP address, username, password, pre-shared key, and more. Find the label and take note of either the hostname or IP address, whichever is available.  For example, in the picture above, we can see the IP address: 192.168.0.1. This is also a good time to write down the username and password. You will need this later to log in to the router.

If you cannot find either one of these or are unsure, do not worry. I will show you another method for finding this.

Windows PC

We can easily use command prompt or Windows Powershell on your PC to find the IP address of your router. You can open command prompt by clicking the start button, then scrolling down your list of programs until you find Windows System. If you right-click on the start button, you can click Windows Powershell (See pictures below). You can search for either of these in the Windows search bar at the bottom of your screen.

Windows Powershell/Command Prompt

Once you have either of those open, just type in this command: ipconfig (see picture below). Once you enter 'ipconfig' with no spaces, hit Enter. Then your networking information will appear in command prompt or Windows Powershell. 

**Just know if you are using command prompt then your screen should look identical to this. The only difference should be the username that I covered up.**

What we are looking for is the Default Gateway IP address. The default gateway, in this case, would be your router. You will type the IP address listed next to Default Gateway into any web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc). You can see we used Command Prompt in the picture below. If you are using Windows Powershell, it will look the same but the windows will just have different colors.

**It is very likely that your IP address and default gateway will start with 192.168.xx.xx**

Signing into your Router

Once you have typed in the IP address of your router in your web browser (see picture above), you should see a screen similar to the picture below. From here you will need that username and password listed on your router. The password is typically something basic like ‘admin’, ‘1234’, or ‘password’. Remember this step because we will be changing the password later.

Once you have signed in, congratulations! You have successfully accessed your router. Take a moment to get familiar with the user interface and layout of your router settings. Be sure you don’t click save or apply on any pages so you don’t accidentally change anything.

If you try that username and password and it is not working or you have simply forgotten what it could be then you can reset the router back to original settings. You can find more information on how to do that here.

Navigating through your Router settings

Once you have signed into your router, you should see a screen similar to the one below. The first settings you should change are the password to both your router (the one you used to sign into it) and the password to your Wi-Fi (this is the password you would type in on all of your devices to connect them).

**Changing the Wi-Fi name or password WILL disconnect any device that you currently have connected. You will have to connect all of them again using the new password or to the new Wi-Fi name**

Now, to change the name of your Wi-Fi and the password, you will want to find Wi-Fi settings or Wireless Settings. Different manufacturers will have different labels for this so just look for those keywords. You can see the Asus router shows ‘Wireless’ under Advanced settings and the Netgear router lists it as ‘Wireless Settings’ under Setup. It can even be found under Security or Wireless Security.

Changing the Wi-Fi password

Once you have found the correct screen, you can change your password to whatever you would like. It is very important that you have a secure password for your Wi-Fi. Typically, a longer password = more secure. Adding symbols and numbers can also make it more secure. Be sure that WPA2 is selected as the security method. If you also have the option for ‘Encryption’ select AES. Once you have typed in your new password and selected these settings, click in ‘Apply’ or ‘Save’.

If you are currently accessing your router through Wi-Fi, it WILL kick you off after you change the password. You will just have to sign into Wi-Fi once the router restarts. After connecting to the router, you can type in the IP address of the router again and log back in.

One thing I have to mention is that many routers have 2 different Wi-Fi names that you can connect to. You may have noticed that your Wi-Fi names have ‘2.4G’ and ‘5G’ in the name. This is because your router can emit a Wi-Fi signal using different frequencies, these routers are called "dual-band". The 5 GHz band is faster and is better for most modern devices. However, the signal does not reach as far as the 2.4 GHz band. If you do not have a strong signal on the 5 GHz Wi-Fi then just connect to the 2.4 GHz. The reason I want to mention this is because you can set different Wi-Fi names and passwords for each of these. If you look in the pictures below, you will see the D-Link router has two different boxes to see the name, password, and security for each frequency. Make sure that you change the password to BOTH. You can use the same password or a different one for each frequency.

Changing the Router Password

The last thing we will do is change the password to your router. It is potentially the most important step in securing your home network. Just be sure you set a secure password for this but do not forget it! If you happen to forget this password, you will have to reset the router and reconfigure everything that you have already done.

Now, this setting can be under different setting screens depending on your router. It could be found under Administration, Maintenance, Management, or Advanced settings. If you look at the pictures below, you can see that the setting is found under Administration then Management on a Linksys router. For the D-Link router it can be found under Maintenance then Admin. Also, you can see on the Linksys router, you have the option to change your username too. This is recommended if you have the option. Just remember after you type in your username and password to click on save or apply. Once the router restarts, you will have to log back into the router with the new username and password.

Now, you have successfully just made your home network more secure. Give yourself a pat on the back! Just remember to only give your Wi-Fi password out to people you trust and NEVER give anyone the password to your router. You can always change these passwords as often that you feel is necessary. Anytime you suspect someone is using your Wi-Fi without your permission, changing the password can solve that problem. They would be disconnected (along with all of YOUR devices) and would not be able to use your Wi-Fi again unless they got the new password.

I hope this helps a lot of you out there. Please comment below if you have any other questions! Thank you for reading.

Be sure to check out some more networking articles below!

1. Go to Control Panel. Search for it on your PC by clicking on the Start button or where it says "type here to search" and type in Control Panel.

• IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4
  IPv6: 4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844