What's New

    

Wireless Networks
Wireless networks are becoming more and more popular everyday. There are several very appealing aspects of wireless including not being tied to a specific location with your laptop, not having a conventional cable run installed, and the ability to connect to other public and private wireless networks. Before you decide to jump into a wireless network, there are some things you should know.

A quick breakdown on the different standards:
802.11a: (Data transfer rate is 54 Mbps; maximum operating range is 100 ft) Excellent for handling bandwidth intensive applications such as large databases or any other application that requires a lot of information being sent back and forth across the WLAN. Drawbacks include hardware costs and effective range.

802.11b: (Data transfer rate is 11 Mbps; maximum operating range is 300 ft) Great for internet access, email and applications that don’t require much data being sent across the WLAN. The hardware is relatively inexpensive and the effective range is better than 802.11a.

802.11g: (Data transfer rate is 54 Mbps; maximum operating range is 300 ft) Better speed than 802.11b with backwards compatibility and still less expensive than 802.11a. The main drawback is that the performance of newer 802.11g cards will suffer if there are also 802.11b systems on the WLAN.

There are also new standards being worked on that will allow even more bandwidth, improve on security, and provide compatibility with existing hardware.

 

Security: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

Wireless networks use WEP to encrypt data on a WLAN. Right now your choices include 64-bit and 128-bit encryption. Both are relatively easy to break providing the hacker has the time (about 5 days with 128-bit encryption). You can also disable SSID (secure set identifier) broadcasting to help secure your WLAN even further. There are also users who decide to skip securing their network. However, the extra time spent securing your WLAN may be enough to deter hackers from compromising your network.

 

Connecting to your wired network:

There are several different options available to connect any wired workstation with a WLAN. They include Wireless Access Points (WAPs), Wireless Routers and Ethernet Bridges. The best choice for a LAN to WLAN connection depends on a few things. If your current wired LAN has a DHCP server running and WLAN to LAN communications is a must, a WAP, Ethernet Bridge or high end Router/Gateway is the way to go. If WLAN to LAN communication isn’t a factor, for example, if you just want to get both your wired pc and your wireless laptop on the internet, then the less expensive wireless router will do the trick.