ZyXEL AG-200 User’s Guide
WLAN Networking 2-9
Figure 2-8 RTS Threshold
When station A sends data to the AP, it might not know that the station B is already using the channel. If
these two stations send data at the same time, collisions may occur when both sets of data arrive at the AP
at the same time, resulting in a loss of messages for both stations.
RTS/CTS Threshold is designed to prevent collisions due to hidden nodes. An RTS/CTS Threshold
defines the biggest size data frame you can send before an RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send)
handshake is invoked.
When a data frame exceeds the RTS/CTS Threshold value you set (between 0 to 2432 bytes), the station
that wants to transmit this frame must first send an RTS (Request To Send) message to the AP for
permission to send it. The AP then responds with a CTS (Clear to Send) message to all other stations within
its range to notify them to defer their transmission. It also reserves and confirms with the requesting station
the time frame for the requested transmission.
Stations can send frames smaller than the specified RTS/CTS Threshold directly to the AP without the
RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake.
You should only configure RTS/CTS Threshold if the possibility of hidden nodes exists on your network
and the “cost” of resending large frames is more than the extra network overhead involved in the RTS
(Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake.
If the RTS/CTS Threshold value is greater than the Fragmentation Threshold value (see next), then the
RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear to Send) handshake will never occur as data frames will be fragmented
before they reach RTS/CTS Threshold size.
Enabling the RTS Threshold causes redundant network overhead that could
negatively affect the throughput performance.
2.5 Authentication Type
The IEEE 802.11b standard describes a simple authentication method between the wireless stations and
AP. Two authentication modes are defined: Open and Share.
