Calling all techie .

I'm trying to help my mom out with the wireless network in her house but I dunno wtf is wrong. Ok, so the cable from the wall hooks up to the cable box and from there it is hooked up to a D-Link wireless router. When the wireless network was originally set up, we named it and put a password on it, so it is a private network. I remember a few years ago connecting with a laptop and it asking for a password to connect.

Now, everything (laptops and iphones) connect to a 'default' network and require no password. I ust recently looked at how my laptop connects and it says thru the private network but still displays 'default' and has no password verification (weird). Basically, my mom thinks they are using a neighbors network with no password ... or it still is the same network that was set up but something isn't right.

Some dude from Time Warner just came over and let's just say the shit didn't fly with my mom; but the company doesn't provide support with the wireless router issue, they just help with cable box issues.

Anyone know what could be 'wrong'? My mom thinks she needs to buy a new wireless router. I said call Geek Squad

 

Why not just rename the SSID to something recognizable, set basic WPA protection and then reconnect each wireless computer?

Then, increase the security level incrementally until a device is unable to connect, back it down one level and leave it there.

Router may have either lost it's settings (you should back them up once set) or someone may have preset "reset" on the router.

Since most routers default to the 192.168 range for internal IP addresses, one way to keep an eye out for the reset by the 'friend who knows IT but screws everything up' is to switch tot he 10.0.0.1 range for internal IP addresses, Then, if you see it reverted back to 192.168 you know what happened.

 

The normal dlink wireless network name is dlink and not default. Try unplugging the dlink router and see if the default network is still accessible

 

Plug a network cable into the wireless router and go to 192.168.1.1. After you log in, it should tell you what your wireless network name is. You should set encryption to WPA2 if it's not done already.

 

You are assuming all devices that need to connect are WPA2 capable.

 

Anything post 2006-07 should be WPA2 capable.

It sounds like your wireless network is poorly configured.

Here is how you should configure it:

1. SSID: Set it to something unique. Broadcast it, don't hide it. There is some debate regarding broadcasting or not, but if you can use AES/CCMP then it really doesn't matter.

2. Encryption: If all of your devices are made post 2006 (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong), then set the router to use WPA2 and AES ONLY. If you have some older devices then you would need to set WPA2 AES/TKIP. It is worth the effort to find out if all of the wireless devices are WPA2 capable, as TKIP is now breakable, although not easily. AES/CCMP on the other hand, is currently unbreakable.

3. Passphrase: Use a long pass phrase. Mine is 24 characters long, and includes every type of character on the keyboard.

There are other things you can do, such as MAC address filtering, however I don't know if your router is capable of it. In any case, MAC filtering is a nice to have, if you can use AES/ CCMP encryption.

Other smaller things is dial down the power on the router. The wireless network signal should JUST reach as far as you need it. Having the power cranked all the way up is an extremely stupid thing to do. My router sits in the basement, close to the floor. I'm typing this on my wife's laptop, which is on the 2nd floor. It is getting a great signal and 54Mbs. If I go 10ft outside my door the signal drops to nothing.

 

Figured it out.. whenever she reset the router it defaulted the name back to 'default' lol.

But that address 192.168.1.1 helped me reset it.