Set Up Wireless ADSL Router

ADSL has emerged the preferred technology for broadband in many countries. People have slowly started purchasing their own routers as various providers are using the same technology and shifting between the ISPs does not necessarily mean investing in a new router.

I will guide you on how to set up a wireless ADSL router to connect to your ISP. The same tutorial holds good even for non-wireless routers with few modifications.

Step 1: Connect the router via LAN

Connect the telephone line and switch on the router. To configure the wireless router you need to first connect it to a PC/Laptop via an Ethernet cable.

Step 2:  Login to router configuration page

Launch your favorite browser and punch in the router IP address which is generally 192.168.1.1 . It will then ask for the username and password, which can be found in the router manual. Generally the username is “admin” and password is “password” or “admin”. After a successful login you will be taken to the welcome page of the router.

Step 3: Enter ISP settings and reboot

After having logged in, you need to key in the username, password and other details for your ISP. Go to Interface set up and select PPoE as the encapsulation. In the username and password field, enter the ones given by your ISP. You need to contact your ISP for VPI and VCI settings. Leave the rest of the options as default and save and reboot your router.

Step 4: Configure wireless settings

After the reboot in step 3, you will be able to connect to the internet. Now to set the router for wireless use, open the router configuration page again. Go to interface settings and then wireless tab or something similar depending on your router.

Set the access to activated and any preferred name of your choice in SSID which will be used to identify your network, you can even set it to disabled if you do not want your network to be discoverable by others. Choose WPA2-PSK as authentication type and AES as encryption type. In the shared-key column, enter the password to protect the network and make sure it in strong.

You can also enable Wireless MAC address filter which enables only the pre-configured devices who MAC address has been entered in the router to connect to it. Use this if you want to give access only to few selected people or you are too concerned about security of the network. Leave other settings as such and then save the configuration and reboot.

Step 5: Connect to wireless network

Remove the LAN cable and switch on the Wi-Fi and let it detect any wireless networks. Note that it will only be able to detect if you have SSID enable, else you will have to manually set up a wireless connection. After it detects the connect to it. Enter the password that you set in Step 4. You can also choose to connect automatically and it will save the password and connect to this network automatically whenever it is found.

You have just finished setting up your wireless ADSL router! Enjoy surfing now!