ZyXEL Communications NWA3160 User Manual

Chapter 1 Introducing the ZyXEL Device

ZyXEL NWA-3160 Series User’s Guide

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The ZyXEL Device is an ideal access solution for wireless Internet connection. A typical 
Internet access application for your ZyXEL Device is shown as follows. Stations A, B and C 
can access the wired network through the ZyXEL Devices.

Figure 1   Access Point Application

The ZyXEL Device can act as a wireless network bridge and establish wireless links with 
other APs. In the figure below, the two ZyXEL Devices (A and B) are connected to 
independent wired networks and have a bridge connection (A can communicate with B) at the 
same time. A ZyXEL Device in repeater mode (C) has no Ethernet connection. When the 
ZyXEL Device is in bridge mode, you should enable STP to prevent bridge loops.
When the ZyXEL Device is in Bridge / Repeater mode, security between APs (the Wireless 
Distribution System or WDS) is independent of the security between the wireless stations and 
the AP. If you do not enable WDS security, traffic between APs is not encrypted. When WDS 
security is enabled, both APs must use the same pre-shared key. See 

for more details. 
Once the security settings of peer sides match one another, the connection between devices is 
made.
At the time of writing, WDS security is compatible with other ZyXEL access points only. 
Refer to your other access point’s documentation for details.