Chapter 8 Wireless LAN

You don’t necessarily need to use all these screens to set up your wireless connection. For example, you may just want to set up a network name, a wireless radio channel and security in the AP screen.

8.1.2 What You Need to Know About Wireless

Wireless Basics

“Wireless” is essentially radio communication. In the same way that walkie-talkie radios send and receive information over the airwaves, wireless networking devices exchange information with one another. A wireless networking device is just like a radio that lets your computer exchange information with radios attached to other computers. Like walkie-talkies, most wireless networking devices operate at radio frequency bands that are open to the public and do not require a license to use. However, wireless networking is different from that of most traditional radio communications in that there a number of wireless networking standards available with different methods of data encryption.

SSID

Each network must have a name, referred to as the SSID - “Service Set IDentifier”. The “service set” is the network, so the “service set identifier” is the network’s name. This helps you identify your wireless network when wireless networks’ coverage areas overlap and you have a variety of networks to choose from.

MAC Address Filter

Every Ethernet device has a unique MAC (Media Access Control) address. The MAC address consists of twelve hexadecimal characters (0-9, and A to F), and it is usually written in the following format: “0A:A0:00:BB:CC:DD”.

The MAC address filter controls access to the wireless network. You can use the MAC address of each wireless client to allow or deny access to the wireless network.

Finding Out More

See Section 8.8 on page 118 for advanced technical information on wireless networks.

8.1.3 Before You Start

Before you start using these screens, ask yourself the following questions. See Section 8.1.2 on page 102 if some of the terms used here are not familiar to you.

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P-660HN-T1H User’s Guide