1 00:00:06,750 --> 00:00:10,020 - [Instructor] A wireless access point, or a WAP, 2 00:00:10,020 --> 00:00:14,670 is a device that allows network connectivity using Wi-Fi. 3 00:00:14,670 --> 00:00:16,170 And so, a wireless access point 4 00:00:16,170 --> 00:00:20,492 enables the data communications over the air, so to speak, 5 00:00:20,492 --> 00:00:22,287 if your computer is equipped 6 00:00:22,287 --> 00:00:25,200 with a wireless networking adapter. 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,423 So your desktop PC, your laptop, your Mac computer, 8 00:00:29,423 --> 00:00:30,926 your mobile device, 9 00:00:30,926 --> 00:00:33,540 doesn't matter what computer you're working with, 10 00:00:33,540 --> 00:00:36,093 has to have a Wi-Fi connection. 11 00:00:37,860 --> 00:00:42,860 Commonly used standards include the IEEE 802.11x standards. 12 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,920 And I use x as a variable, which could be b, g, n, or ac. 13 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,930 Now, b networks are old, slow, deprecated, outdated. 14 00:00:54,930 --> 00:00:57,300 If you see one of these, you gotta upgrade the system. 15 00:00:57,300 --> 00:00:59,940 You gotta put in a new wireless adapter of some sort. 16 00:00:59,940 --> 00:01:02,430 So let's say we had a laptop that could only connect 17 00:01:02,430 --> 00:01:05,360 via 802.11b, which is limited to, like, 18 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,310 11 megabits per second or something. 19 00:01:08,310 --> 00:01:12,480 Super slow. You can't even watch a video with that. 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,434 And that's kind of the bar. 21 00:01:14,434 --> 00:01:16,410 That's kind of the line that I draw. 22 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:18,780 Can you watch video with your computer? 23 00:01:18,780 --> 00:01:20,550 If you can't, then we probably need to upgrade 24 00:01:20,550 --> 00:01:22,243 your wireless connection. 25 00:01:22,243 --> 00:01:24,360 Can you watch a video on YouTube? 26 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,107 A how-to video or something like that? 27 00:01:26,107 --> 00:01:28,892 If not, need to upgrade you to either g, 28 00:01:28,892 --> 00:01:32,067 which is 54 megabits per second or 108, 29 00:01:32,067 --> 00:01:35,760 n, which is 300 or 600 megabits per second, 30 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,330 and ac, which goes way past that into the gigabit range. 31 00:01:39,330 --> 00:01:42,540 So you wanna have the fastest connection possible, 32 00:01:42,540 --> 00:01:44,743 and Wi-Fi cards are not that expensive. 33 00:01:44,743 --> 00:01:47,503 These wireless access points transmit the data 34 00:01:47,503 --> 00:01:51,510 over radio waves using these standards. 35 00:01:51,510 --> 00:01:54,090 And that's either gonna be on the 2.4 gigahertz 36 00:01:54,090 --> 00:01:57,074 or the 5 gigahertz frequency. 37 00:01:57,074 --> 00:02:00,244 Or frequency range, because they use multiple channels, 38 00:02:00,244 --> 00:02:01,350 by the way. 39 00:02:01,350 --> 00:02:04,412 And the newer the wireless standard, 40 00:02:04,412 --> 00:02:07,713 the more likely you'll use 5 gigahertz. 41 00:02:09,060 --> 00:02:10,860 Let's illustrate a typical wireless connection 42 00:02:10,860 --> 00:02:12,690 to a wireless access point. 43 00:02:12,690 --> 00:02:15,269 Here, we have a laptop. 44 00:02:15,269 --> 00:02:17,121 And like I said before, let's say the laptop 45 00:02:17,121 --> 00:02:21,480 has a real slow built-in Wi-Fi connection. 46 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:23,430 We could add another connection. 47 00:02:23,430 --> 00:02:25,470 We could connect a USB connection, 48 00:02:25,470 --> 00:02:27,570 perhaps an express card connection, 49 00:02:27,570 --> 00:02:29,850 or maybe even change out the internal card. 50 00:02:29,850 --> 00:02:31,650 Maybe you could change out the mini PCI 51 00:02:31,650 --> 00:02:34,530 or mini PCI Express on the laptop. 52 00:02:34,530 --> 00:02:38,760 And let's say we put in an external USB connector, 53 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,301 an N wireless network adapter. 54 00:02:41,301 --> 00:02:43,020 That'll make it a lot faster. 55 00:02:43,020 --> 00:02:45,539 We can get to that 300 or 600 megabit range, 56 00:02:45,539 --> 00:02:47,370 and then we can watch those videos 57 00:02:47,370 --> 00:02:49,434 that I found so important just before. 58 00:02:49,434 --> 00:02:51,513 Gotta be able to watch those videos. 59 00:02:52,380 --> 00:02:54,493 So that laptop's gonna make a connection 60 00:02:54,493 --> 00:02:56,580 to the wireless access point, 61 00:02:56,580 --> 00:02:59,280 which quite often is either a standalone device 62 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,453 or is built into your 4 port or SOHO router. 63 00:03:04,860 --> 00:03:07,260 And so, here's the wireless access point. 64 00:03:07,260 --> 00:03:10,684 And each wireless access point gets a name, an SSID. 65 00:03:10,684 --> 00:03:13,020 That's its network name. 66 00:03:13,020 --> 00:03:18,020 And the SSID is what the laptop or other computer 67 00:03:18,060 --> 00:03:20,730 will look for when connecting. 68 00:03:20,730 --> 00:03:22,200 It needs to know this name 69 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,510 to be able to automatically connect. 70 00:03:24,510 --> 00:03:27,210 And the name of this one just happens to be Wireless1. 71 00:03:28,050 --> 00:03:30,750 The standard being used is 802.11n. 72 00:03:30,750 --> 00:03:32,430 So this one will be compliant, 73 00:03:32,430 --> 00:03:35,190 it'll be able to make an n speed connection. 74 00:03:35,190 --> 00:03:38,500 And again, that could be on 2.4 gigahertz or 5 gigahertz, 75 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:40,580 that depends on how you configure it. 76 00:03:40,580 --> 00:03:44,430 For this particular access point, it's 2.4 gigahertz. 77 00:03:44,430 --> 00:03:47,100 How do I know? Because of the channel range. 78 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:49,595 If you have a channel range between 1 and 11, 79 00:03:49,595 --> 00:03:52,563 we know it's on the 2.4 gigahertz spectrum. 80 00:03:52,563 --> 00:03:56,117 And the encryption being used, really important, WPA2. 81 00:03:56,117 --> 00:03:58,117 And we'll show more about that in a second. 82 00:03:58,117 --> 00:04:00,622 So this is just a basic illustration of a connection 83 00:04:00,622 --> 00:04:04,416 between a laptop, or any computer really, 84 00:04:04,416 --> 00:04:06,090 and a wireless access point. 85 00:04:06,090 --> 00:04:07,875 And if your computer has a real slow connection, 86 00:04:07,875 --> 00:04:11,380 consider upgrading it either by adding an adapter card 87 00:04:11,380 --> 00:04:14,490 or by adding an external USB device. 88 00:04:14,490 --> 00:04:16,770 Now, let's show an actual connection. 89 00:04:16,770 --> 00:04:17,730 I'm in Windows 7. 90 00:04:17,730 --> 00:04:19,880 We'll go to the Network and Sharing Center. 91 00:04:20,790 --> 00:04:23,280 And you can see, here's the computer. 92 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,310 And here's the internet, here's where I wanna get to. 93 00:04:26,310 --> 00:04:28,350 And here's a red X. 94 00:04:28,350 --> 00:04:30,240 Well, that's no good. (chuckles) 95 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,410 We don't wanna red X. 96 00:04:31,410 --> 00:04:33,450 We don't wanna break in the line here. 97 00:04:33,450 --> 00:04:34,620 We wanna connection. 98 00:04:34,620 --> 00:04:36,450 We have an unidentified network. 99 00:04:36,450 --> 00:04:37,950 Well, what's happening here? 100 00:04:37,950 --> 00:04:40,500 Who knows. Could be a lot of different things. 101 00:04:40,500 --> 00:04:42,401 Actually, I'm lying to you. I know. 102 00:04:42,401 --> 00:04:46,680 The problem is that the wireless adapter is disabled. 103 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:48,750 And that's one of the first things you can always check. 104 00:04:48,750 --> 00:04:53,310 Go to your Device Manager and check your wireless adapter. 105 00:04:53,310 --> 00:04:56,640 In this case, I have a TP-Link Wireless N Adapter, 106 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:58,350 that just happens to be in this computer. 107 00:04:58,350 --> 00:05:01,500 But look over here. See the down arrow? 108 00:05:01,500 --> 00:05:05,505 The arrow pointing down means that the device is disabled. 109 00:05:05,505 --> 00:05:09,753 We can easily fix the problem. Right-click, Enable. 110 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,983 That refreshes. The arrow is gone. 111 00:05:16,110 --> 00:05:17,610 Minimize that. 112 00:05:17,610 --> 00:05:20,040 And you see it actually was self-repairing. 113 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:21,570 It was fixing the problem. 114 00:05:21,570 --> 00:05:24,810 And now we have connections to multiple networks 115 00:05:24,810 --> 00:05:27,370 and a straight connection out to the internet. 116 00:05:27,370 --> 00:05:30,420 And if you were to look in your Notification area, 117 00:05:30,420 --> 00:05:32,520 you'll see now your wireless connection 118 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,193 has gone from an exclamation point to actual bars, 119 00:05:36,193 --> 00:05:38,670 and you'll know you have that connection now. 120 00:05:38,670 --> 00:05:41,557 So here we have a screen of our wireless access point 121 00:05:41,557 --> 00:05:43,354 and the configuration for it. 122 00:05:43,354 --> 00:05:46,740 We have the wireless 2.4 gigahertz network 123 00:05:46,740 --> 00:05:48,660 and a wireless 5 gigahertz. 124 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:51,990 So these run concurrently and separately, 125 00:05:51,990 --> 00:05:55,200 and so then we could have clients connect to either one. 126 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:56,475 Newer clients, 127 00:05:56,475 --> 00:06:00,360 I should say, computers with newer wireless adapters, 128 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,360 such as the newer 802.11n and, of course, the 802.11ac, 129 00:06:06,087 --> 00:06:08,820 will be able to connect to this. 130 00:06:08,820 --> 00:06:13,820 And older adapters, older types of 802.11n or b and g, 131 00:06:14,460 --> 00:06:16,680 will connect to this. 132 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,120 So we're running both networks here. 133 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,030 We got the wireless 2.4 gigahertz. 134 00:06:21,030 --> 00:06:23,053 It's enabled, it's running. 135 00:06:23,053 --> 00:06:25,860 And the name of it is Unknown_Network. 136 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:27,570 I use names like that all the time. 137 00:06:27,570 --> 00:06:29,095 At the end of the recording of this video, 138 00:06:29,095 --> 00:06:30,690 I'll probably change it. 139 00:06:30,690 --> 00:06:32,310 But, you know, names like that. 140 00:06:32,310 --> 00:06:34,572 And then I'll usually disable the SSID, by the way, 141 00:06:34,572 --> 00:06:36,990 after I get all my devices and printers 142 00:06:36,990 --> 00:06:38,548 and everything connected. 143 00:06:38,548 --> 00:06:42,017 But the mode, it's 11. That means 802.11. 144 00:06:42,017 --> 00:06:46,740 And it's using b, g, and n, so it's a mixed mode. 145 00:06:46,740 --> 00:06:50,580 Now, you won't get the best quality connections with this. 146 00:06:50,580 --> 00:06:52,800 If you want the highest quality connections, 147 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,200 use just one network type. 148 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,318 That's usually not a possibility in small companies, 149 00:06:58,318 --> 00:07:01,412 or in a small office, or at the home, 150 00:07:01,412 --> 00:07:04,620 just because there's so many different devices coming in. 151 00:07:04,620 --> 00:07:07,560 But if you can, you try to use just n. 152 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:09,840 And then the channel, channel 11's being used. 153 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:14,400 The range is 1 to 11. And generally, I like to use 11. 154 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,550 But there's three different portions to that. 155 00:07:17,550 --> 00:07:21,360 There's 1 to 5, 6 to 10, and then 11. 156 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:23,099 If you're gonna have multiple wireless access points, 157 00:07:23,099 --> 00:07:25,800 try to have one in each of those sections. 158 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:26,940 So we're using channel 11. 159 00:07:26,940 --> 00:07:28,740 That's what the client needs to know. 160 00:07:28,740 --> 00:07:30,480 It needs to know the name of the network 161 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,010 and the channel it's gonna connect on, 162 00:07:32,010 --> 00:07:33,780 if it doesn't see that automatically. 163 00:07:33,780 --> 00:07:36,810 Then the wireless 5 gigahertz we have, 164 00:07:36,810 --> 00:07:38,610 also called Unknown_Network. 165 00:07:38,610 --> 00:07:41,670 Separate name, slightly different. But Unknown_Network. 166 00:07:41,670 --> 00:07:45,450 And then the mode, 802.11a, which is another type, 167 00:07:45,450 --> 00:07:50,450 a older 5 gigahertz type, 54 megabits per second. 168 00:07:50,717 --> 00:07:54,810 But also n, on the 5 gigahertz side, and ac. 169 00:07:54,810 --> 00:07:56,220 Again, mixed. 170 00:07:56,220 --> 00:07:59,123 When I redo all this after the videos are done, 171 00:07:59,123 --> 00:08:00,840 I'm just gonna stick with ac 172 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:02,550 because all my devices can do ac. 173 00:08:02,550 --> 00:08:05,520 So that'll be the fastest and best way to do it, 174 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:07,200 and the wireless access point 175 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,360 will work the most efficiently at that point. 176 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,810 And we look at the channel here. Different channel range. 177 00:08:12,810 --> 00:08:15,150 This is, 165 is what I'm using. 178 00:08:15,150 --> 00:08:17,812 And the usable range in United States... 179 00:08:17,812 --> 00:08:20,862 And by the way, the range I gave for 2.4, 180 00:08:20,862 --> 00:08:23,850 1 through 11, that was also for United States. 181 00:08:23,850 --> 00:08:26,040 It might be different for different countries. 182 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:27,870 But the usable range in the United States 183 00:08:27,870 --> 00:08:30,210 for 5 gigahertz wireless transmissions 184 00:08:30,210 --> 00:08:34,680 is between, I believe, 48 and 165. 185 00:08:34,680 --> 00:08:37,590 I think it's 48. So 165 is the last one. 186 00:08:37,590 --> 00:08:40,373 And I tend to use the last one in the range 187 00:08:40,373 --> 00:08:42,180 for my own stuff. 188 00:08:42,180 --> 00:08:44,337 Generally, most people around you, 189 00:08:44,337 --> 00:08:48,234 most companies around you, won't use that channel range. 190 00:08:48,234 --> 00:08:51,874 So it kinda helps with keeping interference at bay. 191 00:08:51,874 --> 00:08:53,850 So there's one of the channels for that. 192 00:08:53,850 --> 00:08:54,683 And by the way, 193 00:08:54,683 --> 00:08:57,030 there's other wireless frequencies out there. 194 00:08:57,030 --> 00:09:00,600 You know, it's not just 2.4 and 5 gigahertz, 195 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,450 although those are the most common in the consumer market, 196 00:09:03,450 --> 00:09:05,220 and even if you work for a company. 197 00:09:05,220 --> 00:09:06,780 There's 3.6, 198 00:09:06,780 --> 00:09:10,001 there's 4.9, which is used for public safety, 199 00:09:10,001 --> 00:09:15,001 5.9, 60 gigahertz, the older 900 megahertz range, 200 00:09:16,785 --> 00:09:20,250 which is actually being reused for other technologies. 201 00:09:20,250 --> 00:09:23,340 So there's all different types of wireless connections. 202 00:09:23,340 --> 00:09:25,020 But the ones you should know for the exam, 203 00:09:25,020 --> 00:09:27,990 2.4 and 5 gigahertz. 204 00:09:27,990 --> 00:09:30,719 And finally, let's take a quick look at the security, 205 00:09:30,719 --> 00:09:32,550 because we actually showed a little of that 206 00:09:32,550 --> 00:09:34,560 in our illustration of the computer 207 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:36,300 connecting to a wireless access point. 208 00:09:36,300 --> 00:09:39,330 We said it used WPA2, which is recommended. 209 00:09:39,330 --> 00:09:43,800 That's gonna be the connection type for your wireless. 210 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,870 WPA2 is the latest. 211 00:09:45,870 --> 00:09:48,150 And PSK means pre-shared key, which means 212 00:09:48,150 --> 00:09:51,090 that the key is stored on the wireless access point, 213 00:09:51,090 --> 00:09:54,300 as opposed to on a server in an enterprise environment. 214 00:09:54,300 --> 00:09:55,822 So we're using this. 215 00:09:55,822 --> 00:10:00,153 And the encryption type, the cipher being used 216 00:10:00,153 --> 00:10:04,916 to encrypt the data is AES, advanced encryption standard. 217 00:10:04,916 --> 00:10:07,380 Highly recommended. 218 00:10:07,380 --> 00:10:08,700 You know, you might see other options, 219 00:10:08,700 --> 00:10:13,440 like TKIP or what have you, but AES is the way to go. 220 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,680 Anything else is most likely deprecated 221 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:18,660 and possibly crackable. 222 00:10:18,660 --> 00:10:19,980 And then you have a password. 223 00:10:19,980 --> 00:10:21,750 And you can have a huge password for this, 224 00:10:21,750 --> 00:10:24,803 alphanumeric with characters all across the board. 225 00:10:24,803 --> 00:10:28,500 And so you wanna select something complex for that 226 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:30,090 that will be hard to crack. 227 00:10:30,090 --> 00:10:35,090 And up here, you'll see the infamous Disable Security. 228 00:10:36,270 --> 00:10:37,341 Oh yeah. 229 00:10:37,341 --> 00:10:41,080 Very rare that you will see this radio button selected. 230 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,740 Because, you know, if you disable the security, 231 00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:45,457 well, then you have no encryption 232 00:10:45,457 --> 00:10:48,090 and you can just have open connections. 233 00:10:48,090 --> 00:10:50,010 That might be a possibility. 234 00:10:50,010 --> 00:10:51,886 And maybe 10, 15 years ago, 235 00:10:51,886 --> 00:10:54,360 somebody in a coffee shop might do that 236 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,190 so anybody could just connect. 237 00:10:56,190 --> 00:10:58,737 But that is not smart as of today, 238 00:10:58,737 --> 00:11:01,380 as of the recording of this video. 239 00:11:01,380 --> 00:11:03,660 The only time you might see this 240 00:11:03,660 --> 00:11:08,404 is if this is a SOHO router, an all-in-one device 241 00:11:08,404 --> 00:11:12,240 that is only being used for wired connections, 242 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,730 and wireless is not being used at all. 243 00:11:14,730 --> 00:11:16,410 If you have wireless shut off, well, 244 00:11:16,410 --> 00:11:19,050 then there's no point in having wireless security. 245 00:11:19,050 --> 00:11:21,147 It might just use up some of the processing power 246 00:11:21,147 --> 00:11:22,819 of the device. 247 00:11:22,819 --> 00:11:26,247 But otherwise, you've gotta have wireless security, 248 00:11:26,247 --> 00:11:27,451 and a lot of it, 249 00:11:27,451 --> 00:11:31,800 and WPA2 and AES is the recommendation for that. 250 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,212 So that's it for the wireless access point. 251 00:11:34,212 --> 00:11:35,877 Just a little primer on that. 252 00:11:35,877 --> 00:11:37,727 And that's the end of the sub-lesson.