Explain elements of home WiFi?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Can someone explain in a simple “for dummies” way the basic elements of setting up home WiFi?

I just got a refurbished computer with LinuxMint installed on SSD. I was trying to set up WiFi and was completely befuddled; then my apt-building owner told me she put in a new router, and gave me the router name and password.

Would “router name” be the same as SSID? A quick search gives me:
“An SSID, or Service Set Identifier, is the name of a Wi-Fi network that helps devices identify and connect to it. Each Wi-Fi network has a unique SSID, which can be a default name set by the manufacturer or a custom name chosen by the user.”

In the LinuxMint Network-related dialog boxes, I see SSID, etc, but don’t see anything about “router name.” My bldg owner might be even less tech-savvy than I am, so she might not be the best source of info.

Another Q: Over the past few months, using a different computer, I’ve been connecting to net using a LinuxMint live bootable usb thumb drive, and when I click the wireless icon on panel, click Network Connections, there’s a long list. Are the items on this list all on this same building network? When I see term “Network” does it refer to an “umbrella” network of this building’s router, with all items on the list “sub-networks” or something, all under this building’s WiFi router?

Obvious I’m confused, don’t know how to accurately model or think about this, so would appreciate an explanation–I’ll probably pay somebody to set this up for me, so that person will need info to setup.

Thx for help–

2

The router name is the SSID. It should appear in the list of network connections (which includes all the available access points / routers within range of your computer).

ETA: This presumes that the information your building owner gave you is correct. If not, go back and ask her.

3

No, each of the list is a router. Each one is a separate network. You’re seeing all the routers that are accessible to your computer because they are close enough for your computer to communicate with them. They may be within your building, or in neighboring buildings, but each is a separate network. Generally you can connect to only one at a time.

4

And you should be able to see the name the bldg owner gave you on that list.

5

You often see a list of “available” networks, but they should all be password-protected. You have to choose the one you have access to, then enter the password when prompted.

Once you have established the connection, your computer should connect automatically when you switch it on.

6

This is probably going to be too much information, but here goes. I’ll try to keep this very simple, which means some of the exact details might technically be wrong.

A router is a device that connects different networks. For example a router connects your building’s network to your ISP’s network.

An access point or AP is a device with a radio in it that creates WiFi networks.

For home and small networks the router and AP are almost always the same device. For larger networks there may be multiple APs to cover a large area with WiFi.

An SSID is the name of a WiFi network. An AP will broadcast one or more SSIDs that can be joined if you have the right authentication or password.

So when your building’s owner said she got a new router with a new name what she meant was she got a new router/AP combination device, and instead of setting it to use the same SSID and password as the old WiFi network, she just let it create a new one. She is calling this the “router name” instead of the more correct SSID or WiFi name, but it really isn’t worth correcting, as we know what she meant.

Sometimes being precise with technical details is important, but this is an instance in which the important information is the name (SSID) of the WiFi network, and the password needed to join. It can help when thinking about it to have some understanding of all the different parts.

On Linux when you click on (probably) the NetworkManager applet, it should give you a list of the SSIDs/WiFi networks that it detects. Those might be in your building or nearby buildings. All that you know is that they are producing radio waves which the antenna in your computer is detecting.

You should be able to select the “router name” from that list, and it will probably ask you for a password, and then (if the password is correct) join the network.

That’s all a very long way to so, click on the name you were given, and join the network. If you don’t see the name you were given on the list, then any number of things could be going wrong, ranging from being given the incorrect name, to being out of range, to the new router being turned off.

7

Or the building owner could have elected (perhaps inadvertently) to hide the SSID.

8

OP here–thx to all for great info–clarifies a lot–I’ll proceed…