How To Setup Home WiFi Without Cable or Phone Service

Many people in the older days would set up a home LAN without internet access specifically to play games against each other without the lag the internet provided. Well the internet has become much faster and LAN parties have pretty much aged out.

How To Setup Home WiFi Without Cable or Phone Service:

1. Install a Wifi Router
2. Connect your PC to the Wifi Router
3. Configuring the WiFi Router Settings
4. Connect Each Device to the Network

Why would someone want to set up a network without internet access then one may wonder? Well a home security system would be one thing that I wouldn’t want necessarily connected into the internet for others to access and view, even if by accident.

Steps To Configure a Home WiFi Without Internet Access

Below the steps we talk about are generalized to help out the most amount of people as possible as each wireless router and device will have nuanced differences where you may need to look at the additional configuration on them when they are specialized.

Installing a WiFi Router

This step is often overlooked in trying to get your wireless network setup going but you want to pay careful consideration to where you permanently want to leave this wireless router to ensure best coverage for the areas which will use it.

If this is to run your security camera system for example, you would want to place it in the best location for the cameras and the system to connect with a strong signal which may be in the 2nd floor for a two story house or possibly in the attic on a 1 story house to help lower obstructions.

Then once you know your location you want to give the router power and then walk the area where you plan to put cameras trying to check out if you lose the signal in any specific areas, if you do then you either need to change a camera placement or the router will need to shift.

Connecting To the WiFi Router

This connection will typically be through a wireless connection in the box that they provide, which will be a wireless network name (SSID) and the access key you will need to securely connect to it.

In current times these are not as bad in many cases as the older versions were with very generic wireless names and a password which was many times just “password”, not very secure.

Once you get connected to the wireless router you can move onto the steps below to start configuration of any needs specific to your purpose on the network. If you are having issues with the wireless connection you may want to look at plugging a cable from your pc/mac into the router directly.

Configuring the WiFi Router Settings

Many view this as just setting it up, connecting it to power and then using the router. While this is rudimentarily correct it is not making sure you get the safest and best performance from the device you bought.

Setting a Password and Username

The first thing you need to change is the username and password required to log into your device, most wireless routers will come with a default one set like “admin” and “password”.

This isn’t meant to be permanent but is to get you in to help you start to configure this and change it, what’s crazy is that most people never change this username and password which leaves them open to hacking by the 11-year-old down the street!

Once you create a specific username and password this will remove or overwrite the generic credentials so you want to write this down and make sure you memorize it, this won’t be able to reset without resetting your wireless router settings and starting back at step one all over again.

You will need this username and password any time you need to access the wireless network settings again, since this can sometimes be month or years down the road it is vital to document it for yourself someplace secure.

Update Firmware On the WiFi Router

Another step which is frequently overlooked is to update the actual firmware, the software the router uses to run itself, as it is frequently years out of date while sitting in the storage at the vendors site.

These updates can help make the device more secure along with adding functionality or even fixing something in the functionality which wasn’t working as designed.

Additional Safety Step

To add a super string protection for this network since you will know everyone who should be connecting to it you can limit the MAC addresses which are able to access the network itself, this can cut down on all but the most intense hacking attempts.

While this sounds complex it has less setup overall than you would expect at first glance. I just wanted to note this here but I will make a post specifically covering the way to find your MAC address and how it can be configured on most routers in another post.

Connect Each Device to the Network

Now the fun final step to connect each wireless device in your house that you want to share this connection. While this step is the easiest it is typically the most time consuming as you need to do this on each device.

This step once done will give you each MAC Address from the above steps which you could then use to lock the system down to only these connected devices.

Final Thoughts on How To Setup Home WiFi Without Cable or Phone Service

When you build a wireless (WiFi) network the goal isn’t always to have access to the internet or open your devices up to the outside world. Many people assume that to have WiFi means that you must have some connection outside and this is hardly the case.

I will never put my home security system on the outside world’s internet connection as the internet lends you to many hacking attempts, and my home security is not something I am willing to bargain on.

I would highly suggest if you have movies or music that are played throughout the house from your own hardware building a good quality internal high speed network can help you to play those high data rate items with much less hiccups and interruptions.