25

Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Wireless Tab - Wireless Network Access

Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Wireless Tab - Wireless Network Access

Wireless access can be filtered by using the MAC addresses of the wireless devices transmitting within your

network’s radius.

MAC Filter

. To filter wireless users by MAC Address, either permitting or blocking access, click

Enable

. If you do

not wish to filter users by MAC Address, select

Disable

.

Deny

. Clicking this button will block the wireless access by MAC Address.

Allow

. Clicking this button will allow the wireless access by MAC Address.

Select MAC Address from Networked Computers

. Clicking this button will open the Wireless Client MAC List.

On this screen, you can view users, by MAC Address, to whom you wish to provide or block access. To enable

MAC filtering for a specific computer, click the

Enable MAC Filter

checkbox. When you have finished your

changes, click the

Save

button. Click the

Cancel

button to cancel your changes. To update the information on the

Wireless Client MAC List, click the

Refresh

button.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of a

screen. For additional information, click

More

.

Figure 5-18: Wireless Tab - Wireless Network Access

Figure 5-19: Wireless Client MAC List

26

Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Wireless Tab - Advanced Wireless Settings

Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Wireless Tab - Advanced Wireless Settings

This tab is used to set up the Router’s advanced wireless functions. These settings should only be adjusted by an

expert administrator as incorrect settings can reduce wireless performance.

Basic Rate

. The Basic Rate setting is not actually one rate of transmission but a series of rates at which the

Router can transmit. The Router will advertise its Basic Rate to the other wireless devices in your network, so

they know which rates will be used. The Router will also advertise that it will automatically select the best rate

for transmission. The default setting is

Default

, when the Router can transmit at all standard wireless rates

(1-2Mbps, 5.5Mbps, 11Mbps, 18Mbps, and 24Mbps). Other options are

1-2Mbps

, for use with older wireless

technology, and

All

, when the Router can transmit at all wireless rates. The Basic Rate is not the actual rate of

data transmission. If you want to specify the Router’s rate of data transmission, configure the Transmission Rate

setting.

Control Tx Rate

. The rate of data transmission should be set depending on the speed of your wireless network.

You can select from a range of transmission speeds, or you can select

Auto

to have the Router automatically use

the fastest possible data rate and enable the Auto-Fallback feature. Auto-Fallback will negotiate the best possible

connection speed between the Router and a wireless client. The default value is

Auto

.

Preamble Type

. The preamble defines the length of the CRC block for communication between the Router and

the roaming Network Card. (High network traffic areas should use the shorter preamble type.) Select the

appropriate preamble type,

Long Preamble (default)

or

Short Preamble

.

Authentication Type

. The default is set to

Auto

, which allows either Open System or Shared Key authentication

to be used. With

Open System

authentication, the sender and the recipient do NOT use a WEP key for

authentication. With

Shared Key

authentication, the sender and recipient use a WEP key for authentication.

CTS Protection Mode

. CTS (Clear-To-Send) Protection Mode should remain disabled unless you are having

severe problems with your Wireless-G products. If these products are not able to transmit to the Router in an

environment with heavy 802.11b traffic, then enable CTS Protection Mode. This function boosts the Router’s

ability to catch all Wireless-G transmissions but will significantly decrease performance.

Beacon Interval

. The default value is

100

. Enter a value between 1 and 65,535 milliseconds. The Beacon Interval

value indicates the frequency interval of the beacon. A beacon is a packet broadcast by the Router to synchronize

the wireless network.

DTIM Interval

. This value, between 1 and 255, indicates the interval of the Delivery Traffic Indication Message

(DTIM). A DTIM field is a countdown field informing clients of the next window for listening to broadcast and

multicast messages. When the Router has buffered broadcast or multicast messages for associated clients, it

sends the next DTIM with a DTIM Interval value. Its clients hear the beacons and awaken to receive the broadcast

and multicast messages. The default value is

1

.

Figure 5-20: Wireless Tab - Advanced Wireless Settings

beacon interval

: data transmitted on your wireless

network that keeps the network synchronized

cts

(clear to send): a signal sent by a wireless

device, signifying that it is ready to receive data

dtim

: a message included in data packets

that can increase wireless efficiency.

27

Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Security Tab - Filter

Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

Fragmentation Threshold

. This value specifies the maximum size for a packet before data is fragmented into

multiple packets. If you experience a high packet error rate, you may slightly increase the Fragmentation

Threshold. Setting the Fragmentation Threshold too low may result in poor network performance. Only minor

reduction of the default value is recommended. In most cases, it should remain at its default value of

2346

.

RTS Threshold

. Should you encounter inconsistent data flow, only minor reduction of the default value,

2347

, is

recommended. If a network packet is smaller than the preset RTS threshold size, the RTS/CTS mechanism will

not be enabled. The Router sends Request to Send (RTS) frames to a particular receiving station and negotiates

the sending of a data frame. After receiving an RTS, the wireless station responds with a Clear to Send (CTS)

frame to acknowledge the right to begin transmission. The RTS Threshold value should remain at its default value

of

2347

.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of a

screen. For additional information, click

More

.

The Security Tab - Filter

When you click the Security tab, you will see the

Filter

screen. Filters block specific internal users from accessing

the Internet and block anonymous Internet requests and/or multicasting.

Filter IP Address Range

You can create up to five different IP Address Range filters. To set up a filter using IP addresses, enter the range

of IP addresses you wish to filter in the

Start

and

End

fields. Users who have filtered IP addresses will not be able

to access the Internet at all. If you only want to filter one IP address instead of a range of IP addresses, enter the

same value into both fields. For instance, if you wish to filter the PC with the IP address of 192.168.1.5, enter

5

into both fields on one line: 192.168.1.

5

~ 192.168.1.

5

.

Filter Port Range

You can create up to five different Port Range filters. To filter users by network port number, select the protocol

you want to filter,

TCP

,

UDP

, or

Both

, from the

Protocol

drop-down menu. Enter the port numbers you want to

filter in the

Start

and

End

fields. Users connected to the Router will no longer be able to access any port number

listed there.

Figure 5-21: Security Tab - Filter

fragmentation

: breaking a packet into smaller units

when transmitting over a network medium that

cannot support the original size of the packet.

28

Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Security Tab - Filter

Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

Filter MAC Address

This feature blocks computers with specific MAC addresses from going out to the Internet. For information on

obtaining a MAC address, go to “Appendix E: Finding the MAC Address and IP Address for Your Ethernet Adapter.”

To set the MAC filter, click the

Edit MAC Filter Setting

button.

Edit MAC Filter Setting

. Click the

Edit MAC Filter Setting

button. Select the range of MAC address entries in the

drop-down box. In each

mac

field, enter the MAC address you want to filter.

Click the

Apply

button before closing

the window. To cancel changes, click the

Undo

button.

Block WAN Requests

Use these features to enhance your network’s security and filter multicasting.

Block Anonymous Internet Requests

. This keeps your network from being “pinged” or detected and reinforces

your network security by hiding your network ports, so it is more difficult for intruders to work their way into your

network. Select

Enabled

to block anonymous Internet requests, or

Disabled

to allow anonymous Internet

requests.

Filter Multicast

. Multicasting allows for multiple transmissions to specific recipients at the same time. If

multicasting is permitted, then the Router will allow IP multicast packets to be forwarded to the appropriate

computers. Select

Enabled

to filter multicasting, or

Disabled

to disable this feature.

Filter Internet NAT Redirection

. This feature uses port forwarding to block access to local servers from local

networked computers. Select

Enabled

to filter Internet NAT Redirection, or

Disabled

to disable this feature.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of a

screen. For additional information, click

More

.

Figure 5-22: Filtered MAC Address

29

Chapter 5: Configuring the Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Security Tab - VPN Passthrough

Wireless-G Broadband Router with 2 Phone Ports

The Security Tab - VPN Passthrough

The

VPN Passthrough

screen allows you to allow VPN tunnels using IPSec, PPPoE, or PPTP protocols to pass

through the Router.

VPN Passthrough

IPSec Passthrough

. IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) is a suite of protocols used to implement secure exchange

of packets at the IP layer. To allow IPSec Passthrough, click the

Enabled

button. To disable IPSec Passthrough,

click the

Disabled

button.

PPPoE Passthrough

. PPPoE (Point-to-Point over Ethernet) Passthrough allows your PC(s) to use the PPPoE client

software provided by your ISP. Some ISPs may request that you use this feature on the Router. To allow PPPoE

Passthrough, click the

Enabled

button. To disable PPPoE Passthrough, click the

Disabled

button.

PPTP Pass Through

. PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) Passthrough allows the Point-to-Point (PPP) to be

tunneled through an IP network. To allow PPTP Passthrough, click the

Enabled

button. To disable PPTP

Passthrough, click the

Disabled

button.

When you have finished making changes on this screen, click the

Save Settings

button to save the changes, or

click the

Cancel Changes

button to undo your changes. Help information is shown on the right-hand side of a

screen. For additional information, click

More

.

Figure 5-23: Security Tab - VPN Passthrough

ipsec

: a VPN protocol used to implement

secure exchange of packets at the IP layer

pptp

: a VPN protocol that allows the Point to Point

Protocol (PPP) to be tunneled through an IP network.

This protocol is also used as a type of broadband

connection in Europe

vpn

: a security measure to protect data as it leaves

one network and goes to another over the Internet