Optimize Your Wireless Router (Part 1)

Wireless routers are easy to setup, just turn on and plugging them in, but are extremely insecure and vulnerable by default. In this article, I will focus on optimizing a standard 802.11g wireless router in two areas :- speed and security. I will be using NetGear WGR614 for working example.

Equipment Selection

Even before you go out and buy a wireless router, you should plan ahead in advance which brand and model of router you desired. The ideal situation would be get a wireless router and required client adapters from same brand, especially if you’re buying 802.11g enchanced router, like the Netgear WGT624 108Mbps router and the WG511T PCMCIA card, or the WG111T USB adapter.

This is because the proprietary enchancements will only work with their own family within the same brand. You can still connect standard 802.11g/b devices to it, but would’t be able to fully utilize the potential high throughput speeds these technologies have to offer.

Location

Router positioning is also important. It would be pointless to get such a powerful router if it is to be placed in far corner of the house and you want to connect a wireless notebook or bridge on the other side 20 meters away. This is because throughput speeds start deteriorating dramatically from 15-20meters onwards. To solve this problem, you have a few solutions.

You could relocate your Internet access connection point that connects to the router, or simply bring the notebook nearer to the router. You could also get a wireless repeater or install a more powerful antenna like the Netgear ANT2405 Omni-directional antenna.

Router Setting

Open up your browser and log into the web administration screen of your wireless router. Go to the Wireless Setting section. Set the Mode to g only. This force the router to allow only 802.11g clients to connect. If you have 802.11b notebook, then you will need to set Mode to g and b. However, this will cause throughput to drop whenever an 802.11b client connects.

Next, go to WAN Setup section and check the Maximum Transmit Unit (MTU) size. For Cable and Ethernet connections, it should be set at 1500, for PPPoE connections (ADSL), the value should be at 1492.

OS Setting

One of the easiest and safest ways to optimize your PC is to download TCP Optimizer from www.speedguide.net. This small utility gathers all the important Windows Registry settings for you to conveniently tweak. The first thing to do is to backup your present registry setting (File, Backup current settings). Next select your type of Internet connection and click on Optimal Setting. Click Apply Changes and reboot PC.

Next, goto www.dslreports.com/speedtest and select one of the location to start the test. The result will be lower than your advertised Internet speed, but it shouldn’t be less than half.

Lastly, goto the Control Panel, open up Administrave Tools and double-click on Services. Manually disable QoS RSVP service. You can also diable the Wireless Zero Configuration if you’re using the Intel driver utility or other properietary utility on your notebook or if your PC already connected by wired to the router/switch.

I will talk about wireless security tomorrow.