How to set up a router to share you broadband connection
ow that you've broadband at home, here's how to set up a router to connect your Macs and PCs. Shopping for routers is quite a chore especially for us Mac users.Ask questions, surf the net check out Apple discussion boards, do your homework. If you can afford it, the Apple base station and airport cards is definitely the way to go. It's probably easiest to set up but bear in mind it costs a lot more. Being a glutton for punishment and cheap, I opted for one of those other routers whose manufacturers which don't provide any support and documentation for Macs at all.They don't even mention Macs on their boxes! You may see MAC on the box but…read on.
One sales associate at a prominent store pointed that out on the box and was trying to convince me that they did support Macs. Now, don't confuse this with MAC(all uppercase) that you might see on the boxes. MAC stands for Media Access Control it is your computer's unique hardware number .If you want to know more about that, click on http://www.whatis.com and type MAC in the search field
Below is a picture of the router that John Schreck recommended, it was on sale at compUSA for $80. The model # is the !BEFW11S4.
o you open the box take it out and as expected there are no instructions for Macs. On the back of the router you will find 5 RJ45 ports. One will have WAN over it, the other will say LAN over it. No need to get into what that means to set this router up. If your Mac is already hooked
N
up for DSL or cable modem, unplug the RJ45 cable from the Ethernet port and plug that into the port that says WAN then launch your browser. I use Internet Explorer. There should be some directions there that tells you to enter a number like this http:// 192.168...then you'll see the screen below. If you see this on your screen,
you’re in good shape.
enerally these routers use an internet browser for setting up. Their instructions will be similar or some variation of this. Under the WAN connection Type, select PPPoE then enter your account name that you got from your ISP and also the password. Then click “Apply.” The basic setup for the router is done.
Now you need to set up your computer to obtain an IP address automatically from the router when you plug the RJ45 cable into the Ethernet port.
For OS 9 users
nder the Apple Menu, go to Control Panel then to TCP/IP. You should see a dialog box like this . Click on Configure and choose “Using DHCP Server.” You’ll be prompted
to save. Name it something meaningful like Linksys router or something that is meaningful.
And that’s it. If you have another Mac and are running OS 9, the above directions should get you set up. All you need a a RJ45 cable to plug into any one of the other 4 LAN ports on the router.
For OS X users
nder the Apple menu select System Preferences then click on
Network , you should see this :
Now under Location click on New . You will be prompted by a dialog box to give this new location a name. Give it a meaningful name like Linksys
router. Then under the
Show field, choose Built-in Ethernet.
Then click the tab that says TCP/IP. When you click that tab you will see you have different options than the above which shows the PPPoE tab being highlighted.
Under Configure choose Using DHCP. Now your Mac which is running OS X is ready to go. It will select a range of IP addresses assigned by your router. Just plug your RJ45 cable into that computer’s Ethernet port and you’re ready to do some web surfing.
The Wireless Setup
ow comes the complicated part that I am struggling with. So if you have more than one Mac and you don’t want to run wires, you will need some sort of wireless card. I bought Apple’s airport card for around $100.
I’ve read of cheaper alternatives but since I haven’t tried them, we’ll stick with what I’m using. Depending on your Mac, it may or may not have a slot for an airport card. To get instructions to install the airport card, look up
http://info.apple.com/usen/cip/
That URL is Apple’s Customer-Installable parts page where you can look up the different upgrades you can do yourself all specific to your computer. Some of these will link to a quicktime movie that you can download and watch . You can download the PDF’s and print them for easier reference. If you don’t own a powerbook but still want to connect your desktop wirelessly, try http://www.macsense.com. That site might give you some ideas. Even if you can’t connect wirelessly, you can still share your broadband connection through RJ45 cables.
So after you have an airport card installed, you should be able to turn on Aiport from the menu bar (in OS X) or the control strip in OS 9.
In OS X on top right hand corner you should see an icon that looks like a fan. See the picture below.
Once that clear fan turns into this icon , you’re ready to surf without wires. If you have a laptop, you’ll be having loads of fun testing the range of your wireless router.
On OS 9, you have to look for this on the control strip in the bottom of your screen.
