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Wireless Home
Networking
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
3RD EDITION
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by Danny Briere, Pat Hurley, and Edward Ferris
Wireless Home
Networking
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
3RD EDITION
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Wireless Home Networking For Dummies
®
, 3rd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit-

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may
not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008923598
ISBN: 978-0-470-25889-7
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Authors
Danny Briere founded TeleChoice, Inc., a telecommunications consulting
company, in 1985 and now serves as CEO of the company. Widely known
throughout the telecommunications and networking industry, Danny has
written more than 1,000 articles about telecommunications topics and has
authored or edited eight books, including Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd
Edition, HDTV For Dummies, 2nd Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition
2004 PC For Dummies, Wireless Network Hacks & Mods For Dummies, and
Home Theater For Dummies, 2nd Edition (all published by Wiley). He is fre-
quently quoted by leading publications on telecommunications and technol-
ogy topics and can often be seen on major TV networks providing analysis on
the latest communications news and breakthroughs. Danny lives in Mansfield
Center, Connecticut, with his wife and four children.
Pat Hurley is director of research with TeleChoice, Inc., specializing in
emerging telecommunications technologies, including all the latest access
and home technologies: wireless LANs, DSL, cable modems, satellite services,
and home networking services. Pat frequently consults with the leading
telecommunications carriers, equipment vendors, consumer goods manufac-
turers, and other players in the telecommunications and consumer electron-
ics industries. Pat is the co-author of Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd Edition,
HDTV For Dummies, 2nd Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC
For Dummies, Wireless Network Hacks & Mods For Dummies, and Home

can manage) during crucial writing moments — Daddy will take you to
In-N-Out for a hamburger and french fries to celebrate the completion of
this edition and let you get back to your computer explorations!
Ed wants to thank his wife, Maureen (Moe), and the kids, for letting him take
all the extra time to write and for digging him out of the basement now and
then so he remembers what sunlight really looks like. He even got to play
a few soccer games this time around thanks to the kids. He also wants to
thank Moe for all her support as a test subject and pre-editor of everything
he types. Without her to say “Okay, now it makes sense to me,” much of the
instructional material in this book would not have been finished.
Danny, Pat, and Ed want to thank the following people and organizations
for their support in writing this edition of the book: Bill Bullock, at
Witopia; Melody Chalaban and Jonathan Bettino at Belkin; Shira Frantzich
from Sterling PR (for NETGEAR); David Henry at NETGEAR; Karl Stetson
at Edelman (for the Wi-Fi Alliance); and Mindy Whittington and Ana Corea
at Red Consultancy (for Eye-Fi).
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We also can’t forget folks who have helped us for the two previous editions,
including (but by no means limited to): Doug Hagan and Mehrshad Mansouri,
at NETGEAR; Dana Brzozkiewicz, at Lages & Associates, for ZyXEL; Trisha
King, at NetPR, for SMC Networks, Fred Bargetzi, at Crestron; Shawn Gusz,
at G-NET Canada (still waiting to try Auroras in our cars!); Karen Sohl, at
Linksys; Keith Smith, at Siemon; Darek Connole and Michael Scott, at D-Link;
Jeff Singer, at Crestron: Amy K Schiska-Lombard, at Sprint; Brad Shewmake,
at Kyocera Wireless; James Cortese, at A&R Partners, for Roku; Bryan
McLeod, at Intrigue Technologies (now part of Logitech); Stu Elefant, at
Wireless Security Corporation (now part of McAfee); Craig Slawson, at
CorAccess (good luck, too!); and others who helped get the content correct
for the readers.
Our team at Wiley — Steve Hayes and Tiffany Ma on the corporate side of

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction 1
Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals 7
Chapter 1: Introducing Wireless Home Networking 9
Chapter 2: From a to n and b-yond 27
Chapter 3: Bluetooth and Other Wireless Networks 51
Part II: Making Plans 69
Chapter 4: Planning a Wireless Home Network 71
Chapter 5: Choosing Wireless Home Networking Equipment 95
Part III: Installing a Wireless Network 111
Chapter 6: Installing Wireless Access Points in Windows 113
Chapter 7: Setting Up a Wireless Windows Network 127
Chapter 8: Setting Up a Wireless Mac Network 143
Chapter 9: Securing Your Wireless Home Network 159
Part IV: Using a Wireless Network 179
Chapter 10: Putting Your Wireless Home Network to Work 181
Chapter 11: Gaming Over a Wireless Home Network 203

Printer and peripheral sharing 11
Internet connection sharing 12
Phone calling for free 15
Home arcades and wireless to go 15
Wired versus Wireless 16
Installing wired home networks 16
Installing wireless home networks 18
Choosing a Wireless Standard 19
Planning Your Wireless Home Network 23
Choosing Wireless Networking Equipment 24
Chapter 2: From a to n and b-yond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Networking Buzzwords You Need to Know 28
Workstations and servers 28
Network infrastructure 30
Network interface adapters 33
Get the (Access) Point? 36
Infrastructure mode 39
Ad hoc mode 39
Your Wireless Network’s Power Station: The Antenna 40
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Industry Standards 42
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers 43
The Wi-Fi Alliance 43
Wi-Fi history: 802.11b and 802.11a 44
The current standard: 802.11g 46
The next big thing: 802.11n 47
Chapter 3: Bluetooth and Other Wireless Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Who or What Is Bluetooth? 52
Wi-Fi versus Bluetooth 53
Piconets, Masters, and Slaves 54

Print servers 104
Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition
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Operational Features 104
Security 106
Range and Coverage Issues 107
Manageability 108
Web-based configuration 108
Software programming 108
Upgradeable firmware 109
Price 109
Warranties 110
Customer and Technical Support 110
Part III: Installing a Wireless Network 111
Chapter 6: Installing Wireless Access Points in Windows . . . . . . . .113
Before Getting Started, Get Prepared 113
Setting Up the Access Point 114
Preparing to install a wireless AP 115
Installing the AP 117
Configuring AP parameters 120
Changing the AP Configuration 124
Chapter 7: Setting Up a Wireless Windows Network . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Setting Up Wireless Network Interface Adapters 127
Installing device drivers and client software 128
PC Cards and mini-PCI cards 131
PCI and PCIx cards 132
USB adapters 134
Wireless Zero Configuration with XP 134
Easy installation 135

Taking the Easy Road 175
Going for the Ultimate in Security 177
Part IV: Using a Wireless Network 179
Chapter 10: Putting Your Wireless Home Network to Work . . . . . . .181
A Networking Review 182
Basic networking terminology 182
Setting up a workgroup in Windows XP 184
Will You Be My Neighbor? 185
Sharing — I Can Do That! 187
Enabling sharing on Windows XP 188
Setting permissions 189
Accessing shared files 191
Be Economical: Share Those Peripherals 191
Setting up a print server 192
Sharing other peripherals 195
Windows Vista and a New Way to Share 196
Setting up your workgroup 196
Setting up sharing in Vista 197
Sharing in Microsoft Windows Vista 199
Sharing between Macs and Windows-based PCs 201
Getting on a Windows network 201
Letting Windows users on your network 201
Chapter 11: Gaming Over a Wireless Home Network . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
PC Gaming Hardware Requirements 204
Networking Requirements for PC Gaming 205
Getting Your Gaming Console on Your Wireless Home Network 206
Console wireless networking equipment 208
Console online gaming services 210
Dealing with Router Configurations 214
Getting an IP address 216

Choosing wireless gear for your car 270
“Look, Ma, I’m on TV” — Video Monitoring over Wireless LANs 271
Controlling Your Home over Your Wireless LAN 275
See me, feel me, hear me, touch me 276
Doing your wireless control less expensively 277
Sit, Ubu, Sit . . . er, Speak! 278
Wirelessly Connect Your Digital Cameras 280
Chapter 15: Using a Bluetooth Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
Discovering Bluetooth Basics 282
Bluetooth Mobile Phones 285
Bluetooth Smartphones and PDAs 286
Other Bluetooth Devices 289
Printers 289
Audio systems 290
Keyboards and meeses (that’s plural for mouse!) 291
Bluetooth adapters 292
Understanding Pairing and Discovery 293
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Table of Contents
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Chapter 16: Going Wireless Away from Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Discovering Public Hot Spots 298
Freenets and open access points 300
For-pay services 301
Understanding metro Wi-Fi 304
Using T-Mobile Hot Spots 305
Using Wayport Hot Spots 306
Using Boingo Hot Spots 306
Tools for Finding Hot Spots 307
Netstumbler.com 308

Everything in Your Home 355
Where you’ll use ZigBee and Z-Wave 355
Introducing Wibree 356
Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition
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Chapter 20: Top Ten Sources for More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
CNET.com 360
Amazon.com, Shopping.com, Pricegrabber.com, and more 361
Wi-Fi Planet, WiFi-Forum, and More 361
PC Magazine and PC World 362
Electronic House Magazine 362
Practically Networked 363
ExtremeTech.com 363
Network World 364
Wikipedia 364
Other Cool Sites 365
Tech and wireless news sites 365
Industry organizations 365
Roaming services and Wi-Finder organizations 365
Manufacturers 366
Index 367
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Table of Contents
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Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition
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Introduction
W

System Requirements
Virtually any personal computer can be added to a wireless home network,
although some computers are easier to add than others. This book focuses
on building a wireless network that connects PCs running the Windows oper-
ating system (Windows XP and Vista) or Mac OS X. You can operate a wireless
network with Windows 98, Me, or 2000 or with Mac OS 9, but these systems
are less and less able to handle the rapidly increasing requirements of applica-
tions and the Internet. As a result, we focus mostly on the most recent operat-
ing systems — the ones that have been launched within the past five years or
so. Wireless networking is also popular among Linux users, but we don’t cover
Linux in this book.
Because wireless networking is a relatively new phenomenon, the newest ver-
sions of Windows and the Mac OS do the best job of helping you quickly and
painlessly set up a wireless network. However, because the primary reason
for networking your home computers is to make it possible for all the com-
puters (and peripherals) in your house to communicate, Wireless Home
Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition, gives you information about connecting
computers that run the latest versions of Windows and the most widely used
version of the Mac OS. We also tell you how to connect computers that run
some of the older versions of these two operating systems.
How This Book Is Organized
Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition, is organized into twenty
chapters that are grouped into five parts. The chapters are presented in a log-
ical order — flowing from planning to installing to using your wireless home
network — but feel free to use the book as a reference and read the chapters
in any order you want.
Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals
Part I is a primer on networking and on wireless networking. If you have never
used a networked computer — much less attempted to install a network —
this part of the book provides background information and technogeek lingo

wireless network (see Chapter 14).
Bluetooth-enabled devices are becoming more prevalent these days, so you
don’t want to miss Chapter 15 — or Chapter 16, for that matter, where we
describe how to use wireless networking to connect to the Internet through
wireless hot spots (wireless networks you can connect to for free or a small
cost when you’re on the road ) in coffee shops, hotels, airports, and other
public places. How cool is that?
3
Introduction
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Part V: The Part of Tens
Part V provides three top-ten lists that we think you’ll find interesting — ten
frequently asked questions about wireless home networking (Chapter 17);
ten troubleshooting tips for improving your wireless home network’s perfor-
mance (Chapter 18); ten devices to connect to your wireless home network —
sometime in the future (Chapter 19); and the top ten sources for more infor-
mation about wireless networking (Chapter 20).
Icons Used in This Book
All of us these days are hyperbusy people, with no time to waste. To help you
find the especially useful nuggets of information in this book, we have marked
the information with little icons in the margin.
As you can probably guess, the Tip icon calls your attention to information
that saves you time or maybe even money. If your time is really crunched,
you may try just skimming through the book and reading the tips.
This icon is your clue that you should take special note of the advice you find
there — or that the paragraph reinforces information provided elsewhere in
the book. Bottom line: You will accomplish the task more effectively if you
remember this information.
Face it, computers and wireless networks are high-tech toys, er tools, that
make use of some complicated technology. For the most part, however, you