Wireless Compact USB Adapter
3
Chapter 2: Planning Your
Wireless Network
A wireless local area network (WLAN) is exactly like a regular local area net-
work (LAN), except that each computer in the WLAN uses a wireless device to
connect to the network. Computers in a WLAN share the same frequency
channel and SSID, which is an identification name for wireless devices.
The Wireless Compact USB Adapter provides access to a wired LAN for wire-
less computers.
Unlike wired networks, wireless networks have two different modes in which
they may be set up: infrastructure and ad-hoc. An infrastructure configura-
tion is a WLAN and wired LAN communicating to each other through an
access point. An ad-hoc configuration is wireless-equipped computers com-
municating directly with each other. Choosing between these two modes
depends on whether or not the wireless network needs to share data or periph-
erals with a wired network or not.
If the computers on the
wireless network need to
be accessed by a wired
network or need to share a
peripheral, such as a print-
er, with the wired network
computers, the wireless
network should be set up
in infrastructure mode.
(See Figure 2-1.) The
basis of infrastructure
mode centers around an
access point, which serves
as the main point of com-
munications in a wireless network. Access points transmit data to PCs
equipped with wireless network cards, which can roam within a certain radial
range of the access point. Multiple access points can be arranged to work in
succession to extend the roaming range, and can be set up to communicate with
your Ethernet (wired) hardware as well.
Network Topology
Ad-Hoc versus Infrastructure Mode
Figure 2-1
Instant Wireless
™
Series
2
•
One Wireless Compact USB Adapter
•
One USB Extension Cable
•
One Neck Strap
•
One Setup Wizard CD-ROM with User Guide
•
One Quick Installation guide
•
One Registration Card
One PC with the following:
•
90MHz or Higher CPU
•
Minimum 32MB RAM
•
Windows 98SE, Millennium, 2000, or XP
•
Available USB Port
•
CD-ROM Drive
System Requirements
Package Contents
Figure 1-1
