Chapter 7 Wireless LAN

•The Advanced Setup screen lets you change the wireless mode, and make other advanced wireless configuration changes (Section 7.8 on page 116).

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 some security in the General screen.

7.2 What You Need to Know

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.

Wireless Network Construction

Wireless networks consist of wireless clients, access points and bridges.

•A wireless client is a radio connected to a user’s computer.

•An access point is a radio with a wired connection to a network, which can connect with numerous wireless clients and let them access the network.

•A bridge is a radio that relays communications between access points and wireless clients, extending a network’s range.

Traditionally, a wireless network operates in one of two ways.

•An “infrastructure” type of network has one or more access points and one or more wireless clients. The wireless clients connect to the access points.

•An “ad-hoc” type of network is one in which there is no access point. Wireless clients connect to one another in order to exchange information.

Network Names

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.

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P-870HN-51D User’s Guide