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<email>philbull@gmail.com</email>
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<desc>Learn what the options on the wireless connection editing screen mean.</desc>
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<desc>Learn about the Wi-Fi connection settings.</desc>
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<include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
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<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="gnome-help.its"/>
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<title>Edit a wireless connection</title>
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<title>Edit a Wi-Fi connection</title>
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<p>This topic needs significant revision to be comprehensive. A number of settings remain undocumented.</p>
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<p>This topic describes all of the options that are available when you edit
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a wireless network connection. To edit a connection, click the
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<gui>network menu</gui> in the menu bar and select <gui>Edit Connections</gui>.</p>
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<p>This topic describes many of the settings that are available when you edit
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a Wi-Fi connection. To edit a Wi-Fi connection, click the
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<gui>network menu</gui> in the menu bar and select <gui>Edit Connections</gui>,
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then select the connection and click <gui>Edit</gui>.</p>
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<p>Most networks will work fine if you leave these settings at their defaults, so you probably don't need to change any of them. Many of the options here are provided to give you greater control over more advanced networks.</p>
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<section id="available">
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<title>Available to all users / Connect automatically</title>
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<title>General</title>
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<title><gui>Connect automatically</gui></title>
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<title><gui>Automatically connect to this network when it is available</gui></title>
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<p>Check this option if you would like the computer to try to connect to this wireless network whenever it is in range.</p>
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<p>If several networks which are set to connect automatically are in range, the computer will connect to the first one shown in the <gui>Wireless</gui> tab in the <gui>Network Connections</gui> window. It won't disconnect from one available network to connect to a different one that has just come in range.</p>
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<p>If several networks which are set to connect automatically are in range, the computer will connect to the first one shown in the <gui>Wi-Fi</gui> tab
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in the <gui>Network Connections</gui> window. It won't disconnect from one available network to connect to a different one that has just come in range.</p>
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<title><gui>Available to all users</gui></title>
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<p>Check this if you would like all of the users on the computer to have access to this wireless network. If the network has a <link xref="net-wireless-wepwpa">WEP/WPA password</link> and you have checked this option, you will only need to enter the password once. All of the other users on your computer will be able to connect to the network without having to know the password themselves.</p>
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<p>If this is checked, you need to be an <link xref="user-admin-explain">administrator</link> to change any of the settings for this network. You may be asked to enter your admin password.</p>
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<title><gui>All users may connect to this network</gui></title>
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<p>Check this option if you would like all users on the computer to have access to this wireless network.
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If the network has a <link xref="net-wireless-wepwpa">WEP/WPA password</link> and you have checked this option, you will only need to enter the password once.
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All of the other users on your computer will be able to connect to the network without having to know the password themselves.</p>
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<p>If this option is checked, you need to be an <link xref="user-admin-explain">administrator</link> to change any of the settings for this network.
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You may be asked to enter your admin password.</p>
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<section id="wireless">
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<title>Wireless</title>
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<title><gui>SSID</gui></title>
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<p>This is the name of the wireless network you are connecting to, otherwise known as the <em>Service Set Identifier</em>. Don't change this unless you have changed the name of the wireless network (for example, by changing the settings of your wireless router or base station).</p>
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<p>This is the name of the wireless network you are connecting to, otherwise known as the <em>Service Set Identifier</em>.
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Don't change this unless you have changed the name of the wireless network (for example,
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by changing the settings of your wireless router or base station).</p>
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<title><gui>Mode</gui></title>
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<p>Use this to specify whether you are connecting to an <gui>Infrastructure</gui> network (one where computers wirelessly connect to a central base station or router) or an <gui>Ad-hoc</gui> network (where there is no base station, and the computers in the network connect to one another). Most networks are infrastructure ones; you may wish to <link xref="net-wireless-adhoc">set-up your own ad-hoc network</link> though.</p>
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<p>If you choose <gui>Ad-hoc</gui>, you will see two other options, <gui>Band</gui> and <gui>Channel</gui>. These determine which wireless frequency band the ad-hoc wireless network will operate on. Some computers are only able to work on certain bands (for example, only <gui>A</gui> or only <gui>B/G</gui>), so you might want to pick a band that all of the computers in the ad-hoc network can use. In busy places, there might be several wireless networks sharing the same channel; this might slow-down your connection, so you can change which channel you are using too.</p>
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<p>Use this to specify whether you are connecting to an <gui>Infrastructure</gui> network
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(one where computers wirelessly connect to a central base station or router) or an <gui>Ad-hoc</gui> network
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(where there is no base station, and the computers in the network connect to one another). Most networks are
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infrastructure ones; you may wish to <link xref="net-wireless-adhoc">set-up your own ad-hoc network</link> though.</p>
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<p>If you choose <gui>Ad-hoc</gui>, you will see two other options, <gui>Band</gui> and <gui>Channel</gui>. These determine which Wi-Fi frequency band
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the ad-hoc network will operate on. Some computers are only able to work on certain bands (for example, only <gui>A</gui> or only <gui>B/G</gui>), so you might want to pick a band that all of the computers in the ad-hoc network can use. In busy places, there might be several wireless networks sharing the same channel;
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this might slow-down your connection, so you can change which channel you are using too.</p>
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<title><gui>BSSID</gui></title>
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<p>This is the <em>Basic Service Set Identifier</em>. The SSID (see above) is the name of the network which humans are intended to read; the BSSID is a name which the computer understands (it's a string of letters and numbers that is supposed to be unique to the wireless network). If a <link xref="net-wireless-hidden">network is hidden</link>, it will not have an SSID but it will have a BSSID.</p>
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<p>This is the <em>Basic Service Set Identifier</em>. The SSID (see above) is the name of the network which humans are intended to read; the BSSID is a name which the computer understands (it's a string of letters and numbers that is supposed to be unique to the network). If a <link xref="net-wireless-hidden">network is hidden</link>, it will not have an SSID but it will have a BSSID.</p>
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<title><gui>Device MAC address</gui></title>
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<title><gui>Device</gui></title>
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<p>A <link xref="net-macaddress">MAC address</link> is a code which identifies a piece of network hardware (for example, a wireless card, an Ethernet network card or a router). Every device that you can connect to a network has a unique MAC address which was given to it in the factory.</p>
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<p>This option can be used to change the MAC address of your network card.</p>
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<title><gui>Cloned MAC address</gui></title>
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<p>Your network hardware (wireless card) can pretend to have a different MAC address. This is useful if you have a device or service which will only communicate with a certain MAC address (for example, a cable broadband modem). If you put that MAC address into the <gui>cloned MAC address</gui> box, the device/service will think that your computer has the cloned MAC address rather than its real one.</p>
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<p>Your network hardware (in this case a wireless card) can pretend to have a different MAC address. This is useful if you have a device or service which will only communicate with a certain MAC address (for example, a cable broadband modem). If you put that MAC address into the <gui>cloned MAC address</gui> box, the device/service will think that your computer has the cloned MAC address rather than its real one.</p>