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To manually configure a WLAN network
The My Network page appears.
The Edit Network Settings page appears.
The fields are enabled.
The WLAN network must not overlap other networks.
New fields appear.
A warning message appears, telling you that you are about to change your network settings.
A success message appears.
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Note: Some wireless cards have "Infrastructure" and "Ad-hoc" modes. These modes are also called "Access Point" and "Peer to Peer". On the wireless client, choose the "Infrastructure" or "Access Point" mode. |
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Basic Wireless Settings Fields
In this field… |
Do this… |
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Wireless Settings |
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Network Name (SSID) |
Type the network name (SSID) that identifies your wireless network. This name will be visible to wireless stations passing near your access point, unless you enable the Hide the Network Name (SSID) option. It can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters long and is case-sensitive. |
Country |
Select the country where you are located. Warning: Choosing an incorrect country may result in the violation of government regulations. |
Operation Mode |
Select an operation mode:
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Each operation mode indicates a wireless protocol (such as 802.11g Super), followed by the maximum bandwidth (such as 108 Mbps). The list of modes is dependent on the selected country. You can prevent older wireless stations from slowing down your network, by choosing an operation mode that restricts access to newer wireless stations. Note: The actual data transfer speed is usually significantly lower than the maximum theoretical bandwidth and degrades with distance. Important: The station wireless cards must support the selected operation mode. For a list of cards supporting 802.11g Super, refer to http://www.super-ag.com. |
Channel |
Select the radio frequency to use for the wireless connection:
Note: If there is another wireless network in the vicinity, the two networks may interfere with one another. To avoid this problem, the networks should be assigned channels that are at least 25 MHz (5 channels) apart. Alternatively, you can reduce the transmission power. |
Security |
Select the security protocol to use. For information on the supported security protocols, see Wireless Security Protocols. If you select WEP encryption, the WEP Keys area opens. If you select WPA-Personal, the Passphrase, Require WPA2 (802.11i), and WPA Encryption fields appear. |
Passphrase |
Type the passphrase for accessing the network, or click Random to randomly generate a passphrase. This must be between 8 and 63 characters. It can contain spaces and special characters, and is case-sensitive. For the highest security, choose a long passphrase that is hard to guess, or use the Random button. Note: The wireless stations must be configured with this passphrase as well. |
Require WPA2 (802.11i) |
Specify whether you want to require wireless stations to connect using WPA2, by selecting one of the following:
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WPA Encryption |
Select the encryption method to use for authenticating and encrypting wireless data:
Note: AES is more secure than TKIP; however, some devices do not support AES. |
WEP Keys |
If you selected WEP encryption, you must configure at least one WEP key. The wireless stations must be configured with the same key, as well. |
Key 1, 2, 3, 4 radio button |
Click the radio button next to the WEP key that this gateway should use for transmission. The selected key must be entered in the same key slot (1-4) on the station devices, but the key need not be selected as the transmit key on the stations. Note: You can use all four keys to receive data. |
Key 1, 2, 3, 4 length |
Select the WEP key length from the drop-down list. The possible key lengths are:
Note: Some wireless card vendors call these lengths 40/104/128, respectively. Note: WEP is generally considered to be insecure, regardless of the selected key length. |
Key 1, 2, 3, 4 text box |
Type the WEP key, or click Random to randomly generate a key matching the selected length. The key is composed of hexadecimal characters 0-9 and A-F, and is not case-sensitive. |
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Advanced Wireless Settings Fields
In this field… |
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Advanced Security |
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Hide the Network Name (SSID) |
Specify whether you want to hide your network's SSID, by selecting one of the following:
Note: Hiding the SSID does not provide strong security, because by a determined attacker can still discover your SSID. Therefore, it is not recommended to rely on this setting alone for security. |
MAC Address Filtering |
Specify whether you want to enable MAC address filtering, by selecting one of the following:
Note: MAC address filtering does not provide strong security, since MAC addresses can be spoofed by a determined attacker. Therefore, it is not recommended to rely on this setting alone for security. |
Station-to-Station Traffic |
Specify whether you want to allow wireless stations on this network to communicate with each other, by selecting one of the following:
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Wireless Transmitter |
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Transmission Rate |
Select the transmission rate:
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Transmitter Power |
Select the transmitter power. Setting a higher transmitter power increases the access point's range. A lower power reduces interference with other access points in the vicinity. The default value is Full. It is not necessary to change this value, unless there are other access points in the vicinity. |
Antenna Selection |
Multipath distortion is caused by the reflection of Radio Frequency (RF) signals traveling from the transmitter to the receiver along more than one path. Signals that were reflected by some surface reach the receiver after non-reflected signals and distort them. ZoneAlarm routers avoid the problems of multipath distortion by using an antenna diversity system. To provide antenna diversity, each wireless security router has two antennas. Specify which antenna to use for communicating with wireless stations:
Use manual diversity control (ANT 1 or ANT 2), if there is only one antenna connected to the router. |
Fragmentation Threshold |
Type the smallest IP packet size (in bytes) that requires that the IP packet be split into smaller fragments. If you are experiencing significant radio interference, set the threshold to a low value (around 1000), to reduce error penalty and increase overall throughput. Otherwise, set the threshold to a high value (around 2000), to reduce overhead. The default value is 2346. |
RTS Threshold |
Type the smallest IP packet size for which a station must send an RTS (Request To Send) before sending the IP packet. If multiple wireless stations are in range of the access point, but not in range of each other, they might send data to the access point simultaneously, thereby causing data collisions and failures. RTS ensures that the channel is clear before the each packet is sent. If your network is congested, and the users are distant from one another, set the RTS threshold to a low value (around 500). Setting a value equal to the fragmentation threshold effectively disables RTS. The default value is 2346. |
Extended Range Mode (XR) |
Specify whether to use Extended Range (XR) mode:
For more information on XR mode, see About the Wireless Hardware in Your Wireless Router. |
Multimedia QoS (WMM) |
Specify whether to use the Wireless Multimedia (WMM) standard to prioritize traffic from WMM-compliant multimedia applications. This can have the following values:
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