Being Your Own Geek Squad - Networking and Internet
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The first stop I want to make is with the Networking and Internet services. When I found out how much they charged to do a network, I wanted to call the police for robbery. Their basic service includes sending someone out to your house, taking a look at what you have so far, and recommending a product to fulfill your needs. This little journey to your house to show you what you need to buy will cost you $50.
Want to save $50 right now? You can simply go to a networking manufacturer's website and they will typically have a run down of what each product does and what you need. If you are completely lost, I would recommend checking out Linksys's website. They have a Learning Center on the web site, which will tell you everything you need to know about networking and your house. If you don't want to go with Linksys products, other companies have similar learning centers. The major companies would have to be Netgear, DLink, and Belkin.
You will have to drop another $200 just for them to connect your router to your Internet connection. They will also connect one printer (if you have a print server), a single computer, and any gaming devices to your network. If something goes wrong, there is no troubleshooting provided; you'll have shell out more money. So how hard is it to set up a network on your own? Well, back in the early 90s it might have been a little difficult, but this is 2008 and it doesn't take much to set up a network.
The most difficult part will be setting up your router with different security options. Most routers have some kind of set up configuration. My router just asks for the time zone, and then asks if you want it to auto configure everything, then finally asks you for security. I recommend some medium level security. I enabled 64-bit WEP. Put in your password, and it will give you a few different keys. I'd recommend writing these keys down as you will need them when you try to connect your computer.
Your computer should now be able to find the router by name, and clicking it will ask you for the password you wrote down. After that you're connected. That will save you $200. I will admit this might be a little intimidating for some users. If you are having trouble, you can visit our forums, where people will be able to help you further with your questions.
If you wish to have other computers connected to the network, that is an additional $60 per computer. This is very simple to do and can typically be done in a matter of minutes. XP and Vista have built-in network connection wizards, so all you have to do is select your network from the detected networks and you're ready to go.
If you do run into problems with your network configuration, this will run you an additional $160 after the $200 installation. This could take them an hour, or five minutes; it just depends on what went wrong. I'm going to guess that I'm not the only one that would be pissed to pay $160 for five minutes when all you had to do is check a box during configuration. Reading the manual or checking out the company's website will show you how to fix many common errors. Our forum members can usually help you with any problems.
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