[thecrimsonmuffin]

Alright, in my dorm, internet access is provided through ethernet jacks. I'd like to set up a private network so that I can have wireless internet. How do I go about doing things?

[SpaceMonkey]

Plug airport base station into power and ethernet. Turn it on (or it might turn on automatically---I have the Express, I don't know how the full size base station operates).

On your computer, go to Applications folder-->Utilities-->Airport Setup Assistant. Follow the directions. For security, use WPA2 Personal and a long, random, non-word password that includes special characters (#, !, etc.). this site is good for creating long, random passwords. Just make sure to write it down somewhere.

Since it's a dorm, you might want to turn on Interference Robustness and set the network to be a "closed" (hidden) network. If these options are not presented to you during the setup process (it's been a while), then they can be found in the Airport Admin Utility application (which is also in the Utilities folder).

Or, you can buy a less expensive wireless router (D-Link, NetGear, etc.). I'm assuming set-up with those isn't very complicated either, but of course it's not going to use the Apple software to do it. I don't really have any experience with them.

[ghporter]

Be advised that you should also do two other things. First, you should lock down your new wireless network as thoroughly as possible. Use WPA and for that use a 64-character passphrase that's as random as humanly possible. DO NOT INCLUDE ANY ACTUAL WORDS. The only successful exploit against WPA has been actually against the passphrase-to-key algorithm, and it works by breaking short, weak, (stupid) passphrases. If there's a dictionary word in your passphrase, it's a chink in the encryption's armor. I use an online password generator like the one SpaceMonkey linked to (ignore the page's title, a password is a password, and I've used this site many times-it's good), creat a bunch of them, and then file them away on a thumb drive.

Second, you should use the Access Control feature of the Base Station to limit access to your wireless network to only those wireless devices you specify. You use the device's "MAC address," which without getting too technical is the unique hardware address of each wireless device or wired ethernet device. It's marked on your Mac as the "AirPort Address".

You can do both of these things on just about any wireless router, whether it's Apple or some other brand.

These two things will make your wireless network as safe as possible. But they won't keep the school's IT folks from tracking you down if you're not supposed to set up a wireless network. They WILL know you've hooked up a wireless device, and they WILL look into it if you're not supposed to.

[bmd6491]

in a dorm room i wouldnt want my airport in there i would go with a cheaper wireless router that is cheaper and if it gets stolen/broke it dosnt put you in a hole to buy another airport. I mean things happen in college dorms.

brandon