NETGEAR ProSafe WNDAP330 - Manual (Page 42)

ProSafe Dual Band Wireless Access Point WNDAP330 Reference Manual
2-16 Basic Installation and Configuration
v1.0, May 2008
• Wireless Network Name (SSID). This is the name of your wireless network. It is set to
the default name of NETGEAR_11a for 802.11a/n and NETGEAR_11g for 802.11b/g/n.
• Broadcast Wireless Network Name (SSID). If you disable broadcast of the SSID, only
devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This 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.
Default is enabled.
• Channel/Frequency. From the pull-down menu, select the channel you wish to use on
your wireless LAN. The wireless channel in use will be between 1 to 11 for US and
Canada, 1 to 13 for Europe and Australia. The default is channel Auto.
It should not be necessary to change the wireless channel unless you experience
interference (shown by lost connections and/or slow data transfers). Should this happen,
you may need to experiment with different channels to see which is the best. Alternatively,
you can select the Auto channel option for the AP to intelligently pick the channel with
least interference. See the article on “Wireless Channels” available on the NETGEAR
website. (A link to this article and other articles of interest can be found in
Appendix B,
“Related Documents .”). When selecting or changing channels, some points to bear in
mind:
– Access points use a fixed channel. You can select the channel used. This allows you to
choose a channel which provides the least interference and best performance. In the
USA and Canada, 11 channels are available
– If using multiple access points, it is better if adjacent access points use different
channels to reduce interference. The recommended channel spacing between adjacent
access points is 5 channels (for example, use channels 1 and 6, or 6 and 11).
– Wireless stations normally scan all channels, looking for an access point. If more than
one access point can be used, the one with the strongest signal is used. This can only
happen when the various access points are using the same SSID.
• MCS Index/Data Rate. From the pull-down menu, select the available transmit data rate
of the wireless network. Also, depending on the band selected, the set of rates will vary.
(When Auto Channel is enabled in the 802.11ng mode, then the default Channel Width
mode is 20MHz. In this case, you can not modify this parameter unless you change to a
Static channel.) The possible data rates supported are:
• Data Rates for Channel Width=20MHz and Guard Interval=short (400ms): Best,
7.2 Mbps, 14.4 Mbps, 21.7 Mbps, 28.9 Mbps, 43.3 Mbps, 57.8 Mbps, 65 Mbps, 72.2
Mbps, 14.44 Mbps, 28.88 Mbps, 43.33 Mbps, 57.77 Mbps, 86.66 Mbps, 115.56 Mbps,
130 Mbps, 144.44 Mbps