9
Wireless Basics
For the average home, signal range should not be an issue. If you
experience low or no signal strength in areas of your home that you wish to
access, consider positioning the Access Point in a location directly between
the computers with wireless adapters. Additional Access Points can be
connected to provide better coverage in rooms where the signal does not
appear as strong as desired.
Using radio frequency (RF) technology, WLANs (Wireless Local Area
Networks) transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for
wired connections. Thus, WLANs combine data connectivity with user
mobility, and, through simplified configuration, enable movable LANs.
4. Getting Started For the price of a single IP Address from your Broadband Internet Service
provider you can share the Internet with all the computers on your local
network, without sacrificing speed or security, using D-Link AirPlus
networking products.
There are basically two modes of networking:
Infrastructure – using an Router/Access Point,
such as the DWL-900AP+
Ad-Hoc – directly connecting to another computer, for peer-to-peer
communication, using wireless network adapters on each computer, such
as two or more DWL-520+ wireless network PCI adapters.
On the following pages we will show you an example of an Infrastructure
Network and an Ad-Hoc Network.
An Infrastructure network contains an Access Point/Router.
The Infrastructure Network example shown on the following page contains
the following D-Link network devices:
A wireless Broadband Router - D-Link Air DI-614+
A laptop computer with a wireless network adapter - D-Link AirPlus DWL-650+
A desktop computer with a wireless network adapter - D-Link AirPlus DWL-520+
A Cable modem - D-Link DCM-201
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is a protocol for assigning IP
A
ddresses “automatically.” W
i
th a DHCP-capable gateway/router, there is no need to
manuall
y
assi
g
n an IP Address.
Right out of the box, with its default settings, the DWL-520+ will
automatically connect with other D-Link Air or AirPlus products.