Advanced Wireless Settings on AP541N Access Point

Objective

Advanced wireless settings are used to configure important features such as mode, the channel a wireless transmission works with, and the bandwidth required for a wireless connection. Advanced settings directly control the behavior of the wireless radio device in the access point and its interaction with the physical medium.

The objective of this document is to explain the configuration of advanced wireless settings on an AP541N Wireless-N Access Points.

Applicable Device

• AP541N Access Point

Software Version

• AP541N-K9-2.0(4)

Advanced Settings

Step 1. Log in to the Access Point Configuration Utility and choose Wireless > Advanced Settings. The Advanced Settings page opens:

Step 2. Click the On radio button to turn on the Status and enable the wireless mode. This enables the user to adjust the advanced wireless settings of the Access Point (AP) manually.

Step 3. Choose a suitable mode for the radio interface from the Mode drop-down list. The Mode is the Physical Layer standard which the wireless radio uses.

• 802.11a — Only 802.11a clients can connect to the WAP device. The clients can get a maximum of 54 Mbps bandwidth when this mode is selected.

• 802.11b/g — 802.11b and 802.11g clients can connect to the WAP device. 802.11b clients can get a maximum of 11 Mbps bandwidth while an 802.11g can support a maximum of 54 Mbps.

• 802.11a/n — 802.11a and 802.11n clients that operate in the 5 GHz frequency can connect to the WAP device. 802.11n clients can get a maximum of 150 Mbps bandwidth.

• 802.11b/g/n — 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n clients which operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency can connect to the WAP.

• 5 GHz 802.11n — Only 802.11n clients that operate in the 5 GHz frequency can connect to the WAP.

• 2.4 GHz 802.11n — Only 802.11n clients that operate in the 2.4-GHz frequency can connect to the WAP.

Note: The modes available on your AP depend on the country code setting you are in.

Step 4. Choose a required channel for the AP from the Channel drop-down list. The range of the channels available is determined by the mode of wireless radio interface and the country code setting. Choose any listed available channel from the Channel drop-down list to manually select a channel of operation.

Step 5. If you chose 802.11n, 802.11a/n or 802.11b/g/n in Step 3, choose a suitable bandwidth for the channel selected in Step 4 from the Channel Bandwidth drop-down list. Channel bandwidth allows a desired width of frequency to be filtered or accepted. Specifications allow a 40 MHz wide channel in addition to legacy 20 MHz channel which is available by default. The higher the channel bandwidth, the higher data rates but fewer channels available for use by other 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

Step 6. If you chose 40 MHz in Step 5, choose the treatment for 20 MHz primary channel from the Primary Channel drop-down list. Selected 40 MHz channel may consist of two 20 MHz channels in the same frequency domain and the two 20 MHz channels are known as Primary and Secondary channels. 

• Upper — This sets the Primary Channel as the upper 20 MHz channel in the 40 MHz band.

• Lower — This sets the Primary Channel as the lower 20 MHz channel in the 40 MHz band.

Step 7. If you chose 802.11n, 802.11a/n or 802.11b/g/n in Step 3, choose a suitable option for short guard interval from Short Guard Interval Supported drop-down list. The guard interval is a dead time (inactive and unable to act), in nanoseconds. If you reduce the guard interval, it can yield a 10 percent improvement in data. The default is yes.

Step 8. Choose a suitable option for protection from the Protection drop-down list. This feature contains rules to guarantee that 802.11 transmissions do not cause interference with legacy stations or applications. By default, the protection is set to Auto. This can be turned off; however, when protection is off, legacy clients or access points within range can be affected by 802.11n transmissions.

Step 9. Enter a value in milliseconds from 20 to 2000 in the Beacon Interval field. An AP transmits beacon frames at regular intervals to announce the existence of the wireless network.

Step 10. Enter a period from 1 to 255 beacons in the DTIM Period field. Delivery Traffic Information Map (DTIM) message is an element included in some beacon frames. It indicates which client stations, currently sleeps in low-power mode, have data buffered on the AP awaiting to be picked-up. 

Step 11. Enter an even value from 256 to 2346 in the Fragmentation Threshold field. The fragmentation threshold is a way to limit the size of packets (frames) transmitted over the network. If a packet exceeds the fragmentation threshold you set, the fragmentation function is activated and the packet is sent as multiple 802.11 frames.

Step 12. Enter the Request to Send (RTS) Threshold value between 0 and 2347. RTS threshold indicates the number of octets in a MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU), below which a RTS/Clear to Send (CTS) handshake is not performed.

Step 13. Enter the maximum number of stations allowed to access the AP at a time. The value can range between 0 and 200.

Step 14. Choose the transmit power level for the AP from the Transmit Power drop-down list. The default value is Full as it is more cost-efficient than a lower level because it gives access point a maximum broadcast range.

Step 15. Choose the multicast traffic transmission rate for the AP to support from the Fixed Multicast Rate drop-down list. Multicast traffic is a broadcast, which lets you send a single stream to multiple recipients, instead of individual packets sent to individual hosts.

Step 16. Check the transmission rate sets for the AP to support and basic rate seats to advertise. Rate is given in Megabits per second (Mbps).

• Supported — Indicates rates that the access point supports. 

• Basic — Indicates the rates that the access point will advertise to a network for the purposes of setting up communication with other access points and client stations on the network.

Step 17. Check the Broadcast/Multicast Rate Limiting check box to adjust the limitations of the multicast and broadcast rates.

Step 18. Enter the number of packets between 1 to 100 packets per second to be transmitted in the Rate Limit field.

Step 19. Enter a rate limit value between 1 to 150 packets per second in the Rate Limit Burst field. This determines how much traffic bursts can be sent before all traffic exceeds the rate limit.

Step 20. Click Apply to save the new settings.