How to Connect Router to Modem Wirelessly – Easy Guide

If you’re like most Americans, you’re probably not thrilled about the idea of lots of cords sticking out from behind the television cabinet, bookshelf or wherever else you’ve got your modem and router. Chances are, learning how to connect the router to the modem wirelessly and getting rid of all of those visible cords is a rather appealing thought.

The good news is, it’s getting easier than ever to establish a wireless router and modem connection, with some companies even eliminating that step altogether. Here are a few things to know about connecting your router and making wireless internet in the home a reality!

Choosing the Right Router

Depending on your internet service provider, figuring out how to connect the router to the modem wirelessly could be as easy as plugging in a power source. Many modern routers offer a 2-in-1 structure, where the modem and the router are together in the same piece of hardware. Sometimes your ISP will provide a 2-in-1 setup for you, while others can be achieved by selecting a router that bills itself as both a router and modem.

If you don’t have that setup, you can still connect your router to your modem with just one short cable. A modem can only connect to one thing at a time, so a small Ethernet cable is required to connect older routers and bring wireless internet to the home. Ethernet cables can be as short as three feet long, so using one cable and hiding it is easy to do.

Setting Up Modem and Router

If you don’t have a 2-in-1 setup, you’ll need to make the connection between your two pieces of hardware, which means plugging the cable into the WAN port on your router. Your WAN port should be labeled “Ethernet“, making it very easy for you to find.

As soon as you’ve done that, you’ll need to make sure both the router and the modem are plugged in. A good solution here is to get a power strip so that you don’t monopolize your outlets on connecting your home to the internet.

Creating Your Network

Here’s where you can get creative, if that’s something that you wish to do. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment complex, you’ve probably noticed some interesting names for your neighbors’ networks when you try to connect yourself. One important part of setting up a wireless router and modem connection is selecting a network that’s easy to remember.

Before you can do that, you need to get your network set up, and this is where your smart phone comes in handy. Most routers will use an application on your phone that allows you to set up your network without even requiring your computer to connect to the internet. To use this option, you’ll simply enter the information from the back of your router into the application and create a password.

If you want to choose a custom name for your network, this is where you’ll have the opportunity to do so. Selecting a custom name can make it easy for you to find your network in a crowded list, which can be very helpful if you’re in a complex. If you don’t have any neighbors who live close, this isn’t as big of a deal, but you can still select a name that you’ll easily remember to make connecting a breeze.

Choosing a Password

Keeping your wireless network secure is one of the most important parts of knowing how to connect your router to the modem wirelessly. Unless you’ve got a lot of bandwidth at your disposal, you’re going to want to keep your neighbors and others off of your internet.

A network password should be three things: easy for you to remember, difficult for others to guess and several characters long. The first two are self-explanatory, but what about the length?

The reason is simple: length is one of the best deterrents you have against hackers. If a hacker wants into your router to try to gain access to your files, they’ll sometimes employ a method known as brute force. Brute force is, quite simply, the hacker trying to force their way in by guessing as many passwords as possible.

Think this can’t work? Think again. There are only so many key combinations available for a six-character password. A sophisticated hacker can crack a random six-character password in as little as 13 hours. Extend that to 12 characters, however, and a hacker would need 1 billion years in order to be certain to crack the password.

Setting Up Updates

This can sometimes be an overlooked step when it comes to learning how to connect your router to the modem wirelessly, but it’s an important one to remember. Your wireless network is constantly updating itself to try to keep nefarious characters out of your network, and the easiest thing you can do to help is to keep it as current as possible.

Remember, the main thing to know about what’s out there outside your network is that you never know what’s out there. It might be a pain to have to stop what you’re doing for updates, but the results are worth it in the long run. Going a few minutes without a wireless connection is a small price to pay for a secure network.

Once you’ve handled all those steps, connecting any device to your network is a piece of cake. Just make sure that you don’t leave your password lying around so that anyone can find it; only give it out to people you trust to use the network in a responsible way. If you do, you’ll find that connecting your router to the modem wirelessly makes a world of difference in the speed of your connection to the internet!