User's Manual

Chapter 6 Wireless 51
Traditionally, a wireless network operates in one of two ways.
• An “infrastructure” type of network has one or mo
re access points and one or more wireless
clients. The wireless clients connect to the access points.
• An “ad-hoc” type of network is one in which there is no acce
ss point. Wireless clients connect to
one another in order to exchange information.
The following figure provides an example of a wireless network.
Figure 25 Example o
f a Wireless Network
The wireless network is the part in the blue circle. In this wireless network, devices A and B use the
access point (AP) to interact with the other devices (such as the printer) or with the Internet. Your
Device is the AP.
Every wireless network must follow these basic guidelines.
• Every device in the same wireless network must use the same SSID.
The SSID is the name of the wireless netwo
rk. It stands for Service Set IDentifier.
• If two wireless networks overlap, the
y should use a different channel.
Like radio stations or television channels, each w
ireless network uses a specific channel, or
frequency, to send and receive information.
• Every device in the same wireless network must use security compatible with the AP.