Wireless Buyer's Guide

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis

Sep. 18, 2004

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Wireless Routers

A router is a networking device that connects multiple networks together. With a router you can have a local network as well as share an internet connection between multiple computers on the network. A common configuration with home networks is to have a cable/DSL modem connected to the router, hardwire the router to the main computer and then add wireless adapters to the other computers that will be part of the network.

Wireless Access Points

A wireless access point is a networking device that allows wireless-equipped computers and other devices to communicate with a wired network. A WAP may also be used to expand the range of an existing wireless network.

Wireless Adapters

Wireless Adapter - A wireless adapter is a device that adds wireless network functionality to a computer. There are three types of wireless adapters. PCI Adapters are for desktop computers. As the name suggests, they can be installed in an available PCI slot. PCMCIA Adapters are for notebooks. Installation is as simple as pushing the card into an available PCMCIA slot. Lastly, there are USB Adapters. These adapters are compatible with desktop and notebook computers.

Wireless Print Servers

A print server is not a required component of a wireless network, nor do you need it to share a printer via wireless network. However, without a print server you can only share a printer while the computer that it is connected to is turned on. A print server connects a printer to the network, rather than an individual computer, allowing any computer on the network to access the printer at any time.

Security

One of the big "gotchas" of the wireless revolution was the realization that wireless traffic wasn't secure. With the introduction of 802.11b, we saw the use of WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy. Obviously the idea behind WEP was to make a wireless connection as secure as a wired one. The underlying implementation of the protocol resulted in an easily cracked security algorithm which rendered it useless. This now brings us to a new security standard that you will find in most of the new 54g products, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). With this new protocol, changes were made which created a much more secure environment for wireless communication. In a final note on security, expect to see many new products that state the use of 802.11i. This is actually the finalized standard that WPA was a subset of. The 802.11i security standard has also been referred to as WPA2. Many products, which are currently out, will be upgradeable to the new standard by means of a firmware upgrade. This is by no means a concise security evaluation of wireless products, just an overview. I hope to delve deeper into the subject of wireless security in an upcoming article, so stay tuned for that.

Final Words

Now that you have a little background information on the standards and what each incorporates, you should be able to at least look at the salesman without glazing over. Unlike its wired counterpart, there are more things to worry about when you "unplug" besides raw speed, but don't let all the marketing and jargon get in the way of a truly unique experience - and that experience is of course sitting in front of your TV surfing the internet on your laptop. Now that I have extolled the virtues of wireless on you, I am off to put some ends on a cat5 cable just for that old school nostalgia feeling.

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Page 2: Wireless Hardware, Security, and Final Words

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by Guest on October 20, 2004 - 12:25 am

Can anyone recommend a site/reading that addresses the problem of losing networking (file tranfers) between wireless connected computers in a network. Whenever I try to turn on WEP, I lose network (not internet) connectivity with the other computers on that network.

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