Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network. Linksys WRT150N - Wireless-N home router

Wireless-N Home Router

Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network

Network Topology

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 shared by the wireless devices belonging to the same wireless network.

ssid (service set identifier): your wireless network’s name.

Ad-Hoc versus Infrastructure Mode

Unlike wired networks, wireless networks have two different modes in which they may be set up: infrastructure and ad-hoc. An infrastructure configuration is a WLAN and wired LAN communicating to each other through an access point. An ad-hoc configuration is wireless-equipped computers communicating directly with each other.

Choosing between these two modes depends on whether or not the wireless network needs to share data or peripherals with a wired network or not.

If the computers on the wireless network need to be accessible 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. The basis of Infrastructure mode centers around a wireless router or an access point, such as the

Wireless-N Home Router, which serves as the main point of communications in a wireless network. The Router transmits data to PCs equipped with wireless network adapters, which can roam within a certain radial range of the Router. You can arrange the Router and multiple access points to work in succession to extend the roaming range, and you can set up your wireless network to communicate with your Ethernet hardware as well.

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. Ad-Hoc mode allows computers equipped with wireless transmitters and receivers to communicate directly with each other, eliminating the need for a wireless router or access point. The drawback of this mode is that in Ad-Hoc mode, wireless-equipped computers are not able to communicate with computers on a wired network. And, of course, communication between the wirelessequipped computers is limited by the distance and interference directly between them. infrastructure : a wireless network that is bridged to a wired network via an access point.

ad-hoc : a group of wireless devices communicating directly to each other (peer-topeer) without the use of an access point.

Network Layout

The Wireless-N Home Router has been specifically designed for use with your Wireless-N, Wireless-G, and

Wireless-B products. It will work with notebook adapters for your laptop computers, PCI adapters for your

Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network

Network Topology

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Wireless-N Home Router desktop computers, and USB adapters for your USB connectivity needs. The Router can also communicate with other devices, such as wireless print servers and bridges.

When you wish to connect your wireless network to your wired network, you can use the Router’s four local

Ethernet ports. To add more ports, connect one of the Router's local ports to any Linksys switch.

With these, and many other, Linksys products, your networking options are limitless. Go to the Linksys website at www.linksys.com/international for more information about products that work with the Wireless-N Home Router.

Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network

Network Layout

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