The Link Status tab, as the name suggests, displays information
on the status and quality of your link to the wireless network. When you
click on this tab, the following window appears:
The first section of this window provides the following information
on your connection to the wireless network:
Status - The association state of your computer with the wireless
LAN. Possible values for this field are:
- Listening: Indicates that
the adapter is listening on all allowed channels, but has not yet found
a network with which to associate.
- Scanning: The adapter is scanning
for transmissions by other wireless adapters on all channels.
- Associating: The adapter is
in the process of associating with a network
- AdHoc: The adapter is operating
in a computer-to-computer network.
- Associated: The adapter is
operating in Infrastructure mode.
- Not Associated: The adapter
has not found any network with which to associate.
Connection Type - The type of wireless network with which you are associated;
either Infrastructure (communicating with an Access Point/Broadband Router) or AdHoc (communicating
directly with one or more computers).
Network Name (SSID) - The name, or Service Set Identifier, of the network
with which you are communicating. For an AdHoc network, this is the MAC
address of the computer which established the network.
AP MAC Address - The MAC address of the Access Point in an Infrastructure
network.
Frequency - The radio frequency (RF) used to communicate with the
network.
Privacy - This indicates whether any security measures are enabled
for this connection. You specify security measures when you configure
your connection through the Wireless
Networks tab.
Signal Strength - This sliding graph indicates the composite strength
of the RF signal received from the network.
Signal (dBM) - The absolute strength (in decibels) of the RF signal
received from the network.
Noise (dBM) - The absolute strength (in decibels) of the background
noise received from the network.
SNR (db) - The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), in decibels, of the
signal received from the network.
Client MAC Address - The MAC address of your adapter.
Client IP Address - The Internet Protocol (IP) address of your adapter.
The second section of this window provides cumulative counters
of the activity on your connection to the wireless network. The counts
of packets transmitted and received, and the current speed of your connection,
are continuously updated while this window is displayed.
At the bottom of the Link Status menu are three buttons. Clicking the
OK button applies any changes you made in this or any of the other menus
of the Configuration Utility and closes the utility. Clicking the Cancel
button cancels any changes you made since you last clicked the Apply but
does not close the utility. Clicking the Apply button saves any changes
you made in this or any of the other menus of the utility and leaves the utility
open.
