Broadband

• AOL Broadband Wireless
• An AOL Broadband supported modem router
• A BT phone line
• Windows XP and above or Apple Mac OSX 10.3+
• If youËre a Windows user - at least a 233MHz Pentium processor or equivalent
• If youËre a Windows user - at least 128MB system memory (RAM)
• If youËre a Windows user - 175MB of free hard disk space
• A wireless adapter for each computer you wish to connect wirelessly (please note that for Apple Macs we only support the Internal Apple Airport adapter)
• A spare Network Interface Card port (Ethernet Interface or NIC) on each computer you wish to connect with Ethernet cable
• An Ethernet cable for each additional computer (often only one is included in the box)

Yes. The Screen Name you use for configuring your router to sign on to AOL must follow the following guidelines to avoid technical problems with your connection:

• You must use your original master screen name
• You must enter the full screen name in lower case
• You must add @aol.com after the Screen Name
• The Screen Name must not contain any spaces
• The Screen Name must have General (18+) access in AOL Parental Controls (Mature Teen, Young Teen and Kids Only Screen Names will not work for a router connection)

For example, if your current screen name is: Jack and Jill. The router setup for this screen name should be: jackandjill@aol.com

Yes. The AOL Screen Name you use for configuring your router to sign on to AOL must use a password that follows the three rules below:

1. The password cannot be longer than eight characters
2. The password must consist of letters and numbers only (i.e., no spaces, or special characters such as: ! ” ? % and spaces)
3. The password must be all lower case (no CAPITALS allowed)

Don't forget to make a note of your password. If necessary, you can change your password to fit the above guidelines at AOL Keyword: Password.

When setting up a router, you will be prompted to enter certain details that govern the type of connection you establish. Depending on the hardware you have, the way in which you enter these details may differ. However, you are likely to be prompted to enter them during the installation of your router and also a wireless adapter, should you choose to use a wireless setup.

Some router installation guides will automatically enter some of these details. Therefore, you may not be prompted for them all. In other cases, the options will be named differently. If you experience problems setting up your chosen home networking solution, you should refer to the documentation included with the device.

Required Details:

Please read these important guidelines about screen names and passwords used to configure a router to sign on to AOL.

MTU Setting: MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) defines the largest data packet size you can transmit in one go across a network. The AOL network runs at an MTU of 1400. Many routers have inbuilt auto-configurations where the hardware identifies that the AOL traffic has an MTU of 1400 and dynamically adjusts. Alternatively you may have to manually change the MTU setting on the modem router.

If the router hardware does not have this facility, the MTU setting can manually be changed on the computer to 1400.

You can change the MTU setting on your computer by using DrTCP. This is a free software utility that is a shortcut to editing your registry. This is available at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/drtcp.

MRU Setting: MRU (Maximum Routing Unit) is required by some modem routers and should be set to the same value as the MTU of 1400.

MSS Setting: MSS (Maximum Segment Size) is required by some modem routers and dynamically adjusts the packet size to fit the MTU. It should be set to 1410.

Wireless Settings:
When configuring a wireless router, you may also be prompted for the following:

AOL 9.0 provides you with the ability to 'lock down' your Internet connection using Internet Access Controls, which work alongside the Parental Controls provided within the AOL service. Internet Access Controls give you an added layer of security to help prevent children from using external browsers or other Internet access programs, such as file-sharing software, which can lead to inappropriate content being seen.

When setting up a home network through a modem router connection, the AOL Screen Name used for setting up the modem router and accessing the Web needs to have General (18+) access. It is this AOL Screen Name that actually establishes the connection and, as such, it cannot be restricted - so Mature Teen, Young Teen and Kids Only Screen Names will not work on the modem router setup.

When using a home network, parents should ensure that Internet Access Controls are installed and activated on all computers linked to that network. This will allow Parental Controls to restrict Web access. Children's Internet usage should be supervised at all times. Once you have installed the AOL software which will be sent to you once you've registered for AOL Broadband, please visit AOL Keyword: Parental Controls for more information. Back to top

A wireless network may be unrestricted by the walls of your house, allowing you to use your laptop in your garden. However, unless you add security measures, it's technically possible for nearby households to access your broadband connection and see what you're doing online. AOL will help you to take the steps to increase the security of your home network.

A few simple steps are necessary to help protect your network from unwanted access:

• Ensure that the security features available on your modem router are turned on. Security features are often switched off by default when you purchase your modem router.
• If your modem router has wireless capabilities but you do not wish initially to connect computers wirelessly, you should ensure that this is disabled. Many modem routers have wireless networking turned on by default.
• When setting up your modem router, you should select a personal name for your network, called an SSID, or network name. This identifies your wireless network as your own, if there are a number of networks available locally. For example, when connecting a computer to your wireless network, you may be able to identify a neighbour's wireless network in the area. If you personalise the name of your wireless network, it will be easy to recognise. Ensure that you make a note of your SSID for future reference.

We recommend setting up WPA encryption on your modem router. Encryption 'scrambles' data as it passes over your wireless network, preventing unauthorised users from accessing your network. You must set up encryption on each wireless adapter you are using to connect computers to your network.

For added security, all the computers connected to your home network should have up-to-date personal firewalls and anti-virus software installed and enabled. AOL Broadband members can get McAfee Personal Firewall Plus software at no extra cost.