Turn Off Wireless Connectivity; Disable Ssid Broadcast; Restrict Access By Mac Address; Wireless Security Options - NETGEAR DGND3700 User Manual

N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router DGND3700

Turn Off Wireless Connectivity

You can completely turn off the wireless connectivity of the wireless modem router by
pressing the Wireless On/Off button on its front panel
notebook computer to wirelessly connect to your wireless modem router and you take a
business trip, you can turn off the wireless portion of the modem router while you are
traveling. Other members of your household who use computers connected to the wireless
modem router through Ethernet cables can still use the wireless modem router.

Disable SSID Broadcast

By default, the wireless modem router broadcasts its Wi-Fi network name (SSID) so devices
can find it. If you change this setting to not allow the broadcast, wireless devices will not find
your wireless modem router unless they are configured with the same SSID. See
Access Point Settings on page 44 for the procedure.
Note: Turning off SSID broadcast nullifies the wireless network discovery
feature of some products such as Windows XP, but the data is still
fully exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test
equipment like wireless sniffers. If you allow the broadcast, be sure
to keep wireless security enabled.

Restrict Access by MAC Address

You can enhance your network security by allowing access to only specific PCs based on
their Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. You can restrict access to only trusted PCs so
that unknown PCs cannot wirelessly connect to the wireless modem router. MAC address
filtering adds an obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but the data broadcast
over the wireless link is fully exposed (unencrypted).The Wireless Station Access List
determines which wireless hardware devices are allowed to connect to the wireless modem
router by MAC address. See
procedure.

Wireless Security Options

A security option is the type of security protocol applied to your wireless network. The
security protocol in force encrypts data transmissions and ensures that only trusted devices
receive authorization to connect to your network. There are two types of encryption: Wired
Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). WPA has several options
including pre-shared key (PSK) encryption and 802.1x encryption for enterprises.
This section presents an overview of the security options and provides guidance on when to
use which option. Note that it is also possible to disable wireless security. NETGEAR does
not recommend this.
Wireless Station Access List Settings
Wireless Settings
38
. For example, if you use your
on page 44 for the
Wireless