Wireless Networking - Hardware
Wireless Networking - Hardware
Why wireless? If your home has a full basement with easy access, or even a crawl space, then you could run CAT5 (Category 5) Ethernet cable under your house, but the cable costs money and this requires drilling holes in your walls and floors. True, with a wired network, you can achieve network speeds of up to 100 Mbps, but for most users, the 11 Mbps provided by 802.11b wireless networking is more than sufficient for transferring files between computers. And 11 Mbps is far better than the DSL or Cable Internet connection that comes into your house. A typical cable connection provides a 1.5 Mbps downstream link, and DSL can run as low as 256 Kbps, and up to 1.5 Mbps. Even with wireless encryption enabled, the throughput of the wireless LAN connection will, in all likelihood, well exceed the available bandwidth on your Internet connection.
With wireless networking, you simply plug the wireless base station/router into a wall plug, connect it to your Cable/DSL modem (if desired) and install or connect a wireless Ethernet adapter for each computer you wish to have networked. All brands of wireless base stations have built in configuration software. This software allows you to easily setup the router with your workgroup name, configure a wide variety of security and logging options, and determine whether you want to use wireless security (WEP) or not, and if so, what level.
Most wireless base stations also support “wired” connections, so if your router happens to sit next to your desk, you can use a less expensive “wired” Ethernet adapter if a machine is close enough.
Hardware Reviews
Microsoft MN-500 Wireless Base Station
Microsoft MN-510 USB Wireless Ethernet Adapter
D-Link 802.11g Wireless Base Station/Router/Ethernet Adapters
Belkin 802.11g Wireless Base Station/Router/Ethernet Adapters