Setting Up Modem for your Wireless Router

First of all, out of a sudden you wanted to expand the coverage of the wireless Internet at your home so that you will be able to access Internet wherever you are within or outside your house. In order to extend the coverage of the wireless Internet, the wireless router with a wide coverage is required. One example of such a router is RT-N16 Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router as shown below where the coverage is 200 square meters.

It is quite easy to setup the router as shown in the diagram below, just plug and surf. 

However, one major problem that I encountered with this router is that it cannot works alone. You need to connect it to a Cable/DSL modem for it to function properly as shown below. 

Since I have an existing modem and router, the new router could be connected to the modem using the Ethernet cable via the available LAN port on the modem. However, conflicts will occur in setting up connection on the new router since the existing modem is still functioning as Internet routers.

The first step to do in this situation is to ensure that the existing modem and router functions only as a modem. In order to do that, the existing modem and router need to be reconfigured. There are basically two steps that need to be done.

1.  Disable wireless capability of the existing modem and router by unchecking the wireless access point (Enable AP) as shown below. After performing the "Restart Access Point", wireless Internet will no longer available from the existing modem and router.

2. Then, connection type of the existing modem should be changed to "Bridge". Click on the "WAN" option and then select "Bridge" on the Type of connection as shown below. Initially, the connection type is "PPOE", which enable the modem to be routers and connected to the Internet. By selecting the connection type as"Bridge" will ensure that the new router connected to the modem will serve as your Internet wireless router as provided by your ISP.

After successfully setting up your existing modem, then just follow the quick start instruction of your new Internet router to enable it to connect to the Internet.

Flow of Digital Information

Even though there is an internet blackout imposed by the Egyptian government, the digital information is still flowing out from protesters in Egypt.

Google and Twitter launch this service to circumvent internet service provider completely. Users leave a phone message which is then posted as an audio file on Twitter. However, users can only use this service for a while until the Egyptian Government completely cutoff all telephone line.

As reported  HERE, there are other ways being used to get the news information from the troubled areas.

Another Effort to Reduce the Digital Divide

According to Star, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will build more communication towers in Sarawak to ensure more rural people get connected to the Internet.

Thank you to MCMC for trying to closing the digital divide even further especially in this part of the world. Hopefully, the effort to increase the usage of ICT among the rural users will be beneficial to all. The most important aspect of the ICT is to open up the users to online advantages especially in the aspect of education.

According to the news, the MCMC will build 257 more towers from next year to 2013 to provide for wider coverage.

So far they have built more than 400 towers state-wide under the broadband and community broadband centre initiatives.

Internet Connection

It seems that the internet connection has some effect on Foreign Investment as pointed out by this news report. I had experienced how the bad internet connection can affect your online life. Without having access to the line based broadband internet connection, I had to resort to the wireless internet connection and you always experienced some nightmares whenever you wanted to download or upload some large files.

However, it is not that bad because I can still rely on the nearby Cyber Cafes which have the faster internet connections. Most of the Cyber Cafes are using very fast satellite internet connection to support their businesses. Even though their locations are far away from major development, they are still having the luxury of high internet connection.

If I understand it better, for other business owners such as Gas Stations, they also are using some kind of satellite connections for higher internet speed. Therefore, I don't see any problem for any big companies who wanted to do business in this country to get very high speed internet connections.

As individual users like me, I had some problems with the mobile wireless connections. But, after getting my line based broadband connection, so far I have not experienced any slow connection. Now, I can update anything online without wasting my time going to the Cyber Cafes or without wasting my time waiting for the slow downloading time.

Wi-Fi to Attract Public Transport Riders

Image via Wikipedia

In order to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and thus reducing the level of congestion, public transport need to be more attractive to the people. One way of doing this is by installing free Wi-Fi wireless internet connection on board of trains and buses.

The Scottish Government through Transport Scotland is already developing a business case for wireless provision on Scot Rail services and later will include bus services to promote the level of usage of the public tranport services. Read HERE for more news about the initiative.

In Malaysia, similar initiative had been proposed by the Penang Rapid, local bus operator, by installing free Wi-Fi internet in their buses. However, I am not sure about the current status of the project, Not sure whether the buses has been installed with Wi-Fi or not and if the buses had been installed with free Wi-Fi, it would be interesting to know about the users perception of the services.