Hello, I was wondering if there was a way around http basic authentification that doesn't involve packet sniffing?

Lets say I want to get into the web browser menu for a router so I can change (remove) a network key phrase and get access to a simple wep "secured" network...

I dont want to be just another script kiddie if at all possible, and was wondering if there was a way to write a C based program to do such things.

I am really new to this and know how to get around it using air snort tools and *nix but my laptop came with a built in intel based wireless network card (which isn't supported by any tool lol) and dont want to spend money on a usb wireless setup.

maybe I am overlooking something that is very simple, any help would be great thanks.