ZyXEL Communications Corporation NBG416N Manual De Usuario

Chapter 7 Wireless LAN

NBG-416N User’s Guide

Local user databases also have an additional limitation that is explained in the 
next section.

Wireless networks can use encryption to protect the information that is sent in the 
wireless network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret 
code, you cannot understand the message.

The types of encryption you can choose depend on the type of user 
authentication. (See 

 for information.)

For example, if users do not log in to the wireless network, you can choose no 
encryption, Static WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK.

Usually, you should set up the strongest encryption that every wireless client in 
the wireless network supports. Suppose the wireless network has two wireless 
clients. Device A only supports WEP, and device B supports WEP and WPA. 
Therefore, you should set up Static WEP in the wireless network.

Note: It is recommended that wireless networks use WPA-PSK, WPA, or stronger 

encryption. IEEE 802.1x and WEP encryption are better than none at all, but it 
is still possible for unauthorized devices to figure out the original information 
pretty quickly.

Note: It is not possible to use WPA-PSK, WPA or stronger encryption with a local user 

database. In this case, it is better to set up stronger encryption with no 
authentication than to set up weaker encryption with the local user database.

When you select WPA2 or WPA2-PSK in your NBG-416N, you can also select an 
option (WPA Compatible) to support WPA as well. In this case, if some wireless 
clients support WPA and some support WPA2, you should set up WPA2-PSK or 
WPA2 (depending on the type of wireless network login) and select the WPA 
Compatible option in the NBG-416N.

Many types of encryption use a key to protect the information in the wireless 
network. The longer the key, the stronger the encryption. Every wireless client in 
the wireless network must have the same key.

Table 22   Types of Encryption for Each Type of Authentication

No Security
Static WEP
WPA-PSK

WPA2-PSK