Page 66 / 114 Scroll up to view Page 61 - 65
Version 1.1, 08/2013. Copyright
2013 Hitron Technologies
66
Hitron CGN3 User’s Guide
5
Wireless
This chapter describes the screens that display when you click
Wireless
in the
toolbar. It contains the following sections:
Wireless Overview
on page
66
Basic Settings Screen
on page
70
WPS & Security Screen
on page
75
Access Control Screen
on page
78
5.1
Wireless Overview
This section describes some of the concepts related to the
Wireless
screens.
5.1.1
Wireless Networking Basics
Your CGN3’s wireless network is part of the Local Area Network (LAN), known as the
Wireless LAN (WLAN). The WLAN is a network of radio links between the CGN3 and
the other computers and devices that connect to it.
5.1.2
Architecture
The wireless network consists of two types of device: access points (APs) and
clients.
The access point controls the network, providing a wireless connection to each
client.
Page 67 / 114
Version 1.1, 08/2013. Copyright
2013 Hitron Technologies
67
Hitron CGN3 User’s Guide
The wireless clients connect to the access point in order to receive a wireless
connection to the WAN and the wired LAN.
The CGN3 is the access point, and the computers you connect to the CGN3 are the
wireless clients.
5.1.3
Wireless Standards
The way in which wireless devices communicate with one another is standardized by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE standards
pertaining to wireless LANs are identified by their 802.11 designation. There are a
variety of WLAN standards, but the CGN3 supports the following (in order of adoption
- old to new - and data transfer speeds - low to high):
IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11g
IEEE 802.11n
5.1.4
Service Sets and SSIDs
Each wireless network, including all the devices that comprise it, is known as a
Service Set.
NOTE:
Depending on its capabilities and configuration, a single wireless access
point may control multiple Service Sets; this is often done to provide different
service or security levels to different clients.
Each Service Set is identified by a Service Set IDentifier (SSID). This is the name of
the network. Wireless clients must know the SSID in order to be able to connect to
the AP. You can configure the CGN3 to broadcast the SSID (in which case, any client
who scans the airwaves can discover the SSID), or to “hide” the SSID (in which case
it is not broadcast, and only users who already know the SSID can connect).
Page 68 / 114
Version 1.1, 08/2013. Copyright
2013 Hitron Technologies
68
Hitron CGN3 User’s Guide
5.1.5
Wireless Security
Radio is inherently an insecure medium, since it can be intercepted by anybody in the
coverage area with a radio receiver. Therefore, a variety of techniques exist to control
authentication (identifying who should be allowed to join the network) and encryption
(signal scrambling so that only authenticated users can decode the transmitted data).
The sophistication of each security method varies, as does its effectiveness. The
CGN3 supports the following wireless security protocols (in order of effectiveness):
WEP
(the Wired Equivalency Protocol): this protocol uses a series of “keys” or
data strings to authenticate the wireless client with the AP, and to encrypt data
sent over the wireless link. WEP is a deprecated protocol, and should only be
used when it is the only security standard supported by the wireless clients.
WEP provides only a nominal level of security, since widely-available software
exists that can break it in a matter of minutes.
WPA-PSK
(WiFi Protected Access - Pre-Shared Key): WPA was created to
solve the inadequacies of WEP. There are two types of WPA: the “enterprise”
version (known simply as WPA) requires the use of a central authentication
database server, whereas the “personal” version (supported by the CGN3)
allows users to authenticate using a “pre-shared key” or password instead.
While WPA provides good security, it is still vulnerable to “brute force”
password-guessing attempts (in which an attacker simply barrages the AP with
join requests using different passwords), so for optimal security it is advised that
you use a random password of thirteen characters or more, containing no
“dictionary” words.
WPA2-PSK
: WPA2 is an improvement on WPA. The primary difference is that
WPA uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption standard
(which has been shown to have certain possible weaknesses), whereas WPA2
uses the stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode
with Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP),
which has received the US government’s seal of approval for communications
up to the Top Secret security level. Since WPA2-PSK uses the same pre-shared
key mechanism as WPA-PSK, the same caveat against using insecure or
simple passwords applies.
5.1.5.1
WPS
WiFi-Protected Setup (WPS) is a standardized method of allowing wireless devices
to quickly and easily join wireless networks, while maintaining a good level of
security. The CGN3 provides two methods of WPS authentication:
Page 69 / 114
Version 1.1, 08/2013. Copyright
2013 Hitron Technologies
69
Hitron CGN3 User’s Guide
Push-Button Configuration
(PBC)
: when the user presses the
PBC
button on
the AP (either a physical button, or a virtual button in the GUI), any user of a
wireless client that supports WPS can press the corresponding
PBC
button on
the client within two minutes to join the network.
Personal Identification Number (PIN) Configuration
: all WPS-capable
devices possess a PIN (usually to be found printed on a sticker on the device’s
housing). When you configure another device to use the same PIN, the two
devices authenticate with one another.
Once authenticated, devices that have joined a network via WPS use the WPA2
security standard.
5.1.6
WMM
WiFi MultiMedia (WMM) is a Quality of Service (QoS) enhancement that allows
prioritization of certain types of data over the wireless network. WMM provides four
data type classifications (in priority order; highest to lowest):
Voice
Video
Best effort
Background
If you wish to improve the performance of voice and video (at the expense of other,
less time-sensitive applications such as Internet browsing and FTP transfers), you
can enable WMM. You can also edit the WMM QoS parameters, but are disadvised
to do so unless you have an extremely good reason to make the changes.
5.1.7
Guest Networks
Your CGN3 supports the creation of a wireless guest network. A guest network
enables you to allow temporary visitors to access your wireless Internet connection
without revealing your primary network password(s). Computers connected to the
guest network can access the Internet connection only, and have no access to other
computers or devices on the wireless or wired network.
Page 70 / 114
Version 1.1, 08/2013. Copyright
2013 Hitron Technologies
70
Hitron CGN3 User’s Guide
5.2
Basic Settings Screen
Use this screen to configure your CGN3’s basic 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless settings.
You can turn the wireless modules on or off, select the wireless mode and channel,
and configure the wireless networks’ SSID settings.
The CGN3 has separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks:
To configure the CGN3’s 2.4GHz wireless network, click
Wireless
>
Basic
Settings
, then click the
2.4G
tab. See
2.4G Settings
on page
70
for information
on the screen that displays.
To configure the CGN3’s 5GHz wireless network, click
Wireless
>
Basic
Settings
, then click the
5G
tab. See
5G Settings
on page
72
for information on
the screen that displays.
5.2.1
2.4G Settings
Use this screen to configure the CGN3’s 2.4GHz wireless network.
Click
Wireless
>
Basic Settings
, then click the
2.4G
tab. The following screen
displays.
Figure 26:
The Wireless: Basic Settings Screen (2.4G)

Rate

3.5 / 5 based on 2 votes.

Popular Hitron Models

Bookmark Our Site

Press Ctrl + D to add this site to your favorites!

Share
Top