Technicolor - Thomson 545/570 manual Wireless Connectivity

4 Wireless Connectivity

4 Wireless Connectivity

Introduction The SpeedTouch™570 and SpeedTouch™545 (with wireless upgrade card installed) feature a Wireless LAN Access Point (AP) which behaves as a hub and allows wireless connectivity between several devices and the local (W)LAN and - via the SpeedTouch™ DSL router - to the public network, e.g. the Internet.

IEEE802.1b Wireless technology enables these devices to communicate with each other in a locally mobile fashion, without the need for a wired environment.

Wireless basics The WLAN's 'radio' link is a shared medium. As no physical connection exists between the SpeedTouch™ and wireless clients, a name must be given to allow unique identifica- tion of your WLAN radio link. This is done by the Service Set ID (SSID), also referred to as Network Name. Wireless clients must be part of this SSID environment in order to be able to communicate with other clients on the (W)LAN - including the Speed- Touch™.

The IEEE802.11b standard for WLANs allows several WLAN networks using different radio channels to be co-located. Via the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) system, several channels are available for use which are associated to a slightly different frequency in the allowed range. The SpeedTouch™ supports multiple radio channels and is able to select the best radio channel at each start-up.

The SpeedTouch™ supports all channels allowed for wireless networking according to the US, Asia and most of Europe’s regulations.

However, depending on local regulations, the number of channels actually allowed to be used may be restricted.

To determine your regulatory domain check:

•The label on the bottom of the SpeedTouch™ in case you purchased a Speed- Touch™570.

•The label on the SpeedTouch™010 wireless upgrade card in case you purchased a SpeedTouch™545.

If you reside in:

•The ETSI regulatory domain (EC logo) the supported radio channels are channels 1 to 13.

•The FCC regulatory domain (FCC logo) the supported radio channels are chan- nels 1 to 11.

Wireless security Since the SpeedTouch™ wireless environment is a radio environment, precautions must be taken to ensure that your wireless network is safe from malicious intruders. In addi- tion to providing the possibility of giving a personalized Network Name (SSID) to the wireless network, the SpeedTouch™ features a physical registration mechanism, a managed Access Control List (ACL) and enhanced 64- or 128-bits Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption to secure your network and to control wireless client access.

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