EA-N66 Settings

[Goetz]

I just set up an EA-N66 as an access point wired to my router to get better wireless signal strength and I have some questions about the settings... I hope someone can help me here.

Is it better to leave the channel as "Auto" or manually select one?

What is the best "Authentication Method" setting and "WPA Encryption" setting for best performance?

What is "Greenfield" and is it better to enable it or disable it if all of your wifi devices are wireless N.

Is it better to have the EA-N66 get an IP address automatically or should I set one manually?

I'm new to setting up an AP so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

WPA2 is strongly recommended for security, as WPA can be quite easily cracked if someone really wanted to access your network.

Manual vs Auto depends usually on your neighbours. If you have a lot of neighbours with wifi routers, it's often best to manually set it on the least crowded channel (use a tool like InSSIDer to look at your wifi surroundings). Auto is mostly meant for people who don't want to have to take the time to determine which channel is best.

IP: it's often a matter of personal preferences. For "infrastructure devices" like a router, access point, a NAS, etc... I usually recommend using a static IP, as it makes it much easier for management, leaving only mobile devices and client computers on automatic. Less experienced users might prefer to keep everything on automatic, and let the network manage itself. You might then have to rely on support tools from the CD to manage the device, as its management IP can change over time.

 

[Goetz]

Thanks for the info.

Is it better to set it to 20Mhz channel bandwidth or 20/40Mhz?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the info.

Is it better to set it to 20Mhz channel bandwidth or 20/40Mhz?

40 Mhz gives better performance, but is much more likely to intefere with your neighbours or with other 2.4 GHz devices such as some cordless phones.

In general, you'll go with 20 MHz on 2.4 GHz but 40 MHz on the 5 GHz.