ZyXEL Communications Webcam zyxel User Manual

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Chapter 7 Wireless LAN
P-870HN-51D User’s Guide
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• The Advanced Setup screen lets you change the wireless mode, and make 
other advanced wireless configuration changes (
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.