Securing Your Wireless (Wifi) Network

-Interference is a big issue as well (metal in the walls – signal will bounce right off it) 
-You can get a wireless repeater(s) to increase signal strength 
-buy hardware that uses WDS [WDS may also be referred to as repeater mode because it appears to bridge and accept wireless clients at the same time]
-Need to find a repeater compatible with your router [same brand name, uses same wifi standards]
-For maximum network compatibility, use all of the same brand-name products
-If it’s a wireless router, turn on WPA encryption [improved data encryption and user authentication]
-Hide your broadcast ID or MAC address filtering [identifies your specific computer, network card, or network’s internet address]
-Turn off Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) [allows software to change router settings without user interaction]
-Change the default name of the router [in router settings]
-change default router password [something not easily guessed or in the dictionary]

-Turn off WAN administration [refer to user manual]

-access your wired or wirless router by typing 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 in your internet browser

more info: http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=21

partial source: techguylabs.com

Securing Wi-Fi

One thing that’s worth remembering is that if you’re doing the setup for your wireless router’s encryption settings FROM a wireless computer, the moment you apply the new settings, you’ll lose your connection to the router — essentially your router will be encrypting the connection, but your wireless computer is still running unencrypted.

If this is the case, you can go to your network connection settings (usually there’s a small icon in the System Tray on the lower-right-hand corner of your screen that shows the status of your network connection, but if you don’t see it there you can get to the networking component by going to the Start Menu and selecting the Control Panel). From there, disconnect your current connection if necessary by right-clicking and selecting the disconnect option. There should also be a “View Available Networks” option — select that, and look for your network in the list.

When you try connecting to it, it should ask you for your new WEP password. Once you enter it in and hit enter, you should get your connection back.
Make absolutely sure that you write down your password and copy it exactly. If you’re entering a Hexadecimal key manually, remember that you can only choose 0–9 and A- F. And remember if you’re choosing the passphrase option, you have to type the phrase exactly the same on both machines, including capitalization and punctuation. And lastly, make sure the number of bits is set to the same number on both sides (most give you the choice between 64 bit and 128 bit keys).

One last note: If you’re choosing WPA on the router, you MUST have a computer/notebook that also has WPA onboard (some older machines don’t), otherwise there will be no connection made. In this case, you should step down to WEP on both sides of the equation…it’s less secure than WPA (which we recommend) but it’s better than nothing at all.

source: callforhelptv.com