User's Manual

9
2. Planning Your Wireless Network
2.1 WLAN
A wireless local area network (WLAN) is exactly like a regular local area network
(LAN), except that each computer in the WLAN uses a wireless device to connect to
the network. Computers in a WLAN share the same frequency channel and SSID,
which is an identification name for wireless devices.
2.2 Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure
Unlike wired networks, wireless networks have two different modes: Ad-Hoc and
Infrastructure. An Ad-Hoc configuration is wireless-equipped computers
communicating directly with each other. An infrastructure configuration is a WLAN
and wired LAN communicating to each other through an access point. Choosing
between these two modes depends on whether or not the wireless network needs to
share data or peripherals with a wired network.
If the computers on the wireless network need to be accessed by a wired network or
need to share a peripheral, such as a printer, with the wired network computers, the
wireless network should be set up in Infrastructure mode. (See Figure 2-1.) The
basis of infrastructure mode centers around an access point, which serves as the main
point of communications in a wireless network. Access points transmit data to PCs
equipped with wireless network devices, which can roam within a certain radial range
of the access point. Multiple access points can be arranged to work in succession to
extend the roaming range, and can be set up to communicate with your Ethernet
(wired) hardware as well.
Figure 2-1
If the wireless network is relatively small and needs to share resources only with the
other computers on the wireless network, then the Ad-Hoc mode can be used. (See