Home Networking: How To Set Up a Wireless Network
It all started when my CD player jammed. It was a 5 CD changer that I've had for ... probably ten years. It one day simply refused to disgorge the contents of its gullet, opting instead to make endless and forlorn belching sounds at one second intervals. After a week of thinking that it might simply get better if I left it alone, I took it out in the back yard and ended its misery with a claw hammer to retrieve my five CDs. Looking at them, and the hundreds on shelves and cabinets and tables in my living room, I realized it was more than time to replace the CD player; it was time for a housecleaning.
It's a Matter of Space
I'd been ripping MP3s of my compact disks for a few years already and listening to them on my laptop, on my way to and from the office and to annoy people at coffee shops. But after spending a considerable amount of time and money building a home stereo system, you just really can't go back to listening to your music on a pair of speakers you could cover completely with a quarter. The sensible thing to do seemed to continue ripping my CDs, box them up, store them in the basement, and get a wireless Smart Media Client to play my music on the stereo.
What's a Smart Media Client?
Smart Media Clients are devices that interface between a computer network and a home entertainment center. In this situation, I picked a Roku Soundbridge, which for $245 will connect to your stereo and play MP3s from your iTunes or Windows Media equipped computer. To do this, I first needed to install a wireless network.
Requirements for a Wireless Network
To set up a wireless network in your home or office for playing audio or video on your home entertainment system, you need four things:
What might seem strangely missing from this list is "an Internet connection" but before you go jumping up and down, pointing and waving -- it's true -- you don't actually need to have an Internet connection to have a wireless network. However, since almost nobody wants to put together a home network that's not connected to the Internet, we'll include it.
The Router
There are plenty of wireless routers on the market. I chose one from Linksys because I could by it from the huge chain electronics store right next to my house for $75. The job of a router is to pass electronic signals between devices on a network. Typically, a wireless router will have four or five wired connections as well as an antenna for wireless broadcasting. One of the wired connections is an input from your Internet connection, and the others are outputs for wired computers on your network.
The Computer
Your computer can be equipped with a wireless network card (many laptops today ship with built-in wireless cards) or it can have a more traditional wired network card. Also, there are plenty of USB wireless networking cards, easily attached to a desktop computer without opening the case. At some point, you will need a wired connection to your router from your computer to set up the wireless.
The Home Entertainment Center
Something that plays audio or video and has some type of input connection.
The Smart Media Client
The Soundbridge by Roku is a nifty little device about the size of a kitchen rolling pin. An LED set on the front displays text, and on the ends, cleverly concealed connections for a tiny WiFi card, power, and audio out. It takes about five minutes to set up out of the box.
The Internet Connection
Internet connections come in all shapes and sizes. Typically, you'll have either a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or Cable connection. The prices are similar between the two -- as are the connection speeds. The major difference is that cable can come bundled with your existing cable TV service, and DSL runs over already existing telephone lines. (Meaning you won't have to get a new line installed; it works with the wires already in place.) Talk to your phone and cable companies and decide which is more convenient for you.
The 802.11 Networking Protocols
802.11 is the name given to the set of protocols that define wireless networking. There are three subsets: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. Just to be confusing, b came out first, followed by a, and then g. Broadcasting at 2.4Ghz and transferring up to 54 megabits of information per second in an optimum environment, most wireless devices today are 802.11g which combines the best parts of a and b.
Security
WiFi signals travel about 100 feet. If you don't encrypt this signal, it's possible you could find your neighbors camped out on your front porch with their laptops, surfing the Web on your dime. Since WiFi routers typically ship with the security features turned off by default, it's possible to find an open network without much trouble just by walking around in a major city or in the parking lot of an apartment building. In fact, it's something of a game among some people. Called "Wardriving", it involves putting a laptop in your car and driving around finding open wireless connections and then marking them on map and/or the sidewalk out front showing that you can access the Internet standing in a certain spot. Their statistics suggest that 72% of networks have no protection on them. (You can read about it on www.wardrive.net.)
WiFi security comes in the form of a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key and is relatively easy to turn on. Old keys were 40 bits long, the new ones are 128 bits and provide reasonable security.
The WEP password is set up on your router under "security" and then must be entered on each device that wants to access the network. Typically, your router is configured by a wired connection to a computer and accessed via a Web-browser. After the wireless is set up, you can disconnect the cable.
But I Already Have a Home LAN
If you were one of those forward-thinking souls who bought a house already wired for a computer network, or if you want to install wireless in an office with an existing network, all you need to install is a Wireless Access Point. This is a device that plugs into your existing router and broadcasts a wireless signal. These cost about $70 and are available from most computer and electronics stores.
Setting up the Smart Media Client
When powering on, the Roku Soundbridge automatically detects your network. If you have an open (unsecured) network, it will connect immediately. If not, you're prompted to enter your WEP key. The Soundbridge will then find any files shared through iTunes "share my files" option. It recognizes playlists as well. A wireless remote control allows you to easily flip through songs. The only downside is that your computer must be running and have iTunes running as well. What this does mean though is that you can stick and old computer in a closet, or even in your audio component rack (monitor not really necessary as long as you have iTunes start on bootup) with a 350GB USB drive and use it as your permanent jukebox.
100 Feet Isn't Far Enough!
If 100 feet isn't far enough for you and you find yourself wanting to listen to your MP3s or watch movies in the back yard, you can get a "repeater," which listens to your wireless signal and then retransmits everything it hears. They're about $80 and can double the range of your wireless reception.
Conclusion
With the wireless router connected to my DSL router, setting up the Smart Media Client took about 15 minutes of reading the directions. I added my laptop to the network by giving it the proper WEP password, set iTunes to share files, and turned on the Soundbridge. It found the network instantly, prompted me for a WEP key, and then took me to my existing iTunes playlists. With all my CDs boxed up and in the basement now, there's suddenly a lot of space on my shelves. Maybe I should buy some books.
Kyle Cassidy writes instructional computer books.
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