The advice to use DHCP is sound.  It will save you lots of trouble.

  MAC *filters* specify which wireless adapters are allowed to connect 
to the router, and setting those up could be a bit of a pain -- a "shared 
secret" encryption key is actually easier and more secure.
  MAC *reservations* tell DHCP that the same client should always be 
given the same address.

  Using "an appropriately sized subnet" is important when you are 
managing a limited-size pool of public IP addresses.  But "out of the 
box" the router is probably set up to use *private* addresses from one 
of the ranges specified in RFC 1918, translating them to share a public 
address assigned by your ISP.  It's unlikely that a home user would 
need to change that.

David Gillett



On 13 Nov 2008 at 3:07, Kenneth Whyman wrote:

> Use DHCP to distribute IP addresses, saving you mad work. MAC filters 
> can be set so each MAC is assigned the same IP, if you have apps that 
> rely on fixed addressing. Also, make sure you are using an appropriately 
> sized subnet for the number of hosts you are supporting. Third, ALWAYS 
> reset the configuration on second-hand equipment like routers to the 
> factory defaults before you install it, so that you can be absolutely 
> certain that there are no gaps in your security. Once the appliance is 
> in place and working on defaults, then configure to your heart's content 
> to lock down your network.
> 
> Linda Denny wrote:
> > First off, I'm sorry If I've posted this twice!  I hit a key and wasn't sure if I posted or erased my reply.
> >
> > Here is my setup up and I hope that it helps you to decide your own setup.
> >
> > I have a wired router and four computers using static IP addresses.  I recently got a laptop and wanted to be able to use it wireless, but I still do not truly trust wireless connections even with encryption in place.  I got a Netgear wireless router and setup it up as an access point (with encryption).  My wired router only uses a range of five IP addresses and my wireless is just another address connection on my wired router as if it were just another computer.  The wireless is setup with only one IP 
address range available, which is used by the laptop. Now, granted, I could have gone all wireless and used the wired ports, but I was given the wireless router and it was just as easy to connect this way without disrupting or changing any of the previous setups.  The wireless also gets some of the benefit of the built-in NAT from the wired router.
> >
> > It seems to work fine.  HOWEVER!  If the many wonderful, well-informed members of this forum see flaws in this setup, I certain would want to know!
> >
> > Good Luck!
> >
> > Linda Denny
> >
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