Wireless Placement And Range Guidelines; Wireless Security Options - NETGEAR DGN2200M - Wireless-N 300 Router User Manual

N300 Wireless ADSL2+ Modem Router DGN2200M Mobile Edition User Manual

Wireless Placement and Range Guidelines

The range of your wireless connection can vary significantly based on the physical placement
of the wireless modem router. The latency, data throughput performance, and notebook
power consumption of wireless adapters also vary depending on your configuration choices.
For best results, place your wireless modem router according to the following guidelines:
• Near the center of the area in which your PCs will operate.
• In an elevated location such as a high shelf where the wirelessly connected PCs have
line-of-sight access (even if through walls).
• Away from sources of interference, such as PCs, microwave ovens, and 2.4 GHz
cordless phones.
• Away from large metal surfaces.
• Put the antenna in a vertical position to provide the best side-to-side coverage. Put the
antenna in a horizontal position to provide the best up-and-down coverage.
• If using multiple access points, it is better if adjacent access points use different radio
frequency channels to reduce interference. The recommended channel spacing between
adjacent access points is 5 channels (for example, use Channels 1 and 6, or 6 and 11).
The time it takes to establish a wireless connection can vary depending on both your security
settings and placement. WEP connections can take slightly longer to establish. Also, WEP
encryption can consume more battery power on a notebook computer.

Wireless Security Options

Indoors, computers can connect over 802.11g wireless networks at a maximum range of up
to 300 feet. Such distances can allow for others outside your immediate area to access your
network.
Unlike wired network data, your wireless data transmissions can extend beyond your walls
and can be received by anyone with a compatible adapter. For this reason, use the security
features of your wireless equipment. The N300 Wireless ADSL2+ Modem Router provides
highly effective security features, which are covered in detail in this chapter. Deploy the
security features appropriate to your needs.
There are several ways you can enhance the security of your wireless network:
• Restrict access based on MAC address. You can allow only trusted PCs to connect so
that unknown PCs cannot wirelessly connect to the wireless modem router. Restricting
access by MAC address adds an obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but
the data broadcast over the wireless link is fully exposed.
• Turn off the broadcast of the wireless network name (SSID). If you disable broadcast
of the SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies wireless
network discovery feature of some products, such as Windows XP, but the data is still
exposed.
• WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption provides data security. WEP
Shared Key authentication and WEP data encryption block all but the most determined
Chapter 2. Wireless Network Configuration | 29