As for what
to purchase for a home network or small business environment, evaluate what you really
need. Given a choice between purchasing a wireless router (more
commonly available) and an access point (does not incorporate a firewall or
internet sharing), the router is recommended, since it has a usefulness
that goes beyond just connecting your wireless devices. If possible,
purchase a wireless router that has wired ports on it as well for added
flexibility.
When
buying wireless network adaptors for your computers, consider which computers in
your home or business you actually need to be
wireless.
To put
this in perspective, consider that A wireless PCI
network adaptor for a desktop computer costs roughly 10-12x as much as a
regular 10/100
wired network adaptor, which your computer probably came with anyhow. USB
wireless adaptors are slightly cheaper, but still not as affordable as the
adaptors for
laptops (if wireless isn't already built in) Often they are
more complicated to configure with some operating systems, and USB devices
can add to system
load.
How often
do you plan to move your desktops? A good rule for this is to consider where you
are going to position your router/access
point,
then
figure out if you can easily connect any of your desktops to it via
cable.
For laptops and
mobile PCs, obviously you are going to require wireless adaptors, and the good
thing is that they are actually less expensive than their desktop equivalents, due to demand.
It's simpler, of course, to purchase a wireless adaptor for every computer
in your household and leave cables behind completely, but for every
two desktop wireless adaptors you buy, you will close to
double the price of your hardware, so it is worth thinking about the other
options.
In
closing, it is possible to configure computers with wireless adaptors to
communicate with other wireless adaptors without a router or access-point,
using
ad-hoc, or peer-to-peer mode, but this configuration complicates gaining access
to the rest of your network resources, and is not covered in this
article.
Wireless Data Transmission Standards
There are currently three major wireless data standards used
in contemporary devices. 802.11b, also known as Wi-Fi, is currently the dominant
method of transferring wireless data. The vast majority of wireless networking
components conform to this standard, and its adequate range and performance,
coupled with the cheapness and availability of components, has been the driving
force behind the wireless boom.
RSS Newsletter
