In a conventional wireless local area network (WLAN), an access point (AP) is a station that transmits and receives data (sometimes referred to as a transceiver). A conventional AP connects users to other users within the network and also can serve as the point of interconnection between the WLAN and a fixed wire network. Each AP can serve multiple users within a defined network area. As users move beyond the range of one AP, they can be automatically handed over to the next one. A small WLAN may only require a single AP. Conventionally, the number of APs required increases as a function of the number of network users and the physical size of the network.
APs are typically shipped with a default configuration to allow connection of wireless clients, but most require an elaborate and confusing manual configuration procedure to set up a new AP or new client (e.g., a wireless card, embedded wireless local area network on motherboard (WLAM), etc.). with security features enabled. For example, the following instructions describe how to manually configure a particular wireless connection.
A user opens a client configuration program for a wireless client. A new wireless network configuration can be generated or a default configuration edited. To connect to an AP, the AP is activated. The user must enter a network name or Secure Set ID (SSID) name for the network. Alternately, the user can scan for an available network. To specify a name, the user looks for a network name or SSID option in the configuration utility. The user must ensure that their network card's name or SSID setting is identical to the network name or SSID assigned to the AP. The user enables a security selection, for example enabling wired equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption and enters one or more keys. The keys on the user device and AP must be identical and the same key type (encryption level and hexadecimal or ASCI format) must be used on every device. The user then saves the configuration and attempts to connect the user device to the AP.