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Default Channel
(1 through 11, for North America) 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.
Europe, France, Spain and Japan differ. Channel selection can have a significant impact on
performance, depending on other wireless activity close to this Router. Channel selection
is not necessary at the client computers; the clients will scan the available channels seek-
ing 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 deter-
mine 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
: the Netopia Gateway will use the configured default channel selected
from the previous pull-down menu.
•
At Startup
– the default setting – causes the Netopia Gateway at startup to briefly ini-
tialize 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.
Enable Closed System Mode
If enabled, Closed System Mode hides the wireless network from the scanning features of
wireless client computers. Unless both the wireless clients and the Router share the same
Wireless ID in Closed System mode, the Router’s wireless LAN will not appear as an avail-
able network when scanned for by wireless-enabled computers. Members of the Closed
System WLAN must log onto the Router’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.
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