What Is Roaming; Hp Supported Authentication Wireless Protocols - HP iPAQ h6315 Networking Manual

What is roaming?

Roaming refers to the ability of a WLAN to switch between wireless access points to maintain a
WLAN connection as a user travels from one location to another. This access point switching, referred
to as roaming, occurs automatically and is normally transparent to the user.
Wireless connections roam from one access point to another when the detected signal strength
weakens. A weak signal in an HP iPAQ triggers the handheld device to search for another signal to
"jump" to. The new signal is chosen from a list of preferred networks configured by the Wi-Fi user
interface in the device operating system.
Two basic roaming techniques are currently available: address transition roaming and location
transition roaming.
Devices using the address transition roaming technique briefly break their network connection when
roaming between (changing) access points. The HP iPAQ immediately renegotiates for a valid
address. The user's ability to communicate is virtually guaranteed, but sessions open at the time the
network breaks will also disconnect. The address transition roaming technique is best suited to
networks that have access points on different subnetworks with different address ranges. The HP iPAQ
h5500 series supports this type of roaming.
The location transition roaming algorithm enables a handheld device to move seamlessly between
access points without disconnecting from the network. Using this roaming algorithm, a given device
will not change its address and devices will maintain sessions when roaming across access points on
the same subnet. Most shipping Wi-Fi devices support this roaming technique.
However, HP iPAQ handheld devices with zero-configuration-based Microsoft Windows Pocket PC
Operating Systems, allow WLAN connections to disconnect and reconnect when a new access point
is found. HP iPAQ h4100, h4300, rx3000, hx4700, and h5400 series are affected by this anomaly.

HP supported authentication wireless protocols

This section includes the following topics:
•
Overview
•
LEAP
•
PEAP
•
EAP-TLS
• WEP
Overview
HP iPAQ h4100, h4300, h5400, h5500, hx4700, and h6300 series handheld devices currently
support the following wireless authentication protocols:
• Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP)
• Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)
• Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
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