Home Office Network

Wi-Fi and 802.11
802.11 and Wi-Fi are often used interchangeably.

|Protocol |Frequency |Throughput (Typ)|Data Rate (Max) |Range ( Indoor)|
Legacy //2.4 GHz //0.9 Mbit/s //2 Mbit/s //~20 Meters
802.11a //5 GHz //23 Mbit/s //54 Mbit/s // ~35 Meters
802.11b // 2.4 GHz //4.3 Mbit/s //11 Mbit/s //~38 Meters
802.11g //2.4 GHz //19 Mbit/s //54 Mbit/s // ~38 Meters
802.11n //2.4 GHz/5 GHz //74 Mbit/s //248 Mbit/s// ~70 Meters
802.11y //3.7 GHz //23 Mbit/s// 54 Mbit/s// ~50 Meters

Wi-fi and 802.11 (Home Wireless Network)

Full list of default Router Admin Passwords and Default Router IP Addresses:

Different routers have deferent manufacturer default settings, including default router IP address, default admin (administrator) password.

Some times, we need to reset the router to factory default setting and configuration, here is a full list of default Router Admin Passwords and Default Router IP Addresses.

Router Configuration and settings

Static IP address: How to assign a static IP to your local computer in your home network

To find out What is IP address/Public IP address/Private IP address, please check :” What is IP Address”

In a typical Home/office Network, you always have a router, which manage the IP addresses assignment via DHCP. When your computer is powered on, the computer requests home network router for an IP addresses, Router then assigns a private IP addresses to the computers or network device which need IP address. But remember, this IP address is private and also dynamic, that means, if your computer is restarted again, it may get another different IP, the IP for same computer is changed every time. (Sure you can configure some routers to assign the same IP to same computer by remembering the computer’s MAC address, that is , router only assign a specific IP to a computer with specific MAC address, MAC address is unique to every computer and nerve changes, in this way, your computer can have a static local private IP address).

For general use, getting dynamic IP address from router via DHCP is the easiest way, because router and computer default configurations work in this way, you do not need to configure your router and computers.But in some situation, for example, you need to run some kind of server within your home LAN,some P2P application etc, you must have a static IP for your computer.

To set a static IP address for your computer:

Start->Settings->Open the control panel->open Network Connections, right-click the “Local Area and chose “Properties”, then (in the “general” tab) select “Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)” and click the “Properties” button. Check the “Use the Following IP address” checkbox and enter your desired IP address : for example here : 192.168.1.8 , then click OK, after you restart your computer, your computer will always has this static IP address unchanged.

Also you can get a static public IP address from your ISP which always costs some money on top of your Internet connection service fee.

Static IP address of Home Network

How to set up Home (web) Server with Dynamic DNS (Dynamic IP address ) in Home/Office LAN

To answer this question, we have to know what is DNS first.

The Domain Name System, or DNS is used to resolve human-readable hostnames into IP addresses, such as resolving a domain name www.homeofficenetwork.net to an IP 208.109.181.77 (this is the web host IP address of this web site), DNS is used whenever you resolve a hostname, whether you are visiting a website, accessing an FTP server, sending email, or any other Internet service.

For example, from your computer’s “Command Prompt” window, type: ping www.yahoo.com and hit enter ,you will get “Reply from 69.147.114.210: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=53″, here DNS resolved “www.yahoo.com” to the IP address of Yahoo’s web server 69.147.114.210, if you launch your browser and put IP : 69.147.114.210 to the address box, you will also come to yahoo’s home page. You can remember domain name , but you can not remember the IP address. That’s why DNS is very important.
A web server needs to have a static IP address (fixed IP address) to let outside world to access it. Just like your phone number is a fixed number, if your number is keep changing, so no body can reach you. Static IP addresses are typically not provided to residential broadband customers or ISPs will charge a price for a static IP.

Dynamic DNS is a service which lets you create a domain name that will map to your dynamic IP address so that you can run a home server without having a static IP address. You need to install a client that would constantly monitor your external “routable” address, then update the Dynamic DNS servers so that the same domain name is always pointing to your server’s current IP. Nowadays many new routers support Dynamic DNS client software on the router itself. You just need to set your Dynamic DNS account information into the router and router will communicate with Dynamic DNS service provider and keep the IP updated automatically.

There are many Dynamic DNS service providers (some are free services , some are paid servcies), like : DYNDNS.com and TZO.com

The following routers are compatible with DYNDNS.com

* Linksys Routers:
WRT54G wireless router.
BEFSX41 - VPN Endpoint Router
WRT54G and WRT54GL - Wireless Gateway/Router
WRT54G v5 - Wireless Gateway/Router

* D-Link DIR-655

FVS338 - ProSafe VPN Firewall 50
FVX538 - ProSafe VPN Firewall 200
FVS124G - ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25

Form more help and information, please check the router user manuals, toz.com and dyndns.com

Router Set up with Dynamic DNS

What is Wi-Fi and Wireless Router ?

Wi-Fi is a wireless to improve the interoperability of wireless local area network products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. Common applications for Wi-Fi include Internet and VoIP phone access, gaming, and network connectivity for consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players, and digital cameras.Wi-Fi allows LANs to be deployed without cabling for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.

Many consumer devices use Wi-Fi. Amongst others, personal computers can network to each other and connect to the Internet, mobile computers can connect to the Internet from any Wi-Fi hotspot, and digital cameras can transfer images wirelessly.

Routers which incorporate a DSL or cable modem and a Wi-Fi access point are often used in homes and other premises, and provide Internet access and internetworking to all devices connected wirelessly or by cable into them,

With a Wi-Fi (Wireless) router Wi-Fi enabled computers , Network devices, you can set your Wireless Home Network and Office Network.

Wi-Fi and Wireless Home Router

What is Managed Switch ?

With a managed switch, you can control every individual ports of the switch. For exmple you can turn on or turn off the ports, you can set the port’s link speed, duplex setting etc. So people can not directly connect to  your LAN through one of the available ports, this makes your LAN more secure.

You can also configure the ports associate with a MAC address, only the computer with this MAC address can connect to this port and connect to your LAN. You can also set the ports with deferent priorities, bandwidth limit, monitor port traffic etc.

VLANS (Virtual LANS) are a popular option. This allows you to set a broadcast domain on certain ports, so that broadcast traffic isn’t passed on to the other ports. This can also isolate machines from each other for security purposes.

Managed and undamaged Switch

Router Default IP address , Default password, Default settings:

Linksys Router default IP is 192.168.1.1
Default password : On older LinkSys routers, the default username is blank and the default password is “admin.” On newer Linksys routers, both the default username and the default password are set to “admin.”

Dlink router default IP is : 192.168.0.1
Default password : user ID is admin, password is blank.

Netgear routers typically use 192.168.0.1
Some US Robotics routers use 192.168.123.254
some SMC routers use 192.168.2.1.

To reconfigure your router, connect a PC to one of router’s Ethernet ports, load a web browser, and go to the URL http://your router’s IP, like : http://192.168.1.1

This will take you to a popup box which asks you to enter a username and password to login to your router. type user name and password, Once you are past the login screen, you are able to reconfigure the router.

Router default IP address and Default Password

DHCP and Home Router

What is DHCP?
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network protocol that enables a DHCP server to automatically assign an IP address to an individual computer or Network device. DHCP assigns IP number dynamically from a defined range of numbers configured for a given network.
Client computers or network device configured to use DHCP for IP assignment do not need to have a statically assigned IP address. DHCP server also sets the DNS for the computers.
When a Client computer is turned on, Computer will discover and communicate with DHCP server and get its IP assigned.
When a computer uses a static IP address, it means that the computer is manually configured to use a specific IP address.
Regarding Home network, DHCP server (software) is integrated with your router, that is your router will assign IP address to the computers within your LAN(Local Area Network) when computers start up.

(1)How to Turn on DHCP client from my computer to get IP address from router ?
Your computer’s DHCP client is most likely on. you can check or enable it as following (windows 2000 /XP):
Start–>Settings–>Control Panel –>Network and Dialup Connection–>Local Area connection –>Properties–>Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) –>Properties
Check on both “Obtain an IP address Automatically” and “Obtain DNS server Address Automatically”,
Then press “OK”.

This will enable your computer’s DHCP client to get the IP address from your router/firewall.

(2)How to set an static IP for my computer.
Some times you need to set a static IP address for your computer, you can follow the procedures described above :
Start–>Settings–>Control Panel –>Network and Dialup Connection–>Local Area connection –>Properties–>Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) –>Properties
Check on “Use the following IP addresses” and type the IP address, subnet, default gateway IP in the input boxes, and check on “User following DNS server address” and type your DNS IP address in the input boxes,Then press “OK”.

(3) Find router IP

To find your router IP, please see : What is my router IP.

DHCP and Home Office Network Router Configuration

Network Questions

What is DHCP ?

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Technology. The basic purpose of the DHCP is to assign the IP addresses and the other network configuration such as DNS, Gateway and other network settings to the client computers. DHCP reduces the administrative task of manually assigning the IP addresses to the large number of the computers in a network.

What is DNS and how it works?

DNS stands for Domain name system and it translates (converts) the host name into the IP address and IP address into to the host name. Every domain and the computer on the internet is assigned a unique IP address. The communication on the internet and in the network is based on the IP addresses. IP addresses are in this format 10.1.1.100, 220.12.1.22.3, 1.1.1.1 etc. IP addresses can’t be remembered but the host names are easy to remember instead of their IP addresses.

What is a Firewall?

Firewall is a protective boundary for a network and it prevents the unauthorized access to a network. Most of the Windows operating system such as Windows XP Professional has built-in firewall utilities. There are the large number of the third party firewall software and the basic purpose of all the firewall software and hardware is same i.e. to block the unauthorized user access to a network.

What is WAN?

WAN stands for wide area network and it covers the broader geographical area. Basically there are three types of a computer network LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network). The communication in a WAN is based on the Routers. A WAN network can cover a city, country or continents.

What is VOIP Communication?

VOIP stands for Voice over IP and this technology is used for transmitted the voice over the IP based long distance network to make phone calls. VOIP phone calls are very cheap and a large number of the corporate offices and home users are using VOIP technology to make long distance phone calls.

What is Wi Max Technology?

Wi Max is a wireless broadband technology and it is a advance shape of the Wi Fi (which was a base band technology). Wi Max supports data, video and audio communication at the same time at a very high speed up to 70 Mbps.

What is  Network Gateway

Network Gateway can be software or a hardware. A gateway is usually a joining point in a network i.e. it connects two networks. A computer with two LAN cards can act as a gateway. What is a Router?

A router routes the traffic to its destination based on the source and destination IP addresses, which are placed in the routing software known as routing table.

How Fiber Optic Cable Works

Fiber optics provides the fastest communication medium for data and voice. Data can travel at the speed of light through the fiber optic cables. ISPs and corporate offices are usually connected with each other with the fiber optic cables to provide high speed connectivity.

What is File Server?

A file server is a computer in a network that authenticates the user access in a network such as Windows 2000/2003 Servers.

Define Seven Layers of OSI Model

There are seven layers of the OSI model. The basic purpose of these layers is to understand the communication system and data transmission steps. The seven layers are Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link and Physical. You can remember the name of these layers by this phrase. “All people seems to need data processing”.

Define GSM Technology

GSM is a short range wireless technology and is usually used in the mobile phones, hand help devices, MP3 players, Laptops, computers and in cars

Network Basics

Learn more on Network Questions

Redundant Internet Access: (Dual-WAN router/Multi-WAN router)

How to make my Internet connection redundant? (Internet connection backup)

We have experienced network down, due to ISP’s network problems, hacker attacks, ISP (Internet Service Provider) network maintenance, software/hardware upgrading etc. The down time may last hours even days. Nowadays, we are so dependent on Internet, we can not to do anything without internet.

If your home or office networks just rely on one single Internet connection, one ISP , you may experience internet down from time to time.

Using more than one ISP or WAN link to ensure that if one link fails, a separate working link is available to send and receive Internet traffic. Many businesses use more than one Internet links (more than one ISPs)to ensure that important Internet-based business applications aren’t shut down by a ’single point of failure’. Using redundant Internet links including DSL backup requires the ability to switch traffic among multiple Internet links connections through a technique called multihoming using multi-WAN routers, most of them can also balance your internet traffic with dual internet connections.

With Dual-WAN router, you can connect your network with more than one ISP’s internet access at same time, for example, one with a cable and one with DSL. When one ISP internet connection is down, you are network will use another ISP’s connection, the chance two ISP’s network down at same time is very rare.
During normal operations, your internet traffic can be balanced with two internet connections.

One of the popular SOHO Dual-WAN router manufactures is PePLink.

SOHO Multi-WAN Routers: (PePLink Balance 30)

The following are some feature introduction :
PePLink Balance 30, with functionality aimed at Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) environments, is the entry-level model in the PePLink Balance series of Internet Link Load Balance devices.

Features
* Link Aggregation & Load Balance
* Drop-in Mode
* VoIP, SIP, and Vonage® Support
* Session Binding

Benefits
* Combine bandwidths from multiple Internet connections with ease.
* Easy, transparent installation
* Fully compatible with major SIP-based VoIP providers. Enjoy your calls.
* Compatible with secure web, e-banking, and other applications.

How it works:

Dual-WAN router and Multi-WAN Router