7
The Base Station links the broadband Internet device and the wireless comput-
ers so that each computer (laptops and desktops) on the Symphony network
has simultaneous Internet access and can share files and printers with each
other.
To use the Base Station in this configuration, you need an account with an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) and one of the following pieces of equipment
that you will connect to the Base Station with an Ethernet cable:
❑
An external cable modem
❑
An external DSL device, such as an ADSL modem
❑
An ISDN router
❑
Any other Ethernet device that can provide Internet access to a
network.
Note that ISDN terminal adapters cannot be used with the Base Station
because they do not communicate over Ethernet and do not have an RJ-45
connector.
The Base Station uses a technique known as Network Address Translation
(NAT) to provide up to ten wireless computers with simultaneous access to the
same Internet connection.
To implement NAT, the Base Station has two IP addresses: one that it uses to
communicate with the ISP’s network (which it receives from the ISP) and one
to communicate with the Symphony wireless network (which is referred to as
the Internal IP address).
In addition, the Base Station acts as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol) server to automatically assign IP addresses to its wireless clients.
By default, the Base Station is configured to accept a dynamic IP address from
an ISP’s DHCP server. If your ISP uses static IP addressing or PPPoE, then
you will need to configure the Base Station with the account information
assigned by your ISP.
See Chapter 6: “Base Station Management and Configuration Features” on
page 22 for more information on how to configure the Base Station’s TCP/IP
parameters.
