Glossary

Glossary

Access Point

An Access Point (AP) is a wired controller that sends data to the wireless NICs installed in your network computers, and receives data back from them. An AP is often connected to the network computer that has Internet access, or is directly connected to the Internet by a DSL or cable modem. The AP then allows other stations on your WLAN to access the Internet.

Ad-hoc mode

See operating mode.

channel

Your Wireless device communicates with other devices on your WLAN over a specific channel. The channel is similar to a radio channel—any Wireless device linking to your Wireless device must be "tuned" to the same channel.

In Infrastructure mode, the channel is selected by the AP or Router. It automatically selects a channel from the range available for your geographical location (11 channels are available for use in the United States) and communicates that channel to your Wireless device. In Ad Hoc mode only, you can set the channel yourself.

device driver

A device driver is a software program that lets an adapter (such as a PC card, PCI card, or USB adapter) or any other device (such as a printer or CD-ROM drive) communicate with the computer that it's connected to.

Ethernet

Ethernet is a popular networking system that uses NICs and cables (and often, other networking devices such as bridges and hubs) to create a LAN.

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