Be Safe with a Secure Wireless Network

The wireless home network is perhaps the most technologically significant development in home productivity and entertainment since the Internet itself. With a wireless network router you can now connect any devices with a wireless network adapter to integrate your work station, servers, wireless hard drives, entertainment and game systems, printers and your laptop - all without a single additional cable. But with a wireless network comes new threats. To keep your home network safe and private you need to have a secure wireless network.

Why do you need a secure wireless network? A secure wireless network can be helpful for several reasons. Would you believe me if I told you that a secure wireless network could keep you from losing money? Here's a dirty secret: your Internet bill is not unlimited. Oh sure, you can use it all the time that you want, but there is a data download limit. If you don't have a secure wireless network, what's to keep your neighbors from going on a download spree - and footing you with the bill?

One of the greatest benefits of a wireless network is also the greatest threats. With an integrated wireless network, you would be able to, for instance, access your financial records on your desktop computer from your laptop several rooms away. But also could your neighbors. A secure wireless network ensures that your private information remains private.

You can have a secure wireless network in no time. The first step to a secure wireless network is a standard WEP encryption password protection. This will do the most to give you a secure wireless network, so long as you keep your password difficult to guess and change it on a monthly basis.

Another way to keep make yours a secure wireless network is to modify the broadcast strength. Most wireless routers can be altered in terms of the strength of their wireless signal. If you can alter it so that it doesn't stretch past your property lines, this can help give you a secure wireless network. Just make sure that you still receive a wireless signal in the rooms and areas that you want.

Making sure you have a secure wireless network will keep your privacy safe, and will help to make sure your bills don't get out of control. A secure wireless network will give you all the benefits of having a networked home while diminishing and eliminating virtually all of the threats against it.