Summary

Summary

Wireless networks enable location independence and roaming support for network connectivity in your home or small business. You can configure a wireless network by using a wireless AP (infrastructure mode) or using only wireless clients (ad hoc mode).

Wireless networks can also allow unintended access to your network. To provide security for your home or small office infrastructure mode wireless network in which 802.1X authentication is not practical, you must use either open system authentication with WEP encryption or WPA preshared key authentication with TKIP encryption. For the best security for your home or small office ad hoc mode wireless network, you must use open system authentication and WEP encryption. For the best security with WEP encryption, use a 104-bit WEP key that consists of a random sequence of 26 hexadecimal digits and change it periodically.