That's the single issue my friends and family most call me about now. I never charge them for my help, of course, though I do sometimes get dinner out of it. At the risk of losing out on some of those free home-cooked meals, I'm going to offer here a quick how-to on setup up a home wireless network.

The big advantage of a wireless network is that you don't have to string wires around the house. What's more, if you've got a laptop computer you can move around the house — say, from the couch to the deck outside — and still connect to your other computers and to the Internet.

The drawbacks to wireless networks are threefold.

First, wireless networks aren't as fast as wired networks. Most users, however, won't find the speed differences to be significant unless they are sending large files across the network.

Second, because data is being broadcast, securing your network is a challenge.

Third, wireless networks are more susceptible to interference from other devices than are wired networks.

Starting with the basics: You're going to need at least two pieces of hardware to get a minimal wireless network set up: an access point and a client adapter.

Before you go shopping for this hardware, bear in mind that there are several wireless technologies. The main flavors are: 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The main differences are the frequencies at which each operates, their ranges and the transmission speeds they support.

The 802.11a standard, for example, offers the highest transmission speed, but its range is limited. At the same time, it's less susceptible to the interference with other devices that often afflict the other two. The 802.11g flavor improves on 802.11b in that it's faster, though not as fast as 802.11a.

Most home users will want to buy equipment that supports 802.11g. (This protocol can also handle the slower 802.11b, though not 802.11a.)

Also, if you already have high-speed Internet at your house, you'll want to check whether the router provided by your Internet service provider also serves as a wireless access point. Many do. If yours does, the only hardware you'll need is a client adapter that supports the same protocol.

And if it's a laptop you're wanting to connect, before buying a client adapter, check to see if the computer has built-in Wi-Fi support. Wi-Fi client adapters are standard in many, if not most, most recent models.

If you need to buy an adapter, just make sure that it supports the 802.11 standard used by your access point. Also, make sure it supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). As explained below, WPA is an encryption standard you will want to employ for security.

Configuring the hardware: The wireless access point will be connected to either a computer or a hub via either USB or Ethernet cable. If you have a choice of the two, use the Ethernet connection because it offers higher transmission rates with fewer problems.

Most access points and client adapters include software wizards or a Web interface for configuring the devices. Nearly all of the configuration settings have to do with security (see below). The one setting not security-related that you may want to think about is for selecting the frequency channel the access point will use.

If you choose a channel in use by other wireless networks in your range, you may experience degraded service. Some advanced equipment scans for the least-used channels, but most consumer devices require a manual selection of channels. If you encounter service problems you might try changing channels.

But don't forget you need to have the access points and any clients looking to the same channel. Unfortunately, the exact procedure for selecting the channel depends on the software used by your access point, so I can't give you the specific steps.

You'll also want to think about how to physically arrange your Wi-Fi hardware. Most wireless access points have a range of about 300 feet. But if the signal is going through walls, floors or ceilings, that distance can be cut down considerably, especially if those barriers contain metal.

If you can't position your access point to achieve adequate coverage, you might consider adding a range extender. I have tried the Linksys WRE54G range expander. The device — street price of about $99 — was easy to set up. Just place the unit near the outer limit of your access point's range, and it will relay the signal almost the same distance farther out. The potential downside of this is the security implications: Even more of your neighbors will now be in range of your network as well. (You can find out more at www.linksys.com.

Setting up security: The toughest part of putting together a wireless network is ensuring it is secure. In fact, fully securing wireless networks is a difficult, if not impossible, job. Knowledgeable and determined hackers can penetrate virtually any wireless network.

But a few simple steps will keep amateurs out of your network and can cause more knowledgeable intruders to move on to easier targets.

The first thing to do is to turn off the broadcast of the station identifier. Most access points come configured to broadcast their name so that, when clients boot up, the access point is automatically listed in your operating system's wireless-connection utility. If you turn off the broadcast station identifier, users will have to know and enter the station name to connect.

Next, you'll want to change the name of the station identifier. Access points come with default identifiers, and hackers — even the teenager who lives across the street — know these default names.

You can also set up the wireless access point to require encryption by all clients. That way, for a client to connect, a correct encryption key will be required. Encryption, by the way, also provides some protection against your data simply being grabbed in transmission.

There are several types of encryption with varying degrees of security. The most simple types can be "cracked" relatively easily by hackers so you'd need to change the keys frequently.

Most access points and clients support WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy, but this protocol is not particularly secure. The client needs to have the proper key, or code, to communicate with the access point. Unfortunately, the key is static, so if you don't change it often, it's relatively simple for hackers to crack the code. Using freely available software utilities, a hacker can crack a WEP code in just a few minutes.

WPA, or Wi-Fi Protected Access, is more flexible and secure, but it is not support by all devices, particularly older client adapters. WPA not only provides for automatic changing of key codes at user selectable intervals, it also employs longer keys that are more difficult to crack. If you're buying new equipment, make sure that both the access point and the client adapters support WPA.

Finally, some wireless access points allow you to specify that only devices with a specific machine address can connect. Again, this isn't foolproof, since hackers can spoof machine addresses. But this does offer another obstacle a hacker must find his or her way around.

All of these security settings are configured via the software delivered with your specific access point, so I can't give you the specific steps for doing the job. Fortunately, most access points I've tested recently do a pretty good job of guiding users through these procedures.

Patrick Marshall writes the weekly Q&A column in Personal Technology.

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