Linksys BEFW11S4 manual Advanced Tab Wireless, Instant Wireless Series

Instant Wireless® Series

Advanced Tab: Wireless

Important: Wireless is an Advanced Function. No changes should be made to this tab without a thorough understanding of networking concepts.

Before making any changes to the Wireless tab, shown in Figure 5-23, please check the wireless settings for all your wireless PCs, as these changes will alter the Router’s effective- ness. In most cases, these settings do not need to be changed.

Figure 5-23

•Firmware Version. This indicates the Router’s firmware version.

•Beacon Interval. This value indicates the frequency interval of the beacon. A beacon is a packet broadcast by the Router to keep the network synchro- nized. A beacon includes the wireless LAN service area, the IP address, the Broadcast destination addresses, a time stamp, Delivery Traffic Indicator Maps, and the Traffic Indicator Message (TIM).

•RTS Threshold. This value should remain at its default setting of 2,346. Should you encounter inconsistent data flow, only minor modifications are recommended.

Wireless Access Point Router with 4-Port Switch

•Fragmentation Threshold. This value indicates how much of the Router’s resources are devoted to recovering packet errors. The value should remain at its default setting of 2,346. If you have decreased this value and experi- ence high packet error rates, you can increase it again, but it will likely decrease overall network performance. Only minor modifications of this value are recommended.

•DTIM Interval. This value indicates the interval of the Delivery Traffic Indication Message (DTIM). A DTIM field is a countdown field informing clients of the next window for listening to broadcast and multicast mes- sages. When the Router has buffered broadcast or multicast messages for associated clients, it sends the next DTIM with a DTIM Interval value. Clients for the Router hear the beacons and awaken to receive the broadcast and multicast messages.

•Basic Rates. The basic transfer rates should be set depending on the speed of your wireless network. You must select 1-2 (Mbps) if you have older 802.11 compliant equipment on your network, such as wireless adapters that support only 1 or 2 Mbps. Selecting 1-2 (Mbps), however, does not limit the basic transfer rates of faster adapters.

•TX Rates. Select all the supported rates at which an access point will com- municate with a client.

•Preamble Type. The preamble defines the length of the CRC block for communication between the Router and the roaming Network Card. (High network traffic areas should use the shorter preamble type.) Select the appropriate preamble type and click the Apply button to set it.

•Authentication Type. You may choose between Open System, Shared Key, and Both. The Authentication Type default is set to Open System, in which the sender and the recipient do NOT share a secret key. Each party generates its own key-pair and asks the receiver to accept the randomly- generated key. Once accepted, this key is used for a short time only. Then a new key is generated and agreed upon. Shared Key is when both the sender and the recipient share a secret key.

•Antenna Selection. This selection is for choosing which antenna transmits data. By default, the Diversity Antenna selection, used to increase recep- tion, is chosen.

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