Brother MFC-820CW - Manual (Page 22)

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Configuring your machine for a wireless
network
Overview
To connect your machine to your wireless network, you need to follow the steps in the Quick Setup Guide.
We recommend that you use the Setup Wizard from the machine’s control panel LAN menu and the
installation application on the CD-ROM we have provided with the machine. By using this method, you can
easily connect your machine to your wireless network and install the network software and printer driver.
Please follow the instructions in the supplied Quick Setup Guide.
Please read this chapter for more details on how to configure the wireless network settings. For information
on TCP/IP settings, see
IP addresses, subnet masks and gateways on page 2-1. Then, in Chapter 5 (for
Windows ® ) and Chapter 6 (for Macintosh ® ), you will learn how to install the network software and drivers into
the operating system running on your computer.
Wireless network terms and concepts
When you configure the wireless network machine, you must ensure that your wireless network machine is
configured to match the settings of the existing wireless network. This section provides some of main terms
and concepts of these settings, which may be helpful when you configure the wireless network machine.
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. When configuring your
Brother device to work in a wireless network, you must set it to the channel that is used on the wireless
network that you are connecting to. 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
Print server specifications on page B-1.