How To Setup A Wifi Router? Easy 9 Steps Guide

How to Setup a Wifi Router? Beginners Guide

Having issues while setting up your wifi router, don’t worry we will help you in this process. We will guide you step by step in the setup of your wifi router. So, are you ready? Let’s start then.

Follow these simple steps and connect your wifi router and make it online.

The first step turns off your modem, Now unplug the modem’s Ethernet cable from the PC, then connect that cable to the WAN or internet port on your new wifi router.

unplug the modem's Ethernet cable from the PC — Image Source: Linksys

In the second step power on your modem and wait for a minute or two, then power on your router and wait for a minute or two.

In the third step, we will connect your PC. With another Ethernet cable connect the PC to your router and Turn on your PC.

connect your PC. With another Ethernet cable connect the PC — Image Source: smartlinksyswifi.net

There is a reason behind why we are using pc or laptop to connect with it because with these devices we can easily tweak the wifi router’s settings. You can disconnect the cable and shift to wifi after completing the setting optimization process.

Wifi Router MAC

When you power on the router and connect it with the modem, it will only create its wi-fi network, and the device will be connected to the router’s wifi connection, which means you cannot use the internet right now. And to connect the wifi router to the internet, with Internet Service Providers (ISP), it is required to register your wifi router’s MAC address to the internet service provider’s website.MAC Address of the router can be found printed on the router or in the documents.

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Login and Update MAC

Now visit the official website and Log in with the username and password provided by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then go to the MAC address update option. You can see your existing laptop/computers MAC address there. Add the router’s MAC address that you get it from wifi router there and save it. This process connects the wifi router with the internet and the router is authorized to use the internet provided by the broadband company.

Find the IP address of the router

As this is a new installation you need the default IP address that will be printed on a label affixed to the router or you can find in the documentation. If you can’t find the router’s IP address anywhere, then you can do a web search for the router model to see what the default address is.

Generally, all IP addresses are formatted as four groups of words up to three digits, separated by periods.

Some “default” Local IP addresses for routers are 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, 192.168.2.1, 10.0.0.1. You can check them one by one and when you find your IP address, then enter it in google and hit enter and it will prompt a message in which it will ask you to login with Username and Password.

Enter Username and Password

On the screen, you will see that it is asking for a valid Username and Password, don’t worry if you don’t know what to enter/ where to find it. All routers have a default account login set up that you can use to log in. That is why they used some default username and password like

The most common username is “admin”, and the most common passwords are “admin” and “password”.
Many routers will only require a username and a blank password, and some allow you to leave all fields blank.

After login, you need to change some settings and for that, go into the router’s management console and locate the section titled Wireless Setup. It might be named something else depending on your router.

If you are using a dual-band router, you will see the configuration settings for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Both need to be configured independently. Next, make sure the Channel is set to Auto and leave the Mode in its default setting.

Name Your WiFi Network

Now you are logged in and can change the setting as per your requirement. So, if you want to change your wifi network name then in the Wireless section, you will see a field labeled SSID or Name. There you can enter a name for your wireless network.

This is the name that other devices will see when scanning for your networks. Check, the box to enable SSID broadcast. This will essentially “turn on” the wireless network so that it can be seen by anyone in range of the signal.

enter router details — Image Source: Wikihow.com

Update Router Firmware

Every Wifi Router manufacturer often releases new firmware with some updates. It is always better to install new firmware as they might contain critical bug fixes or security and performance improvements. Most routers check for new firmware automatically, but few of them do this manually.

If your router is not configuring the latest firmware then you need to locate to User dashboard, and then you can find the firmware setting option in Administration, Tools, or Maintenance section. As we already told you that every router has a different dashboard and the location of this option can vary depending on the router model. After completing this step you’ll need to reboot the router.

Add Password Make It Secure

Now choose a security method from the given option. You can choose WPA2-PSK as it is highly encrypted and very secure. As you select the security method now it is time to add a password to your Wifi network, so that only a person with the password can access this network.

Once you configure your wifi password, now you should change the username and password that you used to access your router page. Change it to something which you can remember and also write them down for future use, you can change these settings from the Administration section of the router configuration menu.

Parental Control

Parents who are proactive and who want to make sure that their children don’t visit the malicious or unsecured website which can harm them, they can block these websites. And to do so parents need to change the security settings. These settings can be found in the Security/Block option. You can block these websites by simply adding their URL or keywords.

Connect Your Device

So, we have completed all major steps now we just need to connect our device and check if it is working or not. Click on the wifi icon on your mobile and it will start searching for wifi network within its range when you find your network click on it and it will ask you to enter wifi password, enter the secure password and you will connect with your wifi.