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Did you know that, according to the American Community Service Reports, 89% of households in the US had a computer in 2016? Additionally, 81% of households in the US had a subscription to broadband Internet.
If you want to join many Americans who have an Internet connection, or you’re looking to reconfigure your Internet access setup, then you’ll have to do a network installation.
However, you might not be sure how to do this. Even though you might have all the necessary pieces in front of you, it can be confusing to know what to do with each part.
What do you do with the router? And how do you connect your computer to the Internet connection you set up in your home?
If you don’t know what steps to take, you might be feeling frustrated or confused.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide on installing a new network. In it, you’ll learn everything you need to about this process.
Finally, you can set up your Internet, access the internet, and use it with ease. Read on to learn more.
Step 1: Connect Your Router
The first thing you need to do when you’re completing a new network installation is to connect your router. The router is what you use to connect your home network with the worldwide Internet. Depending on your needs, you might need a different type of router.
Usually, there are two different ones you’ll choose from. One is the more traditional 802.11n router. The other is the more modern 802.11ac type.
Before you install your router, you also want to make sure that your computers are up to date for a Wi-Fi network installation. Otherwise, your WiFi will be set up, but you won’t actually be able to connect to it.
Most modern desktops and laptops have support for 802.11n routers, and some will even be able to support 802.11ac routers.
However, if you have an older computer, then you’ll need to get an adapter that works with the type of router you’ve chosen.
Once you’re sure that you have everything you need for your WiFi network to work, it’s time to connect your router. To do this, you have to connect it with an Ethernet cable to your modem. This requires several steps.
First, turn off or unplug the DSL modem or cable. Next, turn on your wireless router. Then, connect it to the network cable that came with it. Plug this cable into the port called “WAN” or “Internet” on the router.
Then, connect the other part of the network cable to the DSL modem or cable. Next, turn on the modem.
Make sure that the connection is strong on both the modem and router before connecting tablets or laptops.
Step 2: Get Into the Router’s Interface
The next step is to get into the router’s interface. (Sometimes, the interface is referred to as the management console.) When you do this, you’re connecting your laptop directly to the router, after which you use a browser to access the interface.
To do this, you need to have the router’s password, administrator account, and default IP address. This information will all come with the router.
Once you have this information in front of you, you need to change the IP settings in your laptop to match with it. This way, you’ll have access to the software needed to install your router. This requires several steps.
First, you should connect your Ethernet cable to your laptop’s Ethernet port on one side and to your router’s LAN ports on the other side.
In this network installation guide, we’ll assume that you have a Windows 7 computer to go through the next steps.
Once the Ethernet cable is connected, you’ll want to go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.
Then you’ll click on “Change Adapter Settings.” Next, you’ll right-click “Local Area Connection,” after which you’ll click “Properties.” Then you’ll want to select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCIP/IP v4).”
Then, choose the radio button “Use the following IP address,” and put in the IP address that comes with your router.
Then, go to the web address provided with your router, where you’ll be asked to put in the provided account and password information.
Once you’ve done this, you can change settings as needed for your network. Now, you’re the administrator of your account.
If you have any issues connecting during any of these steps, you might want to take a look at this article on planning a new wireless network installation.
Step 3: Set Up the Security and IP Addressing Settings
When it comes to how to install a network, the next step is setting up the security and IP address settings. This is important because you need to be able to protect your network and your data. It also makes it easier for your devices to connect with your router.
To do this, you should log into your router’s interface (what you did in the last step).
Then, go to the settings you want to change. You can usually find these by going to “Wireless Settings,” “Security,” or “Basic.”
Once you’ve gone into this part of your router’s interface, there are several steps you want to take. These include changing the password, updating the SSID, assigning security, setting up the IP addressing, and rebooting.
Changing the Password
Some router providers will actually force you to change the password when you log into the router’s interface. So you might do this automatically. However, if your provider doesn’t do this, then you need to do it yourself.
Go to the “System” section of the interface. Then, put a new password in where the new password field appears.
Updating the SSID
If you’ve ever been impressed with a friend’s clever WiFi network name, this is their SSID. In addition to personalizing it, this is also a way to keep your network safe. Use a name that’s unique and easy for you to remember.
Assigning Security
In order to keep your new network as safe as possible, you need to assign security. To do this, switch your network from “WPS” to the “Manual” security setup. Then, go to the security page. Select WPA/WPA2.
This is the best type of security for networks. It requires users to use a password when they want to connect.
Usually, the passphrase will be between 8 and 63 letters. When choosing the passphrase, come up with one that you can remember (or write down somewhere), but that would be difficult to hack into.
If you have a Mac computer, check out these tips on how to make many of these changes.
Set Up the IP Addressing
Next, you’ll want to set up the IP addressing. Generally speaking, the IP addressing you already have might work just fine. However, if you want to be extra-safe, you can slightly change the IP address.
As long as you change it from the IP address that comes with the router, you should be safe. This way, hackers who know the usual IP addresses won’t know yours.
Rebooting
Once you’ve taken all these steps to make your network more secure, you should disconnect your laptop and then reboot it. Then, when it’s back on, you should see your wireless network’s new SSID name come up.
Click on it and connect using the password you created. Now you can do this with all the devices in your home that you want to connect to. Your wireless connection now works!
Step 4: Setting Up Sharing and Control
Now that your network works, there are some other steps you can take to set up all your devices in your home to work on it. In this section, we’ll use Windows 7 as an example. If you have this type of computer, you can create your HomeGroup.
To this HomeGroup, you’ll assign the different computers in your home (or your workspace) to all exist on the same network.
This can be useful if you plan on sharing files with different devices on the same network, or if you want everyone to have access to the same printer.
There are a few steps you have to take to put this process in place. First, when you connect your Windows 7 computer to your network, it will ask you to set up your current network location. When you do this, set it to “Home network.”
Then, go to Control Panel > Create a HomeGroup. Turn on all the devices you want in this HomeGroup and go to Control Panel > Homegroup. Then, choose “Join now” on all these devices.
(Keep in mind that when you’re doing this, every device you want to include should be connected wirelessly or physically to your network.)
While setting up the HomeGroup, you can select which folders, files, printers, and libraries you want to share across devices.
As you can imagine, other types of computers and program software have alternatives to HomeGroup. To learn about the different sharing solutions you can use for different devices, check out this article.
Step 5: Set Up Your User Accounts
If you’re big on security in your home, or you’re setting up your network in a business setting, then you’ll also want to set up user accounts. When this happens, network access is given when someone logs in with a user account and password.
In a business setting, this is a smart idea because you’ll know who is logging in from where and when. This gives you control and the ability to make sure that everything is running smoothly in your network.
It’s also useful for accountability if there’s a data breach, for example.
Depending on what your security needs are, you might want to do the same with your home network.
For example, if you have kids, you might want to be sure that they’re using the Internet for school research and not to play online video games.
Let’s review what this might look like if you’re using a Windows 7 device. You have to go to Control Panel > User Accounts.
Then, you’ll want to go into Settings > Manage User Accounts > Advanced > Advanced User Management > Advanced.
Then, go into Local Users and Groups. Once you’re here, you can add Groups or Users to your wireless network.
If you have a shared network, as we reviewed in the last step, then you can make everything more secure now by setting up permissions for specific folders and files.
To do this, create a user account for each person in your family. Then, for these folders and files, right-click and select Properties > Sharing. You can do the same with libraries—for example, a music library.
Additionally, if you want to limit how much time anyone in your family spends online or what websites they visit, you can easily set this up.
Check out this article to learn more about how you can make your network a better fit for your family or business.
Need More Information About Network Installation?
Now that you’ve learned about how to complete a network installation, you might need additional information. Maybe you want to learn about what router is best for your business or family needs.
Or maybe you want recommendations on which Internet provider has the right speed for you.
Whatever information you need, you can find it on our blog. Simply go to the Technology section of your blog, where you can learn about all the best ways to use technology in your daily life.
