ZyXEL Communications VMG1312-B Series User Manual page 126

Chapter 7 Wireless
• An " infrast ruct ure" t ype of net work has one or m ore access point s and one or m ore wireless
client s. The wireless client s connect t o t he access point s.
• An " ad- hoc" t ype of net work is one in which t here is no access point . Wireless client s connect t o
one anot her in order t o exchange inform at ion.
The following figure provides an exam ple of a wireless net work.
Figure 43 Exam ple of a Wireless Net work
The wireless net work is t he part in t he blue circle. I n t his wireless net work, devices A and B use t he
access point ( AP) t o int eract wit h t he ot her devices ( such as t he print er) or wit h t he I nt ernet . Your
Device is t he AP .
Every wireless net work m ust follow t hese basic guidelines.
• Every device in t he sam e wireless net work m ust use t he sam e SSI D.
The SSI D is t he nam e of t he wireless net work. I t st ands for Service Set I Dent ifier.
• I f t wo wireless net works overlap, t hey should use a different channel.
Like radio st at ions or t elevision channels, each wireless net work uses a specific channel, or
frequency, t o send and receive inform at ion.
• Every device in t he sam e wireless net work m ust use securit y com pat ible wit h t he AP .
Securit y st ops unaut horized devices from using t he wireless net work. I t can also prot ect t he
inform at ion t hat is sent in t he wireless net work.
Radio Channels
I n t he radio spect rum , t here are cert ain frequency bands allocat ed for unlicensed, civilian use. For
t he purposes of wireless net working, t hese bands are divided int o num erous channels. This allows a
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VMG1312-B Series User's Guide