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gnome-nettool package

Confusion with NETGEAR Wireless Router?

Asked by Melinda

I purchased a NETGEAR N300 WNR2000 Wireless Router today set it up on my two PC's with Ethernet cable, it works fine. But I'm a bit confused, if it's a wireless router then, Why do I still need a Ethernet cable to connect to the Internet shouldn't it be wireless without any cords. I'm not very familiar with computers wireless devices so this is all confusing to me so please bare with me. How can I make this router function without the cables?

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Warren Hill
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mycae (mycae) said : 		#1

Wireless routers typically are wireless devices + ethernet router in one package.

It is probably possible to connect your PCs via wirelss to your router, however each PC that you wish to connect will need to have a wireless card in it that is functional.

You will also need to use the ethernet cable to configure the netgear device for the first time, in order to set passwords for the wireless network (you should use WPA personal, or similar -- not WEP, as WEP offers almost no security).

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Warren Hill (warren-hill) said : 		#2

Many desktop computers do not have wireless and rely on ethernet cables.

open up a terminal window enter ifconfig

and you should see a response similar to this:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:23:54:68:5b:44
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:16 Base address:0xb800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:720 (720.0 B) TX bytes:720 (720.0 B)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:43:30:73:35
          inet addr:192.168.0.5 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::222:43ff:fe30:7335/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:8216 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4205 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:9033734 (9.0 MB) TX bytes:528182 (528.1 KB)

...

This tells you that my computer has 3 types of connection

eth0: is a wired connection since no inet addr value is present its not plugged in

lo: is a local to just your computer and probably doesn't concern you at the moment

wlan0: Is my wireless connection

If you don't have this then you don't have wireless on that PC and will need to get a wireless card fitted is you want to use wireless.

If you do have this then it should be possible to use it without the wires if you want. I'm monitoring this question so if you do have and want to use wireless send a reply and I'll try to help you get it working

Revision history for this message
Melinda (melired15-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#3

Okay here is what my results were so then it does not have wireless on my pc.
melired15@melired15-A15G:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:21:97:7e:a1:71
          inet addr:10.0.0.2 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::221:97ff:fe7e:a171/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:65397 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:65628 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:49840252 (49.8 MB) TX bytes:7851557 (7.8 MB)
          Interrupt:43

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:920 (920.0 B) TX bytes:920 (920.0 B)

melired15@melired15-A15G:~$

Revision history for this message
Best Warren Hill (warren-hill) said : 		#4

The PC you are using does not have a wireless card installed. So you will have to use wires.

Unless you intend to use wireless with another device I suggest you turn wireless off, Using your favourite web browser type in http://192.168.0.1 this is the default address for netgear routers. It will ask for a user name and password: If you have not changed them these will be "admin" and "password", don't type the quote marks.

I cant remember where exactly but somewhere there is an option to turn wireless off select this.

This is important for two reasons.

1. By default the security of wireless is non-existent so anyone close enough can use you internet connection. Thi sslows down your use and can cause you legal problems if the 'anyone' is going somewhere they shouldn't e.g. Terrorist or paedophile sites.

2. There are a a limited number of channels available for wireless and if routers are using the same channel and too close to each other this can cause problems for other users.

If you can't figure out how to disable wireless or you need help configuring it ask again here otherwise I i suggest this problem is now solved

Revision history for this message
Warren Hill (warren-hill) said : 		#5

Sorry, did not read your output in enough detail. Most Netgear routers use IP addresses in the range 192.168.x. x where x is any number but yours clearly isn't as your address is 10.0.0.2

open a terminal type
route -n

One of the Gateway figures will be 10.0.x.x where x.x could be anything so the url you want is http://10.0.x.x where where x.x is the answer you got from the last command.

Revision history for this message
Melinda (melired15-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#6

Thanks Warren Hill, that solved my question.