Netgear Router WGT624 V4 User Manual

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Chapter 2
Wireless Settings and Security
This chapter describes how to set up the wireless features of your WGT624 v4 wireless router. In 
planning your wireless network, select a location for the wireless router that will maximize 
performance. Also, consider the level of wireless security required.
Optimizing Your Wireless Connections
The speed and range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the location of 
the wireless router. Choose a location for your router that will maximize the network speed.
To optimize wireless router performance:
• Identify critical wireless links.
If your network has several wireless devices, decide which wireless devices need the highest 
data rate, and locate the router near them. Many wireless products have automatic data-rate 
fallback. This lets you connect from farther away, but the connection may also be slower. So 
the most critical wireless links are those where the traffic is high and the distances are great. 
• Choose placement carefully.
For best results, place your router:
– Near the center of the area in which your computers will operate.
– In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected computers 
have line-of-sight access (even if through walls).
• Avoid obstacles to wireless signals.
– Keep wireless devices at least 2 feet from large metal fixtures such as file cabinets, 
refrigerators, pipes, metal ceilings, reinforced concrete, and metal partitions.
– Keep the devices away from large amounts of water such as fish tanks and water coolers.
Note: The router factory default settings are shown in “Default Configuration Settings” in 
Appendix A. You can restore these defaults with the Reset button on the rear panel.  
						

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• Reduce interference.
Avoid windows unless you want to communicate between buildings.
Place wireless devices away from electromagnetic noise sources, especially those in the 2400–
2500 MHz frequency band. Common noise-creating sources are:
– Computers and fax machines (no closer than 1 foot)
– Copying machines, elevators, and cell phones (no closer than 6 feet)
– Microwave ovens (no closer than 10 feet)
• Choose your settings.
– Use a scanning utility to determine which other wireless networks are operating nearby, 
and choose an unused channel.
– Turn off SSID Broadcast, and change the default SSID. Other nearby devices may 
automatically try to connect to your network several times a second, which can cause 
significant performance reduction. 
Setting Up Your Wireless Connections
When you are setting up wireless connections, these guidelines will help make the process simpler 
and easier:
• Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the router when you are setting up or 
changing wireless settings. If you are connected wirelessly and make a change, you will lose 
your wireless connection when you apply the change.
• Remember to note what your wireless settings are. For help keeping track of them, see 
“Information to Gather Before Changing the Wireless Settings” on page 2-3.
• Wait until after your wireless connection is up and running before you enable wireless security 
(“Understanding Wireless Security” on page 2-6).
Note: Before you can set up your wireless connections, you must install the router and 
connect to the Internet. See Chapter 1, “Connecting the Router to the Internet”. 
						

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Information to Gather Before Changing the Wireless Settings
Before changing your wireless settings, print this form and record the following information. For 
an existing wireless network, the person who set up or is responsible for the network can provide 
this information. After you set up wireless security for the router, you must set up each computer 
with the same wireless security settings in order to for it to join the wireless network.
•Wireless network name (SSID): ______________________________
 The SSID, also called 
the wireless network name, for the wireless network. You can use up to 32 alphanumeric 
characters. The SSID is case-sensitive. 
•If WEP authentication is used, circle one: Open System, Shared Key, or Auto. 
–WEP Encryption key size. Choose 64-bit or 128-bit. The encryption key size must be the 
same for the wireless adapters and the wireless router.
–Data encryption (WEP) keys. There are two ways to create WEP data encryption keys. 
•Passphrase method. ______________________________
 These characters are case-
sensitive. Enter a word or group of printable characters and click Generate Keys. Not 
all wireless devices support the passphrase method.
•Manual method. These values are not case-sensitive. For 64-bit WEP, enter 10 hex 
digits (any combination of 0-9 or a-f). For 128-bit WEP, enter 26 hex digits.
Key 1: ___________________________________
 
Key 2: ___________________________________
 
Key 3: ___________________________________
 
Key 4: ___________________________________
 
• If WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK Authentication is Used: 
–Passphrase: ______________________________
 These characters are case-sensitive. 
Enter a word or group of printable characters. 
Use the procedures described in the following sections to configure the WGT624 v4. Store this 
information in a safe place.
Note: If you select Shared Key, the other devices in the network will not connect 
unless they are also set to Shared Key and are configured with the correct key. 
						

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Viewing or Change Wireless Settings
To view or change wireless settings:
1.Log in to the router at its default LAN address of http://www.routerlogin.net with its default 
user name of admin and default password of password, or using whatever LAN address and 
password you have set up.
2.Click the Wireless Settings link in the main menu of the router.
3.View or enter the wireless settings for the router.
•Wireless Network Name (SSID). The default SSID is NETGEAR. It is a good idea to 
change this to a name that you can easily recognize in case there are other wireless 
networks in your area. You can enter up to 32 alphanumeric characters. 
•Region. The region where you are located. The Smart Wizard prompts for this during 
installation. It may not be legal to operate the wireless features of the wireless router in a 
region other than one of those identified in this field.
•Channel. The channel determines the operating frequency. The default channel is 11. 
Figure 2-1
Note: The network name (SSID) is case-sensitive. If NETGEAR is the network 
name (SSID) in your wireless router, you must enter NETGEAR in your 
computer’s wireless settings. Typing nETgear will not work. 
						

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You need to change the channel only if you have interference problems with another 
nearby wireless router or access point. If this is the case, select a channel that is not being 
used by any other wireless networks within several hundred feet of your wireless router. 
For a link to more information on the wireless channel frequencies, see “Wireless 
Communications” in Appendix B.
•Mode. The data communications protocol that the router will use. You can select Auto 
108 Mbps, g only, or g and b. The g only option dedicates the wireless router to 
communicating with the higher bandwidth 802.11g wireless devices exclusively. The g 
and b mode provides backward compatibility with the slower 802.11b wireless devices 
while still enabling 802.11g communications. The Auto 108 Mbps mode works with 
802.11g, 802.11b, and NETGEAR 108 Mbps devices.
•Security Options: For initial set up and test, leave or set Security Options to None. For 
more information about Security Options, see “Understanding Wireless Security” on 
page 2-6.
4.Click Apply to save your changes.
Set up the wireless adapter for each computer that will connect to the router with the same 
SSID and wireless channel as the router. The SSID for the wireless adapters must match the 
SSID for the router or you will not get a wireless connection.
Test each computer to make sure that it can connect wirelessly to the router and is able to obtain an 
IP address by DHCP from the wireless router.
After your computers can connect wirelessly to the wireless router, then you can set up wireless 
security for your network. 
						

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Understanding Wireless Security
To protect your network from unauthorized access, use the security features of your wireless 
equipment. 
There are several ways you can enhance the security of you wireless network.
•Restrict access based on MAC (Media Access Control) address. You can restrict access to 
only trusted computers so that unknown computers cannot wirelessly connect to the 
WGT624 v4. MAC address filtering adds an obstacle against unwanted access to your 
network, but the data broadcast over the wireless link is fully exposed. 
•Turn off the broadcast of the wireless network name (SSID). If you disable broadcast of the 
SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies the wireless network 
“discovery” feature of some products such as Windows XP, but the data is still fully exposed 
to a determined snoop using specialized test equipment like wireless sniffers.
Wa r n i n g :  Indoors, computers can connect over 802.11g wireless networks at a 
maximum range of up to 300 feet. Such distances can allow for others outside 
of your immediate area to access your network.
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•Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption. Provides data security. WEP Shared 
Key authentication and WEP data encryption will block all but the most determined 
eavesdropper. 
•Wi-Fi Protected Access—Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK). Provide strong 
data security. WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK will block eavesdropping. Because these are new 
standards, wireless device driver and software availability may be limited. 
•Turn off the wireless LAN. If you disable the wireless LAN, wireless devices cannot 
communicate with the router at all. You might choose to turn off the wireless the LAN when 
you are away and the others in the household all use wired connections.
Wireless Security Options
The following table identifies the basic wireless security options on the Wireless Settings page. 
For a link to a full explanation of these standards, see “Wireless Communications” in Appendix B.
Wireless Security 
Option Field Description
None
No wireless security.
WEPWEP offers the following options:
• Open System
With Open Network Authentication and 64- or 128-bit WEP Data Encryption, 
the WGT624 v4 does perform 64- or 128-bit data encryption but does not 
perform authentication. 
• Shared Key
Shared Key authentication encrypts the SSID and data. Not all wireless 
adapter configuration utilities support passphrase key generation.
•Auto
The wireless router automatically detects whether Open System or Shared 
Key is used.
 WPA-PSK WPA2-PSK• WPA-Pre-shared Key does perform authentication. 
• WPA-PSK uses TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) data encryption and 
WPA2-PSK uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption. Both 
dynamically change the encryption keys, making them nearly impossible to 
circumvent. 
						

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WEP Wireless Security
When you are setting up wireless security, these guidelines will help make the process simpler and 
easier:
• Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the router when you are setting up or 
changing wireless settings. If you are connected wirelessly and you set up the wireless 
security, you will lose your wireless connection when you apply the change.
• Remember to note what your wireless settings are. For help keeping track of them, see 
“Information to Gather Before Changing the Wireless Settings” on page 2-3.
Setting Up WEP
To set up Wired Encryption Protocol (WEP) wireless security:
1.Log in to the WGT624 v4 wireless router at its default LAN address of http://192.168.1.1 with 
its default user name of admin and default password of password, or using whatever LAN 
address and password you have set up.
2.Click the Wireless Settings link in the Setup section of the main menu. 
Note: Before setting up wireless security, verify that your wireless connections are set up 
and working. See “Setting Up Your Wireless Connections” on page 2-2.
Note: For instructions for configuring wireless computers or personal digital assistants 
(PDAs) for WEP, see the documentation for the product you are using. 
						

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3.In the Security Options section, select WEP. The WEP options display.
4.Select the Authentication Type.
The default setting is Automatic, which usually works. If it does not, select Open System or 
Shared Key. Check your wireless card’s documentation to see which method to use. 
5.From the Security Encryption drop-down list, select the WEP encryption strength.
Figure 2-3
Note: 64-bit WEP encryption strength is sometimes referred to as 40-bit encryption. 
						

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6.You can manually or automatically program the four data encryption keys. These values must 
be identical on all computers and Access Points in your network.
• Automatic. Enter a word or group of printable characters for the Passphrase, and then click 
Generate. The passphrase is case-sensitive; NETGEAR is not the same as nETgear. The 
four key boxes will be automatically populated with key values.
• Manual. Select which of the four keys will be active and enter ten hexadecimal digits (any 
combination of 0-9, a-f, or A-F).
See “Wireless Communications” in Appendix B for a link to a document on the NETGEAR 
Web site that contains a full explanation of each of these options, as defined by the IEEE 
802.11 wireless communication standard.
7.Click Apply to save your settings.
Figure 2-4
Tip: If you were connected wirelessly to the router, you lost the wireless connection 
when you clicked Apply. Now you must change the wireless security settings 
for your computer to match the router settings. Then you will be able to connect 
to the router.