ZyAIR Wireless Gateway Series User’s Guide

Chapter 3

Wizard Setup

This chapter provides information on the Wizard Setup screens in the web configurator.

3.1Wizard Setup Overview

The web configurator’s setup wizard helps you configure your ZyAIR for Internet access and set up wireless LAN.

3.1.1 Channel

A channel is the radio frequency(ies) used by IEEE 802.11b wireless devices. Channels available depend on your geographical area. You may have a choice of channels (for your region) so you should use a different channel than an adjacent AP (access point) to reduce interference. Interference occurs when radio signals from different access points overlap causing interference and degrading performance.

Adjacent channels partially overlap however. To avoid interference due to overlap, your AP should be on a channel at least five channels away from a channel that an adjacent AP is using. For example, if your region has 11 channels and an adjacent AP is using channel 1, then you need to select a channel between 6 or 11.

The ZyAIR’s “Scan” function is especially designed to automatically scan for a channel with the least interference.

3.1.2 ESS ID

An Extended Service Set (ESS) is a group of access points or wireless gateways connected to a wired LAN on the same subnet. An ESS ID uniquely identifies each set. All access points or wireless gateways and their associated wireless stations in the same set must have the same ESSID.

3.1.3 WEP Encryption

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encrypts data frames before transmitting over the wireless network. WEP encryption scrambles the data transmitted between the wireless stations and the access points to keep network communications private. It encrypts unicast and multicast communications in a network. Both the wireless stations and the access points must use the same WEP key for data encryption and decryption.

Wizard Setup

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