Wireless Network Terms And Concepts; Ssid (Service Set Identifier) And Channels; Authentication And Encryption - Brother Network MFC-7840W Network User's Manual

Wireless network terms and concepts

When you configure your machine for a wireless network, you must ensure that your wireless network
machine is configured to match the settings of the existing wireless network. This section provides some of
the main terms and concepts of these settings, which may be helpful when you configure your machine for a
wireless network.

SSID (Service Set Identifier) and channels

You need to configure the SSID and a channel to specify the wireless network you want to connect to.
SSID
Each wireless network has its own unique network name and it is technically referred to as SSID or ESSID
(Extended Service Set Identifier). The SSID is a 32-byte or less value and is assigned to the access point.
The wireless network devices you want to associate to the wireless network should match the access
point. The access point and wireless network devices regularly send wireless packets (referred to as a
beacon) which has the SSID information. When your wireless network device receives a beacon, you can
identify the wireless network that is close enough for the radio waves to reach your device.
Channels
Wireless networks use channels. Each wireless channel is on a different frequency. There are up to 14
different channels that can be used when using a wireless network. However, in many countries the
number of channels available are restricted. For further information, see Ethernet wireless network
on page 134.

Authentication and encryption

Most wireless networks use some kind of security settings. These security settings define the authentication
(how the device identifies itself to the network) and encryption (how the data is encrypted as it is sent on the
network). If you do not correctly specify these options when you are configuring your Brother wireless device,
it will not be able to connect to the wireless network. Therefore care must be taken when configuring these
options. Please refer to the information below to see which authentication and encryption methods your
Brother wireless device supports.
Authentication methods
The Brother printer supports the following methods:
Open system
Wireless devices are allowed access the network without any authentication.
Shared key
A secret pre-determined key is shared by all devices that will access the wireless network.
The Brother wireless machine uses the WEP keys as the pre-determined key.
Configuring your machine for a wireless network
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