Dual-Band Wireless A/G Broadband Router
Transmission Rate
The rate of data transmission should be set depending on the
speed of your wireless network. You can select from a range of transmission speeds
(
6
,
9
,
12
,
18
,
24
,
36
,
48
, or
54
Mbps), or you can select
Auto
to have the Router
automatically use the fastest possible data rate and enable the Auto-Fallback fea-
ture. Auto-Fallback will negotiate the best possible connection speed between the
Router and a wireless client. The default value is
Auto
.
Transmit Power Control
(Wireless-G ONLY) The greater the transmit power
used, the larger the area a wireless network covers. To minimize the likelihood of
eavesdropping by unauthorized wireless users, do not use more transmit power than
necessary to cover the range needed for your wireless network. Try using the Router
at different levels of transmit power, and determine how much transmit power is
needed to reach the wireless client, such as a PC, or access point that is farthest
from the Router. Then select the appropriate level of transmit power (
Full
,
Half
,
Quarter
,
Eighth
, or
Min
) from the drop-down menu. The default value is
Full
.
Beacon Interval
The default value is
100
. Enter a value between 1 and 65,535 mil-
liseconds. The Beacon Interval value indicates the frequency interval of the beacon.
A beacon is a packet broadcast by the Router to synchronize the wireless network.
DTIM Interval
This value, between 1 and 16384, indicates the interval of the
Delivery Traffic Indication Message (DTIM). A DTIM field is a countdown field
informing clients of the next window for listening to broadcast and multicast mes-
sages. When the Router has buffered broadcast or multicast messages for associat-
ed clients, it sends the next DTIM with a DTIM Interval value. Its clients hear the
beacons and awaken to receive the broadcast and multicast messages. The default
value is
1
.
RTS Threshold
Should you encounter inconsistent data flow, only minor reduc-
tion of the default value, 2346, is recommended. If a network packet is smaller than
the preset RTS threshold size, the RTS/CTS mechanism will not be enabled. The
Router sends Request to Send (RTS) frames to a particular receiving station and
negotiates the sending of a data frame. After receiving an RTS, the wireless station
responds with a Clear to Send (CTS) frame to acknowledge the right to begin trans-
mission. The RTS Threshold value should remain at its default value of
2346
.
Fragmentation Threshold
This value specifies the maximum size for a packet
before data is fragmented into multiple packets. If you experience a high packet
error rate, you may slightly increase the Fragmentation Threshold. Setting the
Fragmentation Threshold too low may result in poor network performance. Only
minor reduction of the default value is recommended. In most cases, it should
remain at its default value of
2346
.
53
The
Advanced Wireless
screen, shown in Figure 6-21, allows you to customize
data transmission settings. In most cases, the advanced wireless settings on this
screen should remain at their default values.
Wireless MAC Filters
Wireless access can be filtered by using the MAC
addresses of the wireless devices transmitting within your network’s radius.
Select Enable from the drop-down menu and choose if you wish to Prevent
wireless access by MAC address or Permit by MAC Address. Then, click the
Edit MAC Filter List button to access a secondary screen, where you can enter
the MAC Addresses of the devices you wish to filter.
Authentication Type
The default is set to
Auto
, which allows either Open
System or Shared Key authentication to be used. For Open System authentica-
tion, the sender and the recipient do NOT use a WEP key for authentication.
For Shared Key authentication, the sender and recipient use a WEP key for
authentication. If you want to use only Shared Key authentication, then select
Shared Key
.
52
Figure 6-21
Advanced Wireless