RadioLAN WNR834B user manual V1.2, January

NETGEAR RangeMax™ NEXT Wireless Router WNR834B User Manual

•Channel

This field determines which operating frequency is used. It should not be necessary to change the wireless channel unless you notice interference problems with another nearby wireless network. For more information on the wireless channel frequencies, see “Wireless Communications” in Appendix B.

•Mode

This field determines which data communications protocol is used. You can choose from:

—g only

Dedicates the WNR834B to communicating with the higher bandwidth 802.11g wireless devices exclusively.

—g and b

Provides backward compatibility with the slower 802.11b wireless devices while still enabling 802.11g communications.

—Up To 126 Mbps

Provides two transmission streams with different data on the same channel at the same time.

—Up To 240 Mbps

Uses channel expansion to achieve the 240 Mbps data rate. The WNR834B router will use the channel you selected as the primary channel and expand to the secondary channel (primary channel +4 or –4) to achieve a 40MHz frame-by-frame bandwidth. The WNR834B router will detect channel usage and will disable frame-by-frame expansion if the expansion would result in interference with the data transmission of other access points or clients.

Note: The maximum wireless signal rate is derived from the IEEE Standard 802.11 Specifications. Actual data throughput will vary. Network conditions and

environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network overhead, lower actual data throughput rate.

•Security Options

The selection of wireless security options can significantly affect your network performance. The time it takes to establish a wireless connection can vary depending on both your security settings and router placement. WEP connections can take slightly longer to establish. Also, WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK encryption can consume more battery power on a notebook computer, and can cause significant performance degradation with a slow computer. Instructions for configuring the security options can be found in “Choosing Appropriate Wireless Security” on page 3-1. A full explanation of wireless security standards is available in “Wireless Communications” in Appendix B.

2-12 Configuring Basic Connectivity

v1.2, January 2007