18 CardBus Enhanced Wireless Network Adapter
Configuration
Configuration (
Figure 16
) displays, and allows you to modify, some important
parameters of the InstantWave adapter. All parameter changes are saved and are
referred to by the InstantWave driver when the system boots.
•
Network Mode
– The IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.11b wireless specifications
allow for two types of network,
infrastructure
and
ad hoc
.
Infrastructure
is
used when networking with an access point. The default setting is
Infrastructure
.
•
Domain Name (SSID)
– Stations and APs in the same group must use the
same domain name. This name is defined in the 802.11b wireless standard as
the SSID (Service Set ID).
Having the same domain name allows all wireless nodes in the same domain
(or cell) to communicate with each other. The default setting is
TIWLAN
. All
SSIDs entered will be stored and may be accessed from the dropdown list.
You can clear the list by clicking
Empty SSID
.
Note: The SSID is case-sensitive and should not contain any spaces.
•
Empty SSID
– Clears the SSID list.
•
Transmission Rate
– The speed at which the data packets are transmitted by
the client or AP. You can set this to
1Mb
(that is, 1 megabit per second),
2Mb
,
5.5Mb
,
11Mb,
22
Mb,
or
Fully Automatic
. Usually this should be set to
Fully
Automatic
. In an electromagnetically “noisy” environment, a lower rate can
provide more stable transmission quality.
•
Channel
– For ad hoc networks only. In a multiple cell network topology,
overlapping and/or adjacent cells using different channels can operate
simultaneously without interference if the frequency distance between the
center frequencies is at least 30 MHz. For example, channels 1, 7, and 13 are
non-overlapping channels.
In the case of an infrastructure network, changing the channel number has no
affect as the channel is scanned for automatically. The client will look for an
AP with the same SSID, and automatically associate with it.
•
Power Saving Mode
– Power saving mode is used to minimize the power
consumption of the adapter when the notebook PC is powered by battery. Be
aware that the transmission performance will be degraded when power saving
is enabled.
