3 Configuring the wireless network settings (For HL-2170W)

Overview

To connect your printer to your wireless network, you need to follow the steps in the Quick Setup Guide or the Network User’s Guide. We recommend that you use the Brother installer application on the CD-ROM which we have provided with the printer. By using this application, you can easily connect your printer to your wireless network and install the network software and printer driver which you need to complete the configuration of your printer for a wireless network. You will be guided by the on-screen instructions until you are able to use your Brother wireless network printer.

If you want to configure your printer without using the Brother installer application, please read this chapter for more details on how to configure the wireless network settings. For information on TCP/IP settings, see Setting the IP address and subnet mask. For Wireless configuration using the one-push wireless setting mode (For HL-2170W), see Wireless configuration using the one-push wireless setting mode (For HL-2170W). For Wireless configuration using the PIN Method of Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ (For HL-2170W), see Wireless configuration using the PIN Method of Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ (For HL-2170W).

Note

•

To achieve optimum results with normal everyday document printing, place the Brother printer as close to the network access point (router) as possible with minimal obstructions. Large objects and walls between the two devices as well as interference from other electronic devices can affect the data transfer speed of your documents.

Due to these factors, wireless may not be the best method of connection for all types of documents and applications. If you are printing large files, such as multi-page documents with mixed text and large graphics, you may want to consider choosing wired Ethernet for a faster data transfer, or USB for the fastest throughput speed.

•

Although Brother HL-2170W can be used in a both wired and wireless network, only one of the connection methods can be used at a time.

Wireless network terms and concepts

When you configure the wireless network printer, you must ensure that your wireless network printer is configured to match the settings of the existing wireless network. This section provides some of the main terms and concepts of these settings, which may be helpful when you configure the wireless network printer.

SSID (Service Set Identifier) and channels

You need to configure the SSID and a channel to specify the wireless network you want to connect to.

•

SSID

Each wireless network has its own unique network name and it is technically referred to as SSID or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). The SSID is a 32-byte or less value and is assigned to the access point. The wireless network devices you want to associate to the wireless network should match the access point. The access point and wireless network devices regularly send wireless packets (referred to as a beacon) which has the SSID information. When your wireless network device receives a beacon, you can identify the wireless network that is close enough for the radio waves to reach your device.

•

Channels

Wireless networks use channels. Each wireless channel is on a different frequency. There are up to 14 different channels that can be used when using a wireless network. However, in many countries the number of channels available are restricted. For further information, see Ethernet wireless network.

Page Top

Authentication and encryption

Most wireless networks use some kind of security settings. These security settings define the authentication (how the device identifies itself to the network) and encryption (how the data is encrypted as it is sent on the network). If you do not correctly specify these options when you are configuring your Brother wireless device, it will not be able to connect to the wireless network. Therefore care must be taken when configuring these options. Please refer to the information below to see which authentication and encryption methods your Brother wireless device supports.

•

Authentication methods

The Brother printer supports the following methods:

•	Open system Wireless devices are allowed access the network without any authentication.
•	Shared key A secret pre-determined key is shared by all devices that will access the wireless network. The Brother printer uses the WEP keys as the pre-determined key.
•	WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Enables a Wi-Fi^® Protected Access Pre-shared key (WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK), which enables the Brother wireless printer to associate with access points using TKIP for WPA-PSK or AES for WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK (WPA-Personal).
•	LEAP Cisco^®LEAP (Light Extensible Authentication Protocol) has been developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. which uses user ID and password for authentication.

•

Encryption methods

Encryption is used to secure the data that is sent over the wireless network. The Brother printer supports the following encryption methods:

•	None No encryption method is used.
•	WEP By using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the data is transmitted and received with a secure key.
•	TKIP TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) provides per-packet key mixing a message integrity check and rekeying mechanism.
•	AES AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is Wi-Fi^® authorized strong encryption standard.
•	CKIP The original Key Integrity Protocol for LEAP by Cisco Systems, Inc.

•

Network Key

There are some rules for each security method:

•	Open system/Shared key with WEP

This key is a 64-bit or 128-bit value that must be entered in an ASCII or hexadecimal format.

64 (40) bit ASCII:	Uses 5 text characters. e.g. “WLLAN” (this is case sensitive).
64 (40) bit hexadecimal:	Uses 10 digits of hexadecimal data. e.g. “71f2234aba”
128 (104) bit ASCII:	Uses 13 text characters. e.g. “Wirelesscomms” (this is case sensitive)
128 (104) bit hexadecimal:	Uses 26 digits of hexadecimal data. e.g. “71f2234ab56cd709e5412aa2ba”

•

WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK and TKIP or AES

Uses a Pre-Shared Key (PSK) that is more than 8 and less than 63 characters in length.

•

LEAP

Uses User ID and Password.

•	User ID: less than 64 characters in length.
•	Password: less than 32 characters in length.

Page Top