User's Manual

Preparing Your Network to Work with a Router Appendix C-1
202-10065-01
Appendix C
Preparing Your Network to Work with a Router
This appendix describes how to prepare your network to connect to the Internet through a router
and how to verify the readiness of your broadband Internet service from an Internet service
provider (ISP).
What You Need To Use a Router with a Broadband Modem
You need to prepare these three things before you begin:
Cabling and Computer Hardware
To use the router on your network, each computer must have an 802.11g or 802.11b wireless
adapter or an installed Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) and an Ethernet cable. If the
computer will connect to your network using an Ethernet NIC at 100 Mbps, you must use a
Category 5 (Cat 5) cable such as the one provided with your router. The cable or DSL broadband
modem must provide a standard 10 Mbps (10BASE-T) or 100 Mbps (100BASE-Tx) Ethernet
interface.
Computer Network Configuration Requirements
The router includes a built-in Web Configuration Manager. To access the configuration menus on
the router, your must use a Java-enabled Web browser program that supports HTTP uploads such
as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Use Internet Explorer or Netscape
Navigator 4.0 or above.
Note: If your computer was configured during the installation of a broadband modem, or
using instructions provided by your ISP, you may need to copy the ISP configuration
information for use in the configuration of your router. Write down this information
before reconfiguring your computers. Refer to “Obtaining ISP Configuration
Information for Windows Computers” on page Appendix C-19 or “Obtaining ISP
Configuration Information for Macintosh Computers” on page Appendix C-20 for
further information.