What Is "Super Wi-Fi"?

The FCC just cleared a path for a new generation of "Super Wi-Fi" technologies. Sounds great! But what the heck is Super Wi-Fi?

Super Wi-Fi is still Wi-Fi...

It's not as though Super Wi-Fi is some entirely alien concept. For all intents and purposes, it's Wi-Fi! The same kind of wireless data transmission you use around your apartment or at the office or waiting in line at Starbucks. It's just much, much more powerful.

...but on a new spectrum...

As John explained previously, pretty much all Wi-Fi activity takes place on the same 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies. For the first time in 25 years, though, the FCC has opened up a sizable new block of unlicensed spectrum, this time between 50MHz and 700MHz.

...that lives in between your TV channels...

Ever since television went entirely digital, folks like Google have been lobbying, literally, to free up the airwaves between channels. The so-called "white spaces" would otherwise have been lying around unused or been subject to prohibitive regulatory precautions.

...that's much more powerful than what we have today...

Unlike current Wi-Fi airwaves, whose reach can be measured in feet, the spectrum that would carry Super Wi-Fi would be able to travel for several miles because of that lower frequency. Through brick walls, even—something your Linksys really struggles with. You can also anticipate download speeds of 15Mbps to 20Mbps—about as fast as a cable modem.

...that shouldn't interfere with your regularly scheduled programming...

Back in 2008, when the white space plan was first approved, the biggest concern was that using these airwaves for data transmission could interfere with TV signals. To mitigate those fears, white space devices will be required to query a special geolocation database, ensuring no signals are crossed.

...and that will have (literally) far-reaching benefits...

The advantages are already apparent. Google, for instance, already has a trial running in a Logan, Ohio hospital that's giving first responders and the hospital grounds alike super-speedy broadband. Wilmington, NC uses white-space to send real-time feeds from traffic and security cameras. And eventually, you would potentially be able to access your home Wi-Fi from several blocks away.

...though maybe not for a while.

So far, most of what we know about how the white space will be used is based on conjecture. There may be some proof-of-concept devices early next year at CES, and there may be more mass production of products in a year or two. But the first Super Wi-Fi projects are likely to be medical, municipal, large-scale. How long it takes for us to be always connected from anywhere and anything? That's up to the inventors and entrepreneurs to decide. [FCC (pdf)]

vividwireless debuts WiMAX connected pocket WiFi access point

By Stuart Corner
 The pocket-sized device is simple to set up: if it has been bought over the counter on first usage the user is directed to a setup page where they can select and pay for a usage plan. If they have signed up for a contract (available only online from vividwireless) the device works pretty much out of the box on delivery. It can support up to five users over WiFi.

Vividwireless isn't keen to talk specifics about speed, although its web site boasts: "We are ranked the fastest consumer ISP in Perth, according to Speedtest.net," and a video shows a (simulated?) comparison. Elsewhere it claims to offer "seriously faster 4G wireless broadband."

However it does state: "Our network testing of the USB modem reveals an average download speed of 6.7Mbps, with typical download speeds between 5 and 8 Mbps within our coverage areas. The speeds experienced across the network are not only lightning fast - they are remarkably consistent day and night, when you expect more users on the network."

According to vividwireless the radio section of the ViViFi is identical to that of the USB modem. Both use MiMo on the downstream side with dual antennas and beamforming. Better performance is likely with the home gateway: it has higher antenna gain and uses MiMo on the upstream side.

Using speedtest.net we obtained about 7.9Mbps downstream and about 2.5Mbps upstream. However consistency is totally lacking when using speedtest.net: it is highly dependent on the server chosen. We got the best performance from an Optus server on the NSW Central Coast. For others upstream speeds exceeded downstream, 2.10/2.25Mbps was one result we got within minutes of the peak result, and no other server available would give more than 5Mbps downstream.

We noted similar discrepancies when we tested Telstra's new Ultimate HSDPA modem recently. However for speedtest.net results for our normal ADSL service were extremely consistent. Vividwireless was unable to offer any immediate explanation for this result. A spokesman said: "internally we don't use Speedtest. Our engineers don't trust it."

Vividwireless launched its WiMAX network in Perth in March 2010, having previously announced plans to build networks in five mainland capital cities, targeting inner-city and university communities, starting in the second half of 2010.

It said that coverage would be provided within five kilometres of major universities: Sydney University, the University of NSW and UTS University in Sydney; Melbourne University & RMIT; The Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Queensland in Brisbane and the University of Adelaide. A total coverage area was put at 471 square kilometres with a population of 1.25 million.

It now has networks operational in Melbourne and Sydney. The coverage map for Sydney shows near completed coverage south of the harbour: the CBD, west as far as Summer Hill, south to Botany Bay and east to the coast.

For Melbourne, coverage is roughly from the CBD, north to Brunswick, West to Flemington Racecourse, east to Fitzroy and south to St Kilda.

This article first appeared in ExchangeDaily, iTWire's daily newsletter for telecommunications professionals. Register here for your free trial.

Netgear Debuts First Powerline Wireless N Extender

Home networking is almost always a bitch. But Netgear's new (and first of its kind) wireless N and powerline networking combo might simplify the process, adding a high-throughput Wi-Fi bubble, riding along your home wiring, to any free electrical outlet.
Netgear says the AV 200 will extend your existing WiFi network—taking the wireless signal in one room, routing it through copper, and then rebroadcasting where needed—at speeds of up to 200 Mbps. Though, as with any powerline-dependent network, electrical interference might bring down speeds—so mind your torrents when you power on that vacuum cleaner, for instance. [Netgear]

Clear's iSpot Is a WiMax Hotspot For iPhones and iPads

With more cities being blanketed in the warm glow of WiMax every month, 3G speeds are going to start seeming primitive, fast. Clear's iSpot hotspot lets iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches get a taste of the delicious 4G future.
Clear's iSpot can serve as a hotspot for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices at a time—its site says it was optimized for Apple's mobile devices, whatever that means—while running on its rechargeable battery or juicing up over USB. 
The device, which looks a lot like a Mighty Mouse, or a bar of soap, will be available August 10 for $99, with a no-contract, $25 monthly plan for unlimited data. Not too bad, if your city has already been given the WiMax treatment. Because there's no buzzkill worse than waiting for a snappy new iPhone or iPad to suck down a page over 3G. [iSpot via SlashGear]
Update: Today and today only, you can net the iSpot itself for $29—70% off.
Update 2: Ars discovers why this is so cheap, when the standard CLEAR plan is $40. It's dedicated to just Apple devices—in that, it detects what devices are connected and can only let them connect if it's an Apple device. If you want to unlock it to all devices, they'll bump you up to the $40 a month plan.
Of course, if you're on a laptop, it's probably rather easy to mimic an Apple device by changing some settings, but harder if you're on, say, a BlackBerry. [Ars]

VHA cuts prepaid mobile broadband price, adds WiFi modem

Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has dropped the price of its Vodafone branded USB modem based prepaid mobile broadband starter pack from $79 to $49 and has introduced its first pocket 3G WiFi modem.
The USB modem package, which will be available from both Vodafone and 3 stores, comprises the modem and 1GB of data with 30 day expiry. Current prices for additional data, all on 30 day expiry, are $15 for 1.5GB, $29 for 4GB, $39 for 8GB and $49 for 10GB per month. VHA says these prices will apply until 15 September "unless extended."

VHA is targeting the product as a fixed-line replacement saying: "With the average Australian Internet user spending an incredible 37 days per year online, Vodafone's prepaid mobile broadband starter pack presents customers with a great opportunity to cast off the shackles of fixed-line Internet and start using the internet at home, when they're out an about, wherever they have 3G coverage." (The 37 days figure is derived from Nielsen's 2010 Internet & Technology Report that put Australian average weekly Internet usage at 17.6 hours per week.)

VHA has also introduced Pocket WiFi, a portable 3G WiFi modem that uses WiFi that enables up to five users to share one Vodafone or 3 mobile broadband service. It is manufactured by Huawei. It is available outright as the prepaid mobile broadband PocketWiFi starter pack for $119 that includes a prepaid SIM with 1GB of mobile broadband data on Vodafone or 200MB on 3, both with 30 day expiry. It is also available at no charge on some 24-month plans.

The device is exclusive to VHA. A Huawei spokesman told iTWire that it was a more recent model in the e-series range than the one presently sold by Virgin Mobile in Australia.

According to VHA, "What truly sets PocketWiFi apart from other WiFi models is the way it provides customers with visibility about what's happening at any one time. The handy LED display provides information about the signal strength, WiFi status, number of devices connected via WiFi, internet connection status, battery life, Internet session time, session data usage and roaming status."

The rechargeable and removable lithium-ion battery, is claimed to provide up to five hours of usage and can be charged by mains power or USB.

Seek Out Stronger Wi-Fi Hotspots On Android

While you've no doubt got an "unlimited" data contract, sometimes it's faster/cheaper/easier to connect to Wi-Fi. Particularly if you're trying to download a new mega-app. Wi-Fi Analyzer is a free app which displays the strength of all Wi-Fi hotspots nearby.
It's been out for a while now, however Recombu's review of it brought the app to my attention. Shown on a bar graph with varying colors, each Wi-Fi connection in the area is displayed along with the "channel rating," which will give you some idea of how many people are connected to that signal. In the picture shown, the green signal is the lowest of all—which means it's also the busiest. The red arc is the highest on the graph, which is the one you should be connecting to.

If there's one drawback with this app, it's that you can't connect to your chosen hotspot within the app itself. You'll have to nip into the Android's own Wi-Fi section, or download the Wi-Fi Connector Library app from the same developers, which will do the job for you. [Recombu]

Turn Your Old Router into a Range-Boosting Wi-Fi Repeater

If you're upgrading to a faster, stronger wireless router, don't chuck your older Wi-Fi box. With the magic of DD-WRT, you can turn your older wireless router into a range-expanding Wi-Fi repeater to cover everywhere you need a connection.

The advent of wireless home networks grew slowly in the past decade, but reached the point at which nearly every home with a high-speed connection had a wireless router that shared Wi-Fi connections throughout the home. Now Wireless N has become the standard at electronics retailers, promising faster connectivity with your wireless devices, faster transfer and streaming speeds between devices, and better connectivity. So what's to be done with your home's first wireless router?

Our suggestion is to install the open-source DD-WRT firmware on your router and turn it into a repeater for your main router, expanding your Wi-Fi signal to reach every nook and cranny of your house, and even into your backyard or garage, if needed. You'll be able to use the same password and security scheme, you won't need anything except a power outlet for the repeater when you're done, and most of your devices will automatically switch between the two signals when needed.

We've previously run down how to install DD-WRT on a Linksys router to give it many, many more features, including the repeater function we'll cover here. If you've already installed DD-WRT, then, skip to the section on repeater configuration. One notable difference in this guide, too, is that I'm installing a custom build of DD-WRT, the "micro" flavor, on a Linksys WRT54G ver. 6, or "version 6." Adam wrote his original guide in 2006, with a fully-DD-WRT-compatible Linksys WRT54GL router, and at that point, those who picked up a blue Linksys box without knowing about open-source firmware were pretty much stuck. Now there's a huge array of supported devices, and even my sadly restricted Linksys can run a Micro build, and Micro now includes a repeater function.

Update: A Note on Speed

Some intrepid bandwidth watchers, Will Smith among them, have pointed out that their own experiments with repeating signals has left them with slower connections. To be honest, I was using the repeater mostly for Google Reader in bed, and browsing and web working from outside the house, so I hadn't seen a noticeable drop in speed. A few tests at SpeedTest.net tell the tale. Pictured at left here is the result from my main router, a Buffalo model with Wireless N (detailed here), connecting from my upstairs office to the downstairs living room, then Buffalo, NY to Toronto, ON.

This result is through the modified Linksys WRT54G ver. 6 router about 10 feet away, connected as a repeater to the Buffalo router downstairs, and then tested again through Toronto. There is, as you can see, a download speed difference, and if I'd been using my Wireless N modem, it might be even more severe. So take a repeater for what it is—a slight trade-off in speed for a greater reach, with your mileage varying based on your hardware and connection. You might also note, though, that using SpeedTest's Android app, I actually received better download speeds from my office through the repeater than through the main router—for a smaller antenna, perhaps, connectivity can sometimes win over latency concerns.

What You'll Need

• Compatible router: Grab that old-but-still-works router and flip it over. Get the model number off the label, and write down the MAC address, while you're at it—the locations for both, on a standard Linksys "blue box," are pictured above. Type the first few characters of your model number into DD-WRT's router database, and look for your model to pop up. If you get any kind of green "Yes" listed with your model, you're in the clear—even the most pared-down DD-WRT build, micro, supports the repeater function.

• Firmware files for your router: In that same router database, click on the line that relates to your router model, then grab all the files listed there. You may not end up using all of them, but once you've taken your router offline, even if it's not your main router, you'll want to have all your files available offline.

• Print-out of your instructions: There's a good chance, if you've got a fairly popular router, that you'll have access to specific router model instructions on the DD-WRT wiki. You'll usually see a link on the same page as your firmware files; if not, go ahead and search the wiki. If you don't have a printer, or hate wasting paper, use a print-to-PDF tool like doPDF or the Nitro PDF Reader for Windows, or the built-in PDF functions in Mac or Linux. The reason, again, is that you want to be prepared in case you lose internet connectivity on one or more routers during the flash process.

• Ethernet cable & computer with Ethernet port: Enough cable to comfortably reach from your computer to the router you're working on, and a computer without any networking problems that you know of.

• A pen and paper: The paper for notes, and the pen for both writing and pressing and holding down the reset button on your router.

• At least an hour's time, and patience: Instructions for most routers are laid out in step-by-step detail, with very specific instructions. Even so, you do not want to rush things, or load the wrong file at the wrong time. Doing so opens the potential for a "bricked" router, one that doesn't work and can't be accessed or set back to its default, factory-fresh state. That's not going to happen to the patient, cautious firmware flasher, though.

Get Started

As stated above, different routers will take different paths to installing DD-WRT. There are some common procedures, and a general path, to getting it installed, though, so you can read along as I follow the DD-WRT Wiki's instructions for a WRT54G version 6 installation.

• Do a hard (30/30/30) reset on your router: A "hard" reset, or a "30/30/30," means locating the reset notch on the back of your router, then inserting a pen and holding it there for a total of 90 seconds—30 seconds at first with the power on, then yank the power cord and wait another 30, then plug the power cord back in and wait 30 seconds, all while still holding the pen. It seems a bit excessive, but trust me—I've had friends with electronic engineering skills explain just how finicky, and sometimes random, physical memory chips like those in routers can be at holding their settings or otherwise not completely blanking out.

• Set a static IP address on your computer: Most DD-WRT guides want you to set your computer's IP address, the one it draws from your router, to 192.168.1.7, and set a subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. How do you do this in your computer, without the router being accessible?

Head to Windows' Network and Sharing Center, usually by right-clicking on your network connection icon in the system tray, or heading there through the Control Panel. In the left-hand panel, click "Change adapter settings," then right-click on your "Local Area Connection" offering and select Properties. Under the Network tab, select the "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and hit the Properties button. Now in the General tab, change the first radio switch button to "Use the following IP address:", then enter 192.168.1.7 in the IP Address field, and 255.255.255.0 should fill itself in under "Subnet mask." Make sure you've got the IP entered correctly—Windows can skip the "7" part if there's only a single digit in the third section—and hit OK when you're done.

Firmware Installation

Now we're gonna get serious. Connect the Ethernet cable between your computer and the router—be sure to insert the cable into one of the numbered ports, not the port labeled "Internet" that's slightly distanced from the others. Turn off any wireless connection to your main router, unplug any broadband cellular modems, and so forth.

In the case of my WRT54G ver. 6, I had to create a customized flashing image for my router, with a designated MAC address written in. The MAC address is a supposedly unique identifier given to all computer hardware that can access the internet, one that allows networks to allow and block hardware based on this address. Your internet provider and the the cable modem they provided also tracks the MAC address of your router, and can deny service if a different router than the one the modem is used to servicing suddenly appears. So I followed the instructions for downloading GV5Flash.zip, unpacking its contents, then running the vximgtoolgui application and filling in the MAC address I wrote down from underneath my router, and pointing the app at a place to drop the resulting .bin file.

Now you're going to pull off one of those "hard," or 30/30/30 power cycles—hold down reset for 30 seconds plugged in, 30 unplugged, then 30 seconds again plugged in. When you're done, wait a few seconds, open your browser (making sure your computer's still connected by cable), point it to http://192.168.1.1, and you should get a prompt for a username and password. The default for my router in this mode is "root/admin"—yours can likely be found at RouterPasswords.com, or in your own DD-WRT instructions. After entering that combo, you should see the default router screen. A Linksys default usually looks like this:

In most cases, you're next going to head to the Administration section (circled in the pic), then click the Firmware Upgrade sub-section. It's usually a simple affair: a Browse button to find the file you want to upload, and an OK/Apply button to set it in motion. From here on out, unless you have my same exact router, you'll possibly have a different set of one or two files to upload, in a very particular order—follow your own DD-WRT customized instructions. In general, though, you'll be doing a procedure along these lines:

• Uploading a "prep" file that gets your router ready for a new firmware.
• Waiting a solid five minutes—no cheating.
• "Power cycle" the router (a simple unplug, 30-second wait, then re-plug).
• Re-connect to 192.168.1.1, see the "Management Mode" window, then upload your (possibly customized) specific DD-WRT image and hit Apply.
• 
• After seeing this nice little "Upgrade Success" message, wait another full, honest five minutes.
• 
  
  
• Open a TFTP program, usually provided among your DD-WRT files, and point it at 192.168.1.1 (your router). Select your specific DD-WRT firmware (a micro build, in my case), then set the retries to 99—But! Before hitting "Upgrade," power cycle your router, wait a few seconds after re-powering, then go for it. When your TFTP app has a green light and success message, wait another full five minutes, then come on back.
• Undo the static IP setup you put in place on your computer from the Network and Sharing settings. Unplug and re-plug your cable, then open a browser. If you can connect to 192.168.1.1 on your computer browser and see a setup page for DD-WRT, do a (final) 30/30/30 "hard" reset on your router, then check that you still see the DD-WRT setup. If so, you're all set up!

Setting Up the Repeater

Now that you've got your oldie-but-goodie router set up with DD-WRT, you can set it up to pick up the signal from your primary router and re-broadcast it within its own radius. Here's how to do that.

With your computer still hooked up to the now-secondary router, head into the DD-WRT setup screen. It will ask you to set a better password and username at first, so go ahead and do that—you'll probably want to set up the same admin/password as your primary router to avoid confusion. Once you're in, your setup screen will look something like this, as my Micro setup on my Linksys appears:

First up, click on the Wireless tab, then choose Basic Settings. Switch "Wireless Mode" to "Repeater," and the "Wireless Network Name" to the same as the main router you're going to be re-broadcasting. Don't worry about the bridged/unbridged radio buttons—they'll set themselves later. Hit the "Save" button at the very bottom, but do not hit "Apply Settings" just yet.

In the "Virtual Interfaces" section, below that main "Wireless Physical Interfaces" section you just modified, hit the "Add" button, then enter a new name for your repeater—don't use the same as your router, or else suffer the wrath of confused devices. Adding "Repeater" or "2" to the end of your main router's name is pretty sensible in most cases. If you prefer an access point that doesn't broadcast its name, save that for switching off later—while we're testing our repeater, we'll be using basic settings to make sure the connection goes through. Hit the "Save" button at the bottom again.

With the main Wireless tab still selected, head to the "Wireless Security" sub-tab to the right. You'll see two interfaces again—a "Physical Interface" and a "Virtual Interface." In the "Physical Interface" section at the top, fill in the same exact security settings as your primary router—the security mode, the algorithm (TKIP or AES, generally), and the password any device would use to connect. You might need to jump back into your primary router settings to confirm these—that's fine, but do so from another device. Under the "Virtual Interface" section, set up the same exact security settings as your primary router, again. Hit the "Save" key at very bottom again and, again, avoid "Apply Settings" for the moment.

Jump over to the Setup tab at the very top, then scroll down to the Network Setup section under Basic Setup. The main thing to do here is slightly alter the "Local IP Address" from what your primary router is. If you connect to your main router at 192.168.1.1, for example, set this repeater router to something like 192.168.2.1, or another number that you can remember in the second-to-last position. Hit (you guessed it!) Save.

Finally, head to the Security tab up top, and in the Firewall section, disable the "SPI Firewall," and un-check everything under the "Block WAN Requests," except "Filter Multicast." Hit "Save" at the bottom one last time. Finally, head over to Administration, double-check that you've got your administrator password written down or remembered, and hit "Apply Settings" at the very bottom. Your router will reset itself now, so give it time to do so.

Unplug your computer's Ethernet cable, turn on a wireless device, and see if you can find your new repeater bridge. Connect to it, use the same password you'd use for the main router, and you should have success. If not, run through the steps and double-check your settings. DD-WRT's wiki page for WLAN Repeaters has a good deal of troubleshooting advice, so check there too.

You've now got a second Wi-Fi station in your house that picks up signal from the main router and offers it out to devices that are farther out. It's likely not as fast a connection between devices—it's wireless G, in most cases, as opposed to N. Then again, at this point, there are very, very few services or streaming applications that make full use of Wireless N's crazy bandwidth potential, so your Hulu streaming, web browsing, and other usual internet life will likely be unaffected.

In my own case, my wife and I don't have to use modern-day divining tricks in our very non-linear Victorian home to keep a spotty Wi-Fi signal to an iPod touch or Android phone, and a side patio has just become a preferred secondary home office for the summer. As a bonus, my closest neighbors now know that I'm a serious, serious nerd when they fire up their laptops. Here's hoping you find similarly fun and free uses for a Wi-Fi repeater.

---

How is your repeater working out for you? Do you have any suggestions on making the repeater more convenient, or another guide for DD-WRT, Tomato, or another firmware? We'd love to hear your comments, questions, and tips in the comments!

Overclock and Seriously Amplify a Linksys Wi-Fi Router

The WRT54GL is a hacker's dream Wi-Fi router, capable of running third-party firmware and upping its signal power

internally. A brave Instructables user shows how to go whole-hog on the blue box with extended antennas, fan-cooled overclocking, and the DD-WRT interface.

Instructable author NostalgicStone offers plenty of warnings before jumping into the details of his hack, and for good reason: it's not the safest way to run a Wi-Fi router. It's also not a pretty sight to have a PC fan running on top of a router, if you have to keep it in plain view. With all that said, this total upgrade is really appealing to those of us who lack Wi-Fi in particular corners of the house, don't have to worry about how pretty the router looks, and don't mind tearing open electronics to do things like install heatsinks.

Hit the link for the full read-through and results testimonial, and share any similar router upgrades you've seen (or pulled off yourself) in the comments.

Unleash the Power of Your Router! [Instructables]

WiFi Stumbler Scans Local Wi-Fi to Find an Interference-Free Channel

If you've been having trouble with your wireless signal the culprit might be interference from other wireless routers in the area. Free web-based tool WiFi Stumbler will show you which channel is least likely to cause interference.

WiFi Stumbler uses your computer's Wi-Fi antenna to scan local access nodes. You can do a wide open scan or narrow it down by the type of encryption, the manufacturer, the radio type, frequency, or channel.

When you're done with the scan you're presented with both a detailed listing and a chart showing the number of nodes. Using this information you can then switch your router to a less occupied channel—every router I've ever purchased has been set to Channel 6 for some reason and just getting it off 6 has been a huge help in every instance.

Have a favorite tool for tweaking your Wi-Fi? Let's hear about it in the comments.

WiFi Stumbler [Meraki Tools via MakeUseOf]

Extend Your Wireless Network with an Old Router and Powerline Adapters

We've shown you one way to turn your wifi router into a repeater, but if your router doesn't have the firmware or your walls aren't wireless-friendly, you can get similar results with the addition of a device called a powerline adapter.

Photo by Andy Butkaj.

While we definitely love hacking our routers with new firmware, it does have a few downsides, most notably the fact that it's a pain to install. Furthermore, you may not be comfortable installing third-party firmware that hacks your device, if your router doesn't have the required firmware available. Technology blog Tested points out that a couple powerline adapters can help give you the same results by connecting your old router to your network through the power lines already installed in your home.

Essentially, instead of wirelessly "extending" your network, you'll be turning your old router into an access point and putting it in the dead zone of your house. It'll still need to be connected to the network, though, which is where the powerline adapters come in. Powerline adapters plug into your A/C outlets and connect to your network. You don't need any kind of electrical experience to get them working. You could, of course wire it up via Ethernet, but you probably don't want Ethernet cables running all through your house—so powerline adapters are a pretty awesome way to go.

You'll need to tweak quite a few settings on your router to make this work, and powerline extenders aren't super cheap—you could probably pick a few up for the same price of a regular wireless network extender—but if you have a house that isn't wireless extender-friendly (due to thick walls or a strangely shaped house), this is a great way to get wireless everywhere you need it. Hit the link for the full guide, and let us know your experience with powerline extenders in the comments.

How To Use an Old Router to Expand Your Wi-Fi Network [Tested]

What Settings Should I Change on My Wi-Fi Router?

Dear Lifehacker,
I just moved into my first apartment, and bought my first Wi-Fi router. It's a standard Linksys "blue box," and seems to work fine, but I'm wondering—are there any settings I should be looking to change?

Signed,
Curious about Configuration

Photo by webhamster.

Dear Curious,

Good question! For most broadband home users, a Wi-Fi net connection "works" once you plug in the cable and power on the Linksys box, but there's more to having a secure, convenient, and easy-to-use network than just connecting.

Gina walked through setting up a home wireless network in 2006, using a Linksys WRT54G router as the hardware. Her instructions on the physical setup, and reaching the router's configuration page, still stand, but her security steps can use some updating—especially since she herself proved later on how easy you can crack a WEP-encrypted Wi-Fi password.

If you wanted to get really geeky, and unlock a lot of great features, you could power up your router (depending on your model) by installing DD-WRT or the more user-friendly Tomato on your router. But assuming you're just looking to get started with a Wi-Fi network and not start hacking firmware right away, we'll start with the basics.

Head to your router's administration page, then, by connecting to your router (usually linksys), opening a browser to it (usually 192.168.1.1), and entering the default username and password (written in the manual, but usually some combination of "admin," "default," and blanks).

I'm recommending at least four changes and look-intos for the typical router:

Change the SSID and Administrator Password

If you set up your router with an installation CD, there's a chance you've already tackled these steps. If not, head to the "Admin" or "Administration" tab in your settings, and in the main "Management" tab, change that password from whatever its default is.

Why bother? If you're going to leave your network "open"—or not requiring a password to connect—it's crucial to have your router administration password in place, as anybody who's half-familiar can point to 192.168.1.1, use a site like RouterPasswords.com, and then do ... well, all kinds of hincky stuff. Even if you're going to password-protect your system, it's still a smart idea to prevent anyone from messing with your settings.

Want to lock down administrative access even further? Turn off "Wireless Web Access" from this password page. Maybe it's too much of an annoyance to require that router configuration changes require a physical cable connection, but it's also a good way to ensure only those inside your house can mess with your network.

Before you go too much further, too, head to the Wireless tab, and change the "SSID Broadcast Name" in your "Wireless Settings" sub-section. If you keep your router named "linksys," you not only might encounter problems with neighbors who have simply plugged in their new routers, but you'll also train your computers and devices to always connect and accept connections to networks named "linksys"—not always a smart move when you're outside your home.

Change Your Security Settings

Even if you've already set up a password for your network, head to this page. It's under the "Wireless Security" section of the Wireless tab—and not under "Security," a design decision I've never quite fathomed.

If you haven't set up a password, do so now. As with any net-related password, don't make it weak. Use non-dictionary words, add numbers and special characters, and make it as long as you can remember. And change the security mode to WPA2 Personal. WEP is easily cracked, as noted above, and the first WPA has proven fairly easy for hacker-types to get into. WPA2 Personal isn't perfect, but it's the home networking security standard at the moment, and most devices made in the past few years can connect through it.

Open and Forward Any Needed Ports

If you're a BitTorrent user, good software like uTorrent should be able to automatically find an open port and connect through it. If it doesn't work, or if you need to pull off more advanced home network tricks, like screen control from outside your home, encrypting outside browsing through a home SSH proxy or giving tech support with a VNC connection, you'll want to open up the "Port Range Forward" section under the "Applications & Gaming" section.

The layout is a bit confusing, but it's actually a simple setup. Name your port whatever you'd like for reference in the "Application" field, add the port "range" in the two "Start" and "end" fields (usually they're the same number, for a single-number "range"), then choose the IP address of the computer you'd like incoming requests routed to, and click "Enable." In other words, if you want incoming SSH requests sent to your main desktop, add an "SSH" entry, assign it a port (22 is standard, though you can change it for more security from scanning attacks), and direct it to your home desktop's IP address.

But, wait, how do you know which IP address your home computer is on, and how do you reach it from, say, Panera? Good question! We'll tackle that in this next section.

Set Up Dynamic DNS

In the Setup tab, there's a "DDNS" section that allows you to hook up your router to a Dynamic DNS service, like our personal favorite, DynDNS. Gina previously covered the setup of your router to DynDNS in her guide to assigning a doman name to your home web server. Follow her steps, and when you want to remotely access your home computers, you can point your software to something like samsmith.dyndns.org, instead of trying to guess what IP address Time Warner/Comcast/Verizon has assigned you.

You'll also need to make sure your home computers stay on the same internal IP addresses assigned to them by the router—192.168.1.105 and the like. Adam's covered that in his remote BitTorrent guide. The basic explanation is that you set your steady, almost-always-on computers to an IP address that's lower than the "dynamic," changing numbers given out by your router.

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Those are four settings we recommend peeking into as a new router owner. There are more security measures you can take, like filtering out all but a few accepted MAC addresses (i.e. specific computers/devices) or hiding your router name entirely from those who don't know it, but the average home network owner would probably find those more time-consuming than truly helpful. Your security needs and setup will certainly vary.

Good luck with your new router, and may your browser never tell you of pages not found,

Sincerely,

Lifehacker

AT&T making tourists even more annoying with free Times Square WiFi

AT&T's master plan to relieve 3G data congestion in New York City? Give the crush of upward-facing tourists in Times Square free WiFi. AT&T will announce its first ever free outdoor WiFi hotspot later today located at the north central part of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street. Qualifying AT&T customers with smartphones like the iPhone will automatically switch from 3G data to WiFi when in range. Great, just what Times Square needs: smartphone wielding pedestrians enticed by fast data to be even more oblivious to the pace of busy New Yorkers. If successful, AT&T will add WiFi hotspots to other high-traffic areas... and hopefully help push through tourist-lane legislation that could solve NYC's real congestion problems.

[Photo courtesy of MarkArms]

AT&T Can Save Their Network... With Wi-Fi?

AT&T's latest idea is actually kind of brilliant on multiple levels: totally free Wi-Fi in Times Square. And it could be how they save their network.

It's no coincidence that AT&T already runs the largest Wi-Fi network in the country—20,000 hotspots in all—providing free Wi-Fi (to AT&T customers) in the kinds of places that people like to hang out and gobble data on their phones: Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and McDonald's. The Times Square Wi-Fi project is a pilot program, and depending on the results, possibly the first of many dense, high-traffic urban areas AT&T blankets in Wi-Fi.

Upfront, it's good publicity, with AT&T scoring major brownie points from folks for providing a legitimately useful service for free in a perfect location: Times Square is highly visible, a perpetually throbbing, pulsing throng of humanity, largely wafting through like a concrete lazy river. And it's largely tourists, who you can imagine exclaiming "ooooooOOO! free internet!" as they glisten, unaccustomed to walking distances greater than the length of a parking lot, upon discovering AT&T's open Wi-Fi network in the north central section of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street.

A huge mass of people. Well known landmark. Oh yes, and the AT&T service there is crap, as it is in many highly trafficked areas of New York.

Which brings us to the why: Because, instead of thousands and thousands of people simultaneously uploading their awesome photos or videos to Facebook or YouTube or wherever to share—gigs and gigs of data—over AT&T's bruised, congested cellular network, they can use free Wi-Fi, offloading traffic and reducing the strain on the network thousands of other people are trying to make phone calls over.

AT&T would be missing a huge opportunity if they failed to leverage Wi-Fi in a significant way, building their Wi-Fi network out to every huge, congested public space they can find. In New York, half of my calls fail in Union Square. Offloading traffic to a separate Wi-Fi network wouldn't completely solve the cell network crush in these superpacked areas, but it would seriously help, if these networks were promoted and maintained correctly. That is, people knew about them, and they were speedier than using the 3G network (since speed would be the incentive to use them). Their own numbers bear this out: AT&T served up 53.1 million Wi-Fi connections in the first three months of this year, over 500 percent growth from a year ago. Where would they rather have all that traffic? On the cell network, or on Wi-Fi?

True, Wi-Fi networks would introduce their own maintenance issues, but they would be cheaper and easier than constructing and tuning new cell towers, particularly in places that might already be stacked to the brim with towers, as many of these areas likely are. (The success of muni Wi-Fi in a few places suggests the economy of the idea.)

It's a pair of fabulous, depressing ironies: The way to save AT&T's network is by keeping us off of it. And the technology to save it is not some new R&D breakthrough, but a technology that even Grandma's got. [AT&T, Image via jliba/Flickr]

Wi-Fi Alliance and WiGig Join Up For 60GHz Wi-Fi Products

Now that the Wi-Fi Alliance will be sharing technology specifications with the Wireless Gigabit Alliance's proposed 60GHz wireless spectrum, we all just got a lot closer to 7Gbps wireless downloads. That's wonderful.

WiGig, as it's more commonly called, has been pushing for the next major wireless specification to be on its empty 60GHz spectrum for months. Today's announcement greatly increases the likelihood that we'll be seeing multi-gigabit in-room downloads in the not too distant future. It's terribly surprising, given the amount of overlap between WiGig and Wi-Fi Alliance's member companies. And WiGig had already written procedures for handing off to 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands into its spec, pre-empting most compatibility concerns. But it's still an encouraging look at the future of wireless networking.

Wi-Fi Alliance(R) and WiGig(TM) Alliance to Cooperate on Expansion of Wi-Fi Technologies

Liaison agreement will enable technology sharing for program development

AUSTIN, Texas and TOKYO, May 10 /PRNewswire/ — The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) today announced a cooperation agreement for multi-gigabit wireless networking. The Wi-Fi Alliance and the WiGig Alliance will share technology specifications for the development of a next-generation Wi-Fi Alliance certification program supporting Wi-Fi® operation in the 60 GHz frequency band. This agreement further encourages the development of products supporting 60 GHz technology to expand existing Wi-Fi capabilities.

Device connectivity in the 60 GHz band will complement the current family of Wi-Fi technologies. Targeted primarily for applications that require gigabit speeds, 60 GHz products are expected to be used in a wide range of high-performance devices. A significant portion, if not all, of these devices are expected to also support traditional Wi-Fi networking in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

"60 GHz device connectivity will be an exciting enhancement to the capabilities of today's Wi-Fi technologies. It will expand the utility of Wi-Fi, used by hundreds of millions of people every day," said Wi-Fi Alliance chief executive officer Edgar Figueroa. "From its inception, the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices, making it a compelling input as we begin to define our certification program for 60 GHz wireless."

"Now that our specification is complete and published, it's time to set our sights on driving a great user experience through interoperability and certification," said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the WiGig Alliance. "We are happy to work with the Wi-Fi Alliance to extend multi-gigabit capabilities to the Wi-Fi technology portfolio."

The WiGig Alliance, which shares many member companies in common with the Wi-Fi Alliance, was formed to unify the next generation of multi-gigabit wireless products by encouraging the adoption and widespread use of 60 GHz wireless technology worldwide.

The WiGig specification defines protocols to deliver data transfer rates measured in gigabits rather than megabits and supports a new range of applications and usages. The specification also defines procedures to enable WiGig compliant devices to hand over sessions to operate in the 2.4 or 5 GHz band. It is expected that a new class of tri-band Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices will offer multi-gigabit wireless speeds while helping to ensure backward compatibility.

"There is no question that this agreement will enable 60 GHz technology to form an important part of the high-performance future for wireless networking," said Phil Solis, practice director for Wireless Connectivity at ABI Research. "By cooperating, the groups have set a course for interoperability and backward compatibility that will accelerate the adoption and usefulness of multi-gigabit wireless networking."

For more information, visit www.wi-fi.org and www.wigig.org.

The Best and Worst Hotel Wi-Fi

I'm not going to pretend HotelChatter's chart works, so I'll just point to their list of best hotel Wi-Fi (Holiday Inn for mega-chains) and worst (avoid mid-high-enders like DoubleTree). My hotel criteria? Waffle House proximity. [Hotel Chatter via Lifehacker]

So There's a Sprint WiMax iPad... Case

Presented without comment: Sprint's 4G Case for iPad, with room for its WiMax Overdrive box. [Sprint via iLounge]

Franklin Wireless intros U600 WiMAX modem, R526 and R536 mobile routers

Franklin Wireless supplies modems (primarily of the CDMA variety) to a number of carriers across the Western Hemisphere, and they've introduced a handful of rather interesting new products in that vein here at CTIA this week. First up, the U600 is an EV-DO Rev. A / WiMAX hybrid USB modem with a 270-degree swiveling USB connector for those ridiculously hard-to-manage ports (ahem, Apple), integrated GPS, and zero-CD installation -- all pretty standard features these days, and we saw a Sprint-branded unit at Franklin's booth which leads us to believe we'll be seeing it at retail shortly.

Much more interesting, though, was a pair of pocketable WiFi routers -- the R526 and R536 -- that support EV-DO and EV-DO / WiMAX, respectively. Most of the units were unbranded, but we did spy an R536 done up in snow white with a Clear logo slapped up top, so you can pretty much gather that this thing will be filling a glaring hole in Clear's lineup (right now, the best you can do is a USB modem plus the Clear Spot, which is basically a branded Cradlepoint). What intrigued us about the R536 the most was the fact that it's got the functionality of an Overdrive packed into a smaller, more MiFi-esque form factor without any of the Overdrive's bells and whistles, so it'll be a great alternative as long as it performs well and has enough juice to last a couple hours off the power grid; the 3G-only R526, meanwhile, had an Ethernet jack stuck on the side, which is kind of cool in the rare event that you need to connect a WiFi-less device and you don't want to go through the hassle of installing a new driver. The R526 launches in April (with what carrier, we're not sure) -- as does the U600 -- while the R536 should start to trickle out in May.

WiFi is / is not dangerous: BBC edition

The UK has been a hotbed of discussion in the WiFi is dangerous / not dangerous debate as of late, and it doesn't look like that's about to change anytime soon, with the BBC now getting into the act with an investigation that aims to get to the bottom of the problem/non-problem. To that end, the BBC's Panorama program recently paid a visit to a school in order to compare the levels of radiation from the WiFi signals in the classroom to that from a typical cellphone mast. According to the BBC, the radiation from the school's WiFi proved to be three times higher than that from the cellphone mast, although that was still 600 times below the government's safety limits. Bringing a bit of common sense to the program, Medical physics expert Professor Malcolm Sperrin advised against tossing WiFi altogether, saying that "it's impossible to prove that something has no effect." He also added that he's "more concerned about the heat laptops generate and the impact that could on sensitive parts of the body." Words to the wise, to be sure.

Jalalabad's Fab Fi: How Junk Was Turned Into a High-Speed Wireless Network

Members of MIT's Bits and Atoms lab visited Afghanistan some time ago. While there, they showed locals how to turn pieces of board, wire, a plastic tub and some cans into reflectors for a wireless network. The result? Fab Fi.

The project resulted in 25 simultaneous live nodes being up in the city of Jalalabad and residents being able to enjoy a stable connection all over the place. Locals are even expanding the network by adding more reflectors and routers. There are some difficulties in actually obtaining the routers though, but the MIT crew—now dubbed the Jalalabad Fab Lab—are helping resolve those by shipping routers over.

On the surface this is a tale of some clever University MacGyvers, a small place in Afghanistan, and a makeshift Wi-Fi network, but the greater idea is that people came together to provide a new method of communication to an area where Skype calls and quick Google searches weren't a common luxury. Sure, now the area is exposed to time wasters and Internet porn, but it's also been provided some new opportunities to learn and explore. [Free Range International via Futurismic via Boing Boing]

Netgear's Universal Wi-Fi Internet Adapter Connects Consoles and TVs Alike

The Netgear Universal Wi-Fi Internet Adapter can connect anything with an ethernet port to your 802.11n network, be it an Xbox 360 or a TV. But so can many other devices on the market. What's better about this one?

Much like the Xbox 360 Wireless N adapter, Netgear's latest wireless N adapter is tiny, easily squeezing behind components in your home theater. Plus, it runs off USB power, meaning you don't need to ferret around to plug it in to a powerstrip.

Really, taking into account the convenience, the Universal Wi-Fi Internet Adapter might be the most cleverly designed Wi-Fi adapter since Microsoft's high-priced 360 dongle. And it works on anything with a USB and ethernet port, from your TV to your Blu-ray player, without special drivers.

Unfortunately, it's similar to Microsoft's dongle in more ways than one. This puppy will run $80 when it's around this May.

By the way, if you're just looking for a cheap way to connect the 360 to a Wi-Fi network, check out our feature on the matter here.

The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) for Home Theater Devices and Gaming Consoles
NETGEAR is also introducing the industry's first compact USB-powered Universal WiFi Internet Adapter (WNCE2001) that works with Internet TVs, game consoles and Blu-ray players. The first of its kind, the adapter is the only affordable solution in a small form factor that delivers optimal Wireless-N performance and works universally with any Ethernet-enabled CE device. This saves consumers from the confusion and expense of purchasing separate WiFi USB adapters for each CE device in their home theater.

The Universal WiFi Internet Adapter is powered by the USB port, avoiding the need for a long wire to the power outlet and making it more visually pleasing in the already congested home theater environment. With NETGEAR Push Connect technology and CD-less set-up, it is truly a plug and play experience.