NETGEAR RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300 Reference Manual

Safeguarding Your Network

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v1.0, February 2008

•

Region

. This field identifies the region where the WNDR3300 router can be used. It might

not be legal to operate the wireless features of the wireless router in a region other than

one of those identified in this field.

•

Mode

. This field determines which 802.11 data communications protocol is used. You can

select one of the following modes:

–

Up to 270 Mbps at 2.4 GHz

–

Up to 270 Mbps at 5 GHz and 54 Mbps at 2.4 GHz

. This is the default mode.

–

Up to 130 Mbps at 2.4 GHz

–

Up to 130 Mbps at 5 GHz and 54 Mbps at 2.4 GHz

The following information might help you to decide which mode to select:

–

Up To 54 Mbps

. Legacy mode, for compatibility with the slower 802.11b and

802.11g wireless devices.

–

Up To 130 Mbps

. Neighbor Friendly mode, for reduced interference with neighboring

wireless networks. Provides two transmission streams with different data on the same

channel at the same time, but also allows 802.11b and 802.11g wireless devices.

–

Up To 270 Mbps

. Performance mode, using channel expansion to achieve the 270

Mbps data rate. The WNDR3300 router uses the channel you selected as the primary

channel and expands to the secondary channel (primary channel +4 or –4) to achieve a

40 MHz frame-by-frame bandwidth. The WNDR3300 router detects channel usage

and disables frame-by-frame expansion if the expansion would result in interference

with the data transmission of other access points or clients.

Note:

The region selection feature might not be available in all countries.

Note:

The maximum wireless signal rate is derived from the IEEE Standard 802.11

specifications. Actual data throughput will vary. Network conditions and

environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials

and construction, and network overhead, lower actual data throughput rate.

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•

11N Channel

or

11G Channel

. These fields determine which operating frequency is used

for the 11N or 11G wireless networks. It should not be necessary to change the wireless

channel unless you notice interference problems with another nearby wireless network.

For more information about the wireless channel frequencies, click the link to the online

document

“Wireless Networking Basics” in Appendix B

.

•

Security Options

. These options are the wireless security features that you can enable.

The security options displayed in this screen might change depending on the wireless

mode you select.

–

For a detailed explanation of security standards, see

“Choosing Appropriate Wireless

Security” on page 2-1

, and the online document you can access from

“Wireless

Networking Basics” in Appendix B

, as defined by the IEEE 802.11 wireless

communication standard.

–

For information about configuring WEP, see

“Configuring WEP Wireless Security”

on page 2-8

.

–

For information about configuring WPA, see

“Configuring WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK,

or WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK Wireless Security” on page 2-10

.

3.

Click

Apply

to save your settings.

Configuring WEP Wireless Security

WEP Shared Key authentication and WEP data encryption can be defeated by a determined

eavesdropper using publicly available tools.

WEP offers the following options:

•

Open System

. With Open System authentication and 64 or 128 bit WEP data encryption, the

WNDR3300

does

perform data encryption but

does not

perform any authentication. Anyone

can join the network. This setting provides very little practical wireless security.

•

Shared Key

. With Shared Key authentication, a wireless device must know the WEP key to

join the network. Select the encryption strength (64 or 128 bit data encryption). Manually

enter the key values, or enter a word or group of printable characters in the

Passphrase

field.

Manually entered keys

are not

case-sensitive, but passphrase characters

are

case-sensitive.

•

Automatic

. The wireless router automatically detects whether Open System or Shared Key is

used.

NETGEAR RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300 Reference Manual

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To configure WEP data encryption:

1.

Select

Wireless Settings

under Setup in the main menu.

2.

In the Security Options area, select

WEP

. The WEP options display.

3.

Select the authentication type and encryption strength.

Note:

If you use a wireless computer to configure WEP settings, you will be disconnected

when you click

Apply

. You must then either configure your wireless adapter to

match the wireless router WEP settings or access the wireless router from a wired

computer to make any further changes. Not all wireless adapter configuration

utilities support passphrase key generation.

Figure 2-3

NETGEAR RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Router WNDR3300 Reference Manual

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4.

You can manually or automatically program the four data encryption keys. These values must

be identical on all computers and access points in your network.

•

Automatic

. In the

Passphrase

field, enter a word or group of printable characters, and

click

Generate

. The passphrase is case-sensitive. For example, NETGEAR is not the

same as nETgear. The four key fields are automatically populated with key values.

•

Manual

. Enter 10 hexadecimal digits (any combination of 0–9, a–f, or A–F). These

entries are not case-sensitive. For example, AA is the same as aa.

Select which of the four keys to activate.

5.

Click

Apply

to save your settings.

Configuring WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, or WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK

Wireless Security

Wi-Fi Protected Access with Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK) data encryption

provides extremely strong data security, very effectively blocking eavesdropping. Because WPA

and WPA2 are relatively new standards, older wireless adapters and devices might not support

them. Check whether newer drivers are available from the manufacturer.

WPA–Pre-Shared Key

does

perform authentication. WPA-PSK uses TKIP (Temporal Key

Integrity Protocol) data encryption, and WPA2-PSK uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)

data encryption. Both methods dynamically change the encryption keys making them nearly

impossible to circumvent.

Mixed mode allows clients using either WPA-PSK (TKIP) or WPA2-PSK (AES). This provides

the most reliable security, and is easiest to implement, but it might not be compatible with older

adapters.

To configure WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK or WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK:

1.

Select

Wireless Settings

under Setup in the main menu.

Note:

Not all wireless adapters support WPA. Furthermore, client software is also

required. Windows XP with Service Pack 2 does include WPA support.

Nevertheless, the wireless adapter hardware and driver must also support WPA.

For instructions on configuring wireless computers or PDAs (personal digital

assistants) for WPA-PSK security, consult the documentation for the product you

are using.

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2.

Select one of the WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK options for the security type. The third option

(WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WP2-PSK [AES]) is the most flexible, since it allows clients using

either WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK.

3.

In the

Passphrase

field, enter a word or group of 8–63 printable characters. The passphrase is

case-sensitive.

4.

Click

Apply

to save your settings.

Viewing Advanced Wireless Settings

This section describes the wireless settings that you can view and specify in the Wireless Settings

screen, which you access under Advanced in the main menu.

To configure the advanced wireless security settings of your router:

1.

Log in to the router as described in

“Logging In to Your Wireless Router” on page 1-2.

Figure 2-4