Wireless Access Point

A Wireless Access Point (WAP) is a transceiver or radio component in a wireless LAN that acts as the transfer point between wired and wireless signal and vice versa. The access point connects the wired LAN to an antenna. It bridges the wired and wireless networks together.
A Wireless Access Point operates in layer 3 of the OSI model.




Using Wireless Routers on ResNet

Many students have more than one network device (desktop, laptop, video game consoles, handheld devices, etc) they wish to use on the network simultaneously. However, ResNet only has enough available IP addresses to allow one network connection per student. So, you can either alternate which network device you currently have registered by editing Your Account (link on left sidebar) or you can use a network router.

Router Basics
A router is a network device allowing multiple computers, handheld devices and game consoles to communicate with each other and share a single connection to the Internet. They usually contain one uplink (WAN) jack and between 4 and 24 ethernet (LAN) jacks where network devices can be plugged in. By connecting a router in the correct way to ResNet, multiple network devices can share the same connection.

Securing Your Wireless Router
ResNet requires you to secure your wireless router to use it on ResNet. You must use wireless encryption, which encodes the data transmitted between your PC and your wireless router. Unfortunately, most routers ship with encryption turned off, leaving it completely exposed. Enable your router's encryption and use the strongest form supported by your comptuer. The Wireless Protected Access (WPA) protocol and more recent WPA2 have supplanted the older and less-secure Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP).