Netgear WN604 WN604 Reference Manual - Page 39

NETGEAR Wireless N150 Access Point WN604 Reference Manual • Turn Radio On. On by default, you can also turn off the radio to disable access through this device. This can be helpful for configuration, network tuning, or troubleshooting activities. • Wireless Network Name (SSID). This is the name of your wireless network. It is set to the default name of NETGEAR_11ng for 802.11b/bg/ng. • RF Switch Status. The WN604 also has an external hardware switch to enable or disable the radio (RF). This field shows its current status. When the RF switch is off, you cannot change wireless parameters. • Broadcast Wireless Network Name (SSID). If you disable broadcast of the SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies the wireless network "discovery" feature of some products such as Windows XP, Vista and Unix systems but the data is still fully exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test equipment like wireless sniffers. Default is enabled. • Channel/Frequency. From the pull-down menu, select the channel you wish to use on your wireless LAN. The wireless channel in use will be between 1 to 11 for US and Canada, 1 to 13 for Europe and Australia. The default is channel Auto. It should not be necessary to change the wireless channel unless you experience interference (shown by lost connections and/or slow data transfers). Should this happen, you may need to experiment with different channels to see which is the best. Alternatively, you can select the Auto channel option for the AP to intelligently pick the channel with least interference. See the article on "Wireless Channels" available on the NETGEAR website. (A link to this article and other articles of interest can be found in Appendix B, "Related Documents."). When selecting or changing channels, some points to bear in mind: - Access points use a fixed channel. You can select the channel used. This allows you to choose a channel which provides the least interference and best performance. In the USA and Canada, 11 channels are available - If using multiple access points, it is better if adjacent access points use different channels to reduce interference. The recommended channel spacing between adjacent access points is 5 channels (for example, use channels 1 and 6, or 6 and 11). - Wireless stations normally scan all channels, looking for an access point. If more than one access point can be used, the one with the strongest signal is used. This can only happen when the various access points are using the same SSID. • MCS Index/Data Rate. From the pull-down menu, select the available transmit data rate of the wireless network. Also, depending on the band selected, the set of rates will vary. The possible data rates supported are: Basic Installation and Configuration v1.0, March 2010 2-15