Neighboring Access Points

The status page for "neighboring access points" provides real-time statistics for all access points within range of the access point on which you are viewing the Administration Web pages.


Field	Description
MAC Address	Shows the MAC address of the neighboring access point. A MAC address is a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network.
Radio	Two-Radio APs If the access point that is "doing the detecting" of neighboring APs is a two-radio access point, the Radio field is included. The Radio field indicates which radio the neighboring AP was detected on: wlan0 (Radio One) wlan1 (Radio Two) One-Radio APs This field is not included on the Neighboring Access Points pages of one-radio access points.
Beacon Interval	Shows the Beacon interval being used by this access point. Beacon frames are transmitted by an access point at regular intervals to announce the existence of the wireless network. The default behavior is to send a beacon frame once every 100 milliseconds (or 10 per second). The Beacon Interval is set on Advanced > Radio Settings. (See Configuring Radio Settings.)
Type	Indicates the type of device: AP indicates the neighboring device is an access point that supports the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networking Framework in Infrastructure Mode. Ad hoc indicates a neighboring station running in Ad hoc Mode. Stations set to ad hoc mode communicate with each other directly, without the use of a traditional access point. Ad-hoc mode is an IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networking Framework also referred to as peer-to-peer mode or an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS).
SSID	The Service Set Identifier (SSID) for the access point. The SSID is an alphanumeric string of up to 32 characters that uniquely identifies a wireless local area network. It is also referred to as the Network Name. The SSID is set in Basic Settings. (See Configuring Basic Settings) or in Advanced > Wireless Settings (see Setting the Wireless Interface.) A Guest network and an Internal network running on the same access point must always have two different network names.
Privacy	Indicates whether there is any security on the neighboring device. Off indicates that the Security mode on the neighboring device is set to "plain text" mode (no security). On indicates that the neighboring device has some security in place. Security is configured on the AP at Advanced > Security. For more information on security settings, see Configuring Security.
WPA	Indicates whether WPA security is "on" or "off" for this access point.
Band	This indicates the IEEE 802.11 mode being used on this access point. (For example, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g.) The number shown indicates the mode according to the following map: 2.4 indicates IEEE 802.11b mode or IEEE 802.11g mode 5 indicates IEEE 802.11a mode 5 Turbo indicates Atheros Turbo 5 GHz mode
Channel	Shows the channel on which the access point is currently broadcasting. The Channel defines the portion of the radio spectrum that the radio uses for transmitting and receiving. The channel is set in Advanced > Radio Settings. (See Configuring Radio Settings.)
Rate	Shows the rate (in megabits per second) at which this access point is currently transmitting. The current rate will always be one of the rates shown in Supported Rates.
Signal	Indicates the strength of the radio signal emitting from this access point as measured in decibels (Db).
# of Beacons	Shows the total number of beacons transmitted by this access point since it was last booted.
Last Beacon	Shows the date and time of the most recent beacon was transmitted from the access point.
Rates	Shows supported and basic (advertised) rate sets for the neighboring access point. Rates are shown in megabits per second (Mbps). All Supported Rates are listed, with Basic Rates shown in bold. Rate sets are configured on Advanced > Radio Settings. (See Configuring Radio Settings.) The rates shown for an access point will always be the rates currently specified for that AP in its Radio Settings.