How to fine-tune your wireless router's settings

The 802.11n wireless protocol isn’t far away, and we can’t wait to get our hands on its faster speeds and greater bandwidth. However, there's no need to wait for the standard to be ratified to make the most out of your existing wireless setup.

1. Fill in the Wireless Settings. Under ‘Name (SSID)’ enter up to 32 alphanumeric characters. This service set identifier (or SSID) is case-sensitive and must be used by all the wireless devices on your network. Pick your region then, under Channel, select Auto.

Step 1

2. The Mode setting enables you to take full advantage of 802.11n’s improved transfer speeds. In the drop-down menu ‘g & b’ represents both 802.11g and 802.11b wireless protocols;
‘Up to 130Mbps’ is fairly self-explanatory. For this particular router, we’ve selected ‘Up to 270Mbps’.

Step 2

3. Under Wireless Access Point, select Enable Wireless Access Point; leave the other options blank. By default, any wireless PC that’s configured with the correct SSID will be allowed to access your network. However, you can restrict access to only specific PCs based on their MAC addresses.

Step 3

4. Finally, select ‘WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK’ encryption under Security Options. To get the most out of a high-performance 802.11n router you should connect using WPA2-PSK. Once selected, a box appears at the base of the screen; type your personal Network Key into the box. Click Apply to save.

Step 4