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How to Build a Wireless Network Without Usin

Broadband Router
Home Networking How to Build a Wireless Network
Without Using a Broadband Router

Posted By Gabriel Torres on Sep 2, 2009 in Networking

 Views: 336,443

Introduction ?

A lot of people don’t know that if you run Windows XP or Windows Vista it is possible to build your own wireless
network at home or office without using a wireless broadband router or a wireless access point, saving some Most Viewed Post
bucks. In this tutorial we will show you step-by-step how to build this kind of wireless network, also known as ad-
hoc.

More and more people are willing to assemble their own wireless network. With a wireless network set at your How to Find Ou
home or office, you will be able to share files, use the printer and access the Internet without the need of Motherboard’s M
connecting a network cable to your computers. This is great if you have desktop computers located in places and Model
where is hard to install a network cable or if you want to have the freedom to access your network and the
Maximum CPU
Internet using your laptop anywhere inside your home or office: you can carry your laptop from your bedroom or
(2,053,781)
office to your living room and it will still be connected with no cables attached.

Of course we are talking about laptops with wireless network capability – all new laptops have this feature. If you Connecting Two
are using desktops or laptops without wireless capability, you will need first to buy a wireless network card for USB-USB Cable
each computer you want to connect to your network and to the Internet wirelessly.
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In order to build your own wireless network you will need the following:
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A broadband Internet connection; (1,709,464)
A wireless network card installed on each computer that you want to connect to your wireless network;
A wireless broadband router (optional). Understanding
(1,707,107)
Usually a piece of hardware called wireless broadband router or access point is required. In this tutorial we will
teach you how to setup a wireless network without this device, allowing you to save some bucks. However, you
need to know beforehand what are the disadvantages of not having a wireless router:

The only encryption scheme supported in Windows XP is WEP, which is not secure: a hacker with the right
knowledge can have access to your network. Thus if you are building an ad-hoc network the way we are
describing the host computer (the one with the Internet connection) must be running Windows Vista or greater
so you can enable WPA2, which is a secure encryption system. The client computers can be running Windows
XP, this requirement is only for the host computer.
The computer that has the broadband Internet connection will need to be always turned on. If you turn it off
the other computers will lose their connection to the Internet.
Your network will be less safe, as broadband routers integrate a hardware-based firewall.
Your network speed will be limited to 11 Mbps, even if you only use 54 Mbps or faster cards on your network.

You can also configure an ad-hoc network even if you already have a broadband router without wireless
capability. If this is your case, please forget about the second item listed above, but the other items will still be
true. Also, there is something very important if you have a broadband router already installed on your network:
you will need to change the IP address range of your network if it is configured to use the 192.168.0.x range to
192.168.1.x because the Windows Internet sharing service also uses the 192.168.0.x range and you will have
conflicting IP addresses on your network. This configuration is done by entering the router’s setup program
(usually by opening http://192.168.0.1 from any computer connected to it).

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Continue: Wireless Network Cards

Contents
1. Introduction
2. Wireless Network Cards
3. Configuring The Host Computer Content by Type
4. Configuring The Other Computers

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Author: Gabriel Torres from our website.

Gabriel Torres is a Brazilian best-selling ICT expert, with 24 books published. He started his online
career in 1996, when he launched Clube do Hardware, which is one of the oldest and largest
websites about technology in Brazil. He created Hardware Secrets in 1999 to expand his knowledge Email
outside his home country.
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