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Chapter 2: Planning Your Wireless Network
Network Topology
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.
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 wireless-
equipped computers is limited by the distance and interference directly between them.
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
infrastructure: a wireless network that is bridged
to a wired network via an access point.
ssid (service set identifier): your wireless network’s name.
ad-hoc: a group of wireless devices
communicating directly to each other (peer-to-
peer) without the use of an access point.