| A home and office wireless network can be set | | | | the switch, hub or LAN router. |
| up using wireless local area network (WLAN) | | | | |
| devices. A wireless LANhas a wireless | | | | Unlike cellular networks with fixed |
| platform to enable wireless communication | | | | frequencies, users in Wireless Local Area |
| amongst the computers/laptops and peripheral | | | | Networks have to share frequencies,that |
| devices partof the LAN. A wireless LAN has | | | | sometimes can lead to collisions. The choice |
| limited range and is usually best suited for | | | | of frequency depends on whether microwave, |
| local environment such as a building,office | | | | spread spectrum, orinfrared communication is |
| complex or home. The number one advantage is | | | | used. |
| the flexibility and mobility provided by a | | | | |
| wireless LAN. | | | | The primary WLAN standards include the |
| | | | IEEE-802.11 series and HiperLAN. The |
| A wireless home and office network can easily | | | | IEEE-802.11 (Wi-Fi) standards supports |
| be installed by connecting a wireless router | | | | |
| to the network. Therouter must be placed in a | | | | 1 Mbps data rate and several selection of |
| high and central position within the home or | | | | physical medium like: spread spectrum and |
| the office. Computers which are placedclose | | | | infrared. One of the extrafeature of this |
| to the router, or in the same room as the | | | | standard is the battery conservation for |
| router, receive better network speed. Most | | | | inactive or idle wireless users. Faster 54 |
| wireless routers supportbroadband modems | | | | Mbit/s 802.11a |
| while others support telephone lines | | | | |
| connections. Each computer connected to the | | | | (5 GHz) and 802.11g (2.4 GHz) standards are |
| wireless LAN needto have a wireless LAN card | | | | now available. New criteria beyond the 802.11 |
| installed. | | | | specifications, such as |
| | | | |
| It is compulsery and important to name the | | | | 802.16(WiMAX), are currently being developed |
| wireless network and to ensure that all the | | | | and provide enhancements such as longer range |
| computers on the WLAN sharethe same network | | | | and faster transferspeeds. |
| name. Despite the fact that a wireless router | | | | |
| contains a built in access point, one may | | | | The HiperLAN standard may be used to support |
| need touse a wireless access point if an | | | | 23.5 Mbps channel rates. However, it allows |
| existing Ethernet home/office network is | | | | use of only spread spectrumphysical medium |
| extended. You must cable your accesspoint to | | | | and is not very popular. |