Remote Access To Your Wireless Router... A simple How-To

[keri-j 0]

Warning, a little background knowledge is needed.. not much though ^-^

 

There is a way that you can use remote access to your wireless router... in fact your whole home network for free with no software downloading or anything. Quite a few wireless routers I've come across (h**ked) can be configured for remote access, you just set the password and the port for the remote access. To get to the router, you would type in it's local address. There should be a load of settings for you to manipulate, although the router will be password protected. you can find the default password and username for the router in the manual you got with it. They username is usually "admin" and the password is either "password" or "1234" etc.

 

Right. So you're logged in to your router, check some of the settings, snoop around and learn the feel of it. You will find settings either labled "Remote Access" or "Network Options" etc. Go for these. Then, modify the setting so it's enabled and enter a password and username (if the username is required) For instance, say I chose port 65, and a password of... "laurencetelesia" (For the dumb and ignorant, no quote-marks in the actual password. This may seem like overkill, but seriously, some people these days.).

From a different computer (location, country if you wish) I would enter the external IP address of the network with the port after a colon. eg. I would enter in the address bar of my web browser: (again with the quotes thing) "http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/;

 

After doing all this I would likely get a prompt to enter your password, which in this case is (quotes thing again) "laurencetelesia" (don't ask why that's the password I chose). After entering the password, everything should be fine and dandy. You should be able to access printers from here and generally mess around with the router's settings... not that you would do that to your own router. 'Cos that's the only router you would remotely access

 

Have fun. Stay safe. And there's usually an option to reset all settings

 

 

 

EDIT(for the very special TeeCee06):

 

What you can do with this apart from doing things to your printer remotely is that you can access your whole home network and configure your wireless router. Say for instance you're at a friends house and your wireless router is left home on so say... you siblings or parents or whatever can use it. If you had the MAC addresses (permanent, unchangeable) of the computers using the network, you could take a look at the MAC addresses f the computers using the wireless router from your friends house. Also, you can configure your whole router from anywhere in the world... You could print a digital photo of you in Australia on your home printer in America while you're in Australia. Just think of the possibilities... As I said, there is some background/technical knowledge needed.

Edited November 21, 2006 by keri-j (see edit history)

[TeeCee06 0]

What all can you do by following this tutorial other than hook up a printer?

[jhsmurray 0]

This is definitely good to know. My router (as most others) is always at the internal IP address of 192.168.1.1, and has DHCP functionality so that the last octet (192.168.1.xxx) of the rest of the internal IP's on my network are automatically assigned as they are added. So all I do to keep updated on all the devices on my network is check the DHCP table in my router UI from time to time.

 

Also, there are some important security measures done through the UI that need to be taken, at least initially. You'll want a security protocol enabled, such as WEP (this requires an encrypted password from the machine trying to gain access). Also, routers can have "MAC Address Filtering", which helps too. You can limit machines access to your network by their MAC address, kind of like an invitation-only party. It's not infallible, but its a start. Read up on you're routers documentation for more security options.

[kdr_98 0]

I think remote access is default not turned on on most routers.And if it is , mostly your IP adress changes each team you (re) connect to the internet.So this problem is not that big.The biggest problem is that people buy a wireless router , connect it and notice that it works.They leave everything default and think they are secure.Everyone (mosly neigbours) can access their network on the wireless side.And even do some configurations in their router.So the best is 'disable' the wireless access if you don't need it.Otherwise :Change the channel ID, SSID.Turnoff the broadcast of the SSID.Implement a MAC filter.Implement an encryption (like WEP, ... )Be aware when your wireless connected first to change the router and then your PC.Cross your fingers that you can connect again ....

[Zero Ziat 0]

And if you can't connect again just use the blue cable to connect your PC to the WiFi router.

[iGuest 3]

Good post.I have just accessed my wireless router at home from work using Firefox. You can use any browser.Prior to accessing it remotely, you will need to enable remote access. Locally, access the router management page from your browser. Click on the Remote Management menu and turn the remote management option on. You should be able to change the default port number. I just use the default in my case. The remote management address should be displayed on the page. I emailed it to my work last night so I could just paste it and access it from my browser.From work, I was able to view which devices were connected to the router. You may decide that one of your users has been connected for too long (perhaps a teenager who's being online for several hours and you decide that he or she should do something more productive. ) by doing this: 1) Under Advanced, click on Wireless Settings. 2) There should be a button labeled Setup Access List in front of Wireless Card Access List. Click on the button. 3) In the Wireless Card Access List page you enable or disable the Access Control by checking or unchecking the checkbox. Click the check box to Turn Access Control On and enable the restricting of wireless PCs by their MAC addresses. If you check the box, only the devices whose MAC addresses you specify will be able to access your wireless network. It should be unchecked by default. 4) Assuming that you want to specify which devices can connect to your network, click on the Add button to enter a device. When you click on add, you should see a list of all devices which are currently connected to your network. You should be able to select a device and click on the Add button. 5) After you add the devices, check the Turn Access Control On checkbox.Thanks!Carlos A Merighe