| Title |
Wireless network installation
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| Previous System / Environment |
Small computer network
- Our client had four PCs and one laptop.
- Two of the PCs were connected via wireless network adapters to a wireless
router.
- One of these machines had an internet connection via a USB ADSL modem.
- The other two PCs and the laptop were not on the network.
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| Requirements |
- To connect all machines onto a network.
- To allow each machine to have internet access.
- To allow laptop to access the internet from several rooms.
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| New System Diagram |
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| Technologies / Components
Used |
- Hardware: ADSL wireless router
- Hardware: USB wireless network adapters
(for the PCs)
- Hardware: PCMCIA wireless network
adapter (for the laptop computer)
- Internet: security / privacy testing
websites
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| Implementation Summary |
New network
The requirements were met by:
- Replacement of the USB broadband modem by a wireless broadband router.
- Installation of wireless network adapters to form a wireless local
area network.
Project tasklist
- Uninstallation of the existing network adapter.
- Installation of a Netgear ADSL wireless router.
- Upgrading of the router firmware to the latest version.
- Installation of wireless network adapters (2 x USB, 1 x PCMCIA).
- Installation of the wireless adapter device drivers.
- Router, ISP and wireless adapter configuration (including wireless
security).
- Router Firewall security testing.
- Browser “privacy” testing.
- Testing of web browsing and the sending of email.
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| Post Installation Notes |
Troubleshooting
The internet connection became unreliable soon after installation. Downloading
of web pages was slow and the downloads failed regularly.
The problem was evenually traced to a satellite receiver that had a
connection to a telephone socket without usage of an ADSL filter. This
led to excessive noise on the telephone line.
The router "statistics" page reported a “Noise Margin”
of approximately 6 db. Adding a filter improved the Noise Margin to approximately
13 db and resolved the reliability issues.
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