56

Click the

button. The Alert icon appears.

Click the Alert icon, and then the

link.

57

Configure

Advanced

If you click the

link, the advanced

802.11 Wireless Settings

page appears.

Note:

This page displays different options depending on which form of Privacy or other

58

options you have enabled.

You can then configure:

Operating Mode:

The pull-down menu allows you to select and lock the Gateway into the

wireless transmission mode you want. For compatibility with clients using 802.11

b

(up to

11 Mbps transmission) and 802.11

g

(up to 20+ Mbps), select

Normal (802.11b + g)

. To

limit your wireless LAN to one mode or the other, select

802.11b Only

, or

802.11g Only

.

☛

NOTE:

If you choose to limit the operating mode to 802.11b or 802.11g only, clients

using the mode you excluded will not be able to connect.

Default Channel:

on which the network will broadcast. This is a frequency range within the

2.4Ghz band. Channel selection depends on government regulated radio frequencies that

vary from region to region. The widest range available is from 1 to 14. However, in North

America only 1 to 11 may be selected. Europe, France, Spain and Japan will differ. Channel

selection can have a significant impact on performance, depending on other wireless activ-

ity close to this Gateway. Channel selection is not necessary at the client computers; the

clients will scan the available channels seeking access points using the same SSID as the

client.

AutoChannel Setting

: For 802.11G models, AutoChannel is a feature that allows the

Netopia Gateway to determine the best channel to broadcast automatically.

Three settings are available from the pull-down menu:

Off-Use default

,

At Startup

, and

Continuous

.

•

Off-Use default

is the default setting; the Netopia Gateway will use the configured

default channel selected from the previous pull-down menu.

•

At Startup

causes the Netopia Gateway at startup to briefly initialize on the default

channel, then perform a full two- to three-second scan, and switch to the best channel

it can find, remaining on that channel until the next reboot.

•

Continuous

performs the at-startup scan, and will continuously monitor the current

channel for any other Access Point beacons. If an Access Point beacon is detected on

the same channel, the Netopia Gateway will initiate a three- to four-minute scan of the

channels, locate a better one, and switch. Once it has switched, it will remain on this

channel for at least 30 minutes before switching again if another Access Point is

detected.

59

Configure

Enable Closed System Mode

: If enabled, Closed System Mode hides the wireless net-

work from the scanning features of wireless client computers. Unless both the wireless cli-

ents and the Gateway share the same SSID in Closed System mode, the Gateway’s

wireless LAN will not appear as an available network when scanned for by wireless-enabled

computers. Members of the Closed System WLAN must log onto the Gateway’s wireless

network with the identical SSID as that configured in the router.

Closed System mode is an ideal way to increase wireless security and to prevent casual

detection by unwanted neighbors, office users, or malicious users such as hackers.

If you do not enable Closed System Mode, it is more convenient, but potentially less

secure, for clients to access your WLAN by scanning available access points. You must

decide based on your own network requirements.

About Closed System Mode

Enabling Closed System Mode on your wireless Gateway provides another level of security,

since your wireless LAN will no longer appear as an available access point to client PCs

that are casually scanning for one.

Your own wireless network clients, however, must log into the wireless LAN by using the

exact SSID of the Netopia Gateway.

In addition, if you have enabled WEP encryption on the Netopia Gateway, your network cli-

ents must also have WEP encryption enabled, and must have the same WEP encryption

key as the Netopia Gateway.

Once the Netopia Gateway is located by a client computer, by setting the client to a match-

ing SSID, the client can connect immediately if WEP is not enabled. If WEP is enabled then

the client must also have WEP enabled and a matching WEP key.

Wireless client cards from different manufacturers and different operating systems accom-

plish connecting to a wireless LAN and enabling WEP in a variety of ways. Consult the doc-

umentation for your particular wireless card and/or operating system.

☛

NOTE:

While clients may also have a passphrase feature, these are vendor-specific

and may not necessarily create the same keys. You can passphrase generate

a set of keys on one, and manually enter them on the other to get around this.

60

Block Wireless Bridging:

Check the checkbox to block wireless clients from communicat-

ing with other wireless clients on the LAN side of the Gateway.

•

WEP - Manual

allows you to enter your own encryption keys manually. This is a difficult

process, but only needs to be done once. Avoid the temptation to enter all the same

characters.

Encryption Key Size #1 – #4

: Selects the length of each encryption key. The longer the

key, the stronger the encryption and the more difficult it is to break the encryption.