Adding a router to your home network? Follow five easy steps
If you’ve decided to add a router to your home network, congratulations! Even if you had an Internet connection before, your new router will enable you to share a single connection among multiple computers and other devices on your home network. It will also enable you to share files and other resources like printers, without having to physically transport files from laptop to desktop, and vice versa.
The setup process for your is quite easy. Here are the tools you’ll be working with on your home network:
• Your PC—the primary computer in your home
• The modem you received from your Internet Service Provider (which is connected to the Internet via a coaxial cable)
• The Linksys by Cisco router, which enables you to share your Internet connection with other computers and devices in your home
• Two Ethernet cables (one will already be connecting your modem and your computer; the other you’ll find in the Linksys by Cisco router box)
To see the potential of a home network, check out this Digital Cribs video called the “The Digital Architect”
Just follow these five easy steps:
1. Unplug the power to your modem (cable or DSL). Your router should also be unplugged and disconnected at this point.
2. Unplug the old Ethernet cable from the modem, and plug it into the yellow port labeled “Port #1” in the back of your Linksys router (the other end of the cable should still be connected to your computer).
3. Plug one end of the new Ethernet cable into any available port on the modem, and the other end into the blue port labeled “Internet” on your Linksys router.
4. Reconnect the power supply to the modem, and wait for the lights to start blinking (30 to 90 seconds, roughly)
5. Connect power to the Linksys by Cisco router, and wait for the lights to start blinking (60 seconds, roughly).
If you’re able to access a web page, your connection is working. Now just plug your printer into one of the other ports in the back of the router, and you’re ready to start sharing resources and connections with the other computers in your home.
If you’re not able to log onto a web page, unplug the power cords from both the modem and the router, wait ten minutes and follow the steps listed above again. Why ten minutes? Sometimes it takes the ISP that long to re-establish your connection with new settings.
You can also watch a short video to see how it’s done. And to simplify the entire process (as well as make sharing easier, establish security and safeguards, supervise and manage the network, and establish parental controls), download copy of Network Magic for 7 days at no cost.
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Posted by Johanna Fry at 09:35AM PST
Johanna Fry
Cisco Around the Web