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Installing a Wireless Card

Installing a wireless card involves two stages: physically placing the card in the machine and installing the appropriate software drivers.

Once the card is installed, the next step to getting your computer connected is ensuring that the operating system recognizes your newly added wireless card and identifies it properly.

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Wireless Area Maps. Students are now able to use these maps to locate wireless areas on campus to use your laptop or PDA and connect wireless to the internet, (providing they have the right wireless card which conforms to the 802.11b specifications.) 

	wireless card

The City College of New York has recently added wireless internet access throughout the campus. Students are now able to use their laptop or PDA and connect wireless to the internet, providing they have the right wireless card which conforms to the 802.11b specifications.

• CitiNet: CCNY Wireless Service
• Wireless locations and CCNY SSIDs
• Wireless Area Maps *NEW
• What is Server Set ID (SSID)?
• What is an Access Point?

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Server Set ID (SSID)

SSID is a configurable identification that allows clients to communicate to the appropriate base station. With proper configuration, only clients that are configured with the same SSID can communicate with base stations having the same SSID. SSID from a security point of view acts as a simple single shared password between base stations and clients.

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How to Identify the Wireless Card?

1. Insert your wireless card and turn on your computer.

2. You should see a Found New Hardware dialog box as Windows boots. Windows usually recognizes newly installed hardware as the computer starts up. If you have installed your wireless card and booted your computer, but you don't see a Found New Hardware message, wait for the computer to finish booting up and go to step 5 to see if it has already identified the card.

3. Windows will attempt to locate your software drivers. Insert the driver disk that came with the wireless card, and select the drive (usually A: if it is on a floppy diskette or D: if it is on a CD-ROM) for Windows to search. If Windows finds your wireless card but cannot locate the software drivers, go to Part II: Add New Hardware Wizard.

4. Insert your Windows CD if you are asked for it. You may have to remove your driver CD from the drive. If Windows has successfully completed the driver installation, you are ready to install the NUIT Internet Software.

5. From the Start button, click Settings. Then, click Control Panel.

6. Double-click Network. A window appears showing the installed networking components. (Windows ME users: If the Network icon is not visible, click the View all Control Panel options link on the left side of window.)

7. Find the name of your wireless card and close the window. If you see your wireless card listed with an adapter symbol to its left, your computer has identified the card.

If you are still having troubles, please visit the HelpDesk in NAC 1/508, tel: 212-650-7878, e-mail

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What is the overview of Wireless LAN 802.11 technology?

Wireless LAN technology standard 802.11b has the strongest momentum to becoming the main standard for corporate internal wireless LAN networks.

The bandwidth of 802.11b is 11 mbits and operates at 2.4 GHz Frequency. The successor of this current 802.11b standard is 802.11a and it is designed to be faster speed and operate at a different frequency.

While 802.11a standard and the technology behind it has become available, 802.11b is still widely used today and many companies and individuals are deploying it or deploying dual 802.11b and 802.11a devices.

As more wireless technologies are being developed and implemented, the complexity of the types of attacks will increase, but these appear to be standard methods used to break and attack wireless systems. These attacks may be very similar to other attacks agains wireless type technologies and are not unique to 802.11b.

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What is an Access Point?

The AP (access point, also known as a base station) is the wireless server that connects clients to the internal network. Base stations typically act as a bridge for the clients. There is an IP address for management configuration of the base station. The base stations typically have an SNMP agent for remote management.

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Best Connections on Campus