User manual NETGEAR WG511U

[. . . ] User's Manual for the NETGEAR Double 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card 32-bit CardBus WG511U NETGEAR, Inc. 4500 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA Version v1. 0 August 2004 August 2004 Technical Support Please refer to the support information card that shipped with your product. By registering your product at www. netgear. com/register, we can provide you with faster expert technical support and timely notices of product and software upgrades. E-mail: support@netgear. com Web site: www. netgear. com Statement of Conditions In the interest of improving internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document without notice. [. . . ] This mode provides wireless connectivity to multiple wireless network devices within a fixed range or area of coverage, interacting with wireless nodes via an antenna. In the infrastructure mode, the wireless access point converts airwave data into wired Ethernet data, acting as a bridge between the wired LAN and wireless clients. Connecting multiple access points via a wired Ethernet backbone can further extend the wireless network coverage. As a mobile computing device moves out of the range of one access point, it moves into the range of another. As a result, wireless clients can freely roam from one access point domain to another and still maintain seamless network connection. Wireless Networking Basics August 2004 B-1 User's Manual for the NETGEAR Double 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card 32-bit CardBus WG511U Ad Hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer Workgroup) In an ad hoc network, computers are brought together as needed; thus, there is no structure or fixed points to the network - each node can generally communicate with any other node. This mode enables you to quickly set up a small wireless workgroup and allows workgroup members to exchange data or share printers as supported by Microsoft networking in the various Windows operating systems. Some vendors also refer to ad hoc networking as peer-to-peer group networking. In this configuration, network packets are directly sent and received by the intended transmitting and receiving stations. As long as the stations are within range of one another, this is the easiest and least expensive way to set up a wireless network. Network Name: Extended Service Set Identification (ESSID) The Extended Service Set Identification (ESSID) is one of two types of Service Set Identification (SSID). In an ad hoc wireless network with no access points, the Basic Service Set Identification (BSSID) is used. In an infrastructure wireless network that includes an access point, the ESSID is used, but may still be referred to as SSID. An SSID is a thirty-two character (maximum) alphanumeric key identifying the name of the wireless local area network. For the wireless devices in a network to communicate with each other, all devices must be configured with the same SSID. Wireless Channels IEEE 802. 11g/b wireless nodes communicate with each other using radio frequency signals in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band between 2. 4 GHz and 2. 5 GHz. However, due to spread spectrum effect of the signals, a node sending signals using a particular channel will utilize frequency spectrum 12. 5 MHz above and below the center channel frequency. As a result, two separate wireless networks using neighboring channels (for example, channel 1 and channel 2) in the same general vicinity will interfere with each other. Applying two channels that allow the maximum channel separation will decrease the amount of channel cross-talk, and provide a noticeable performance increase over networks with minimal channel separation. The wireless frequencies used by 802. 11a and 802. 11b/g networks are different. These channel frequency options are discussed below. B-2 August 2004 Wireless Networking Basics User's Manual for the NETGEAR Double 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card 32-bit CardBus WG511U 802. 11b/g Wireless Channels IEEE 802. 11b/g wireless nodes communicate with each other using radio frequency signals in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band between 2. 4 GHz and 2. 5 GHz. However, due to spread spectrum effect of the signals, a node sending signals using a particular channel will utilize frequency spectrum 12. 5 MHz above and below the center channel frequency. As a result, two separate wireless networks using neighboring channels (for example, channel 1 and channel 2) in the same general vicinity will interfere with each other. Applying two channels that allow the maximum channel separation will decrease the amount of channel cross-talk, and provide a noticeable performance increase over networks with minimal channel separation. The radio frequency channels used in 802. 11b/g networks are listed in Table B-1: Table B-1: Channel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 802. 11b/g Radio Frequency Channels Center Frequency 2412 MHz 2417 MHz 2422 MHz 2427 MHz 2432 MHz 2437 MHz 2442 MHz 2447 MHz 2452 MHz 2457 MHz 2462 MHz 2467 MHz 2472 MHz Frequency Spread 2399. 5 MHz - 2424. 5 MHz 2404. 5 MHz - 2429. 5 MHz 2409. 5 MHz - 2434. 5 MHz 2414. 5 MHz - 2439. 5 MHz 2419. 5 MHz - 2444. 5 MHz 2424. 5 MHz - 2449. 5 MHz 2429. 5 MHz - 2454. 5 MHz 2434. 5 MHz - 2459. 5 MHz 2439. 5 MHz - 2464. 5 MHz 2444. 5 MHz - 2469. 5 MHz 2449. 5 MHz - 2474. 5 MHz 2454. 5 MHz - 2479. 5 MHz 2459. 5 MHz - 2484. 5 MHz Wireless Networking Basics August 2004 B-3 User's Manual for the NETGEAR Double 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card 32-bit CardBus WG511U Note: The available channels supported by the wireless products in various countries are different. [. . . ] An IP router forwards data based on IP source and destination addresses. SSID A Service Set Identification is a thirty-two character (maximum) alphanumeric key identifying a wireless local area network. For the wireless devices in a network to communicate with each other, all devices must be configured with the same SSID. It corresponds to the ESSID in the wireless Access Point and to the wireless network name. See also Wireless Network Name and ESSID. Subnet Mask A mask used to determine what subnet an IP address belongs to. [. . . ]