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CONFIGURATION
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You can adjust the wireless channel on the next screen. For optimal performance,
it’s best to use a channel that is furthest away from other wireless networks. For
example, if there is another wireless network running on channel 8, ideally you
want to use channel 2 or 1, as shown below. If you were to use a channel closer
to the existing wireless network, it would still work, but the performance would be
slightly diminished. If there are no other wireless networks around, or if you don’t
know which channel they operate on, it’s okay to leave the channel set at value “1.”
The option “Enable 40 MHz Bandwidth” should be selected for the best possible
performance. Click the right arrow to move to the next screen.
The next configuration aspect to consider is the security setup of the wireless
network. Unless you want to broadcast an unencrypted wireless signal that
everybody can connect to, it’s smart to secure the network with a password. First,
select the level of security from the Authentication drop-down menu:
• “Open” means that the wireless network will not be secured.
• “Shared” activates WEP encryption, but WEP encryption is very weak and should
only be used to connect legacy (older) devices that don’t support WPA or WPA2.
• “WPA-PSK” or (better) “WPA2-PSK” provides a good (and recommended) level
of protection; “WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK” allows access to clients using either.
The Encryption option can be set to either “AES” or “TKIP,” AES being the preferred
option since it’s more efficient. TKIP is a fallback, in case a wireless adapter doesn’t
support AES. Click the right arrow to continue the configuration.
