Two aspects of the wireless industry are hitting the roof: wireless telephony and wireless Internet connection. For the cellular phone industry, there is no end in sight as consumers continue to gobble up virtually any new model in the market?especially the ones loaded with bells and whistles. The big hit, of course, is the camera feature.
For wireless Internet connection, consumers are wholeheartedly embracing the ability to surf the Net at high speed in hotels, malls, and airport areas without having to look for an available phone jack. In fact, from my experience, there are usually one or two available networks to hook up with no network security key required. This means not having to pay for Internet connection?forget about Internet hot spots, there is no need to use my credit card this time around!
With my laptop on wireless Internet, I can afford to give the hotel restaurant a handsome tip since I get to use the hotel's Internet connection for free, anyway while having lunch or breakfast.
For wireless LANs, Monte Enbysk of Microsoft.com/smallbusiness advises understanding the different wireless LAN standards, especially the pros and cons of each. Enbysk writes: ?Most Wi-Fi (short for "wireless fidelity") networks to date have been based on the 802.11b standard, created in 1999. Long the most popular standard, 802.11b works well for many businesses. But it is no longer the standard of choice, with the advancements made by 802.11g. Its biggest shortcoming is in having the slowest maximum speed ? it supports bandwidth of only up to 11 megabits per second (mbps). On the flip side, 802.11b has a signal range of 300 feet or so, about five times that of 802.11a, and can be purchased at the lowest cost of the three standards.
?The biggest selling point of 802.11a is the faster speed? says Enbysk. ?It supports bandwidth of up 54 mbps. It also generally supports more simultaneous users than 802.11b and its regulated frequencies prevent signal interference from appliances and other devices. But the higher speed and bandwidth are countered by the reduction in transmission range or distance. Also, because 802.11a utilizes a different frequency than 802.11b, the two technologies are incompatible, meaning you cant mix the two and count on them to interoperate.?
802.11g is the most promising of the three, and has been supported by wireless networks since 2002. 802.11g combines the best of both 802.11b and 802.11a ? it supports bandwidth of up to 54 mbps and uses the same 2.4 GHz frequency as 802.11b to offer greater range than 802.11a. It also is backwards compatible with 802.11b, which means that 802.11g access points will work with 802.11b wireless network adapters and vice versa.
Its drawback? Because it received Wi-Fi certification as recently as July 2003, it has fewer products on the market and they currently cost more than 802.11b. Also, early tests found uneven performance, and that it was not clearly superior to either 802.11a or the lower-cost 802.11b. But 802.11g products have continued to improve and have increasingly become the best choice. (Get ready for even more alphabet soup in the not-too-distant future: 802.11e, 802.11h, 802,11i, 802.11n, and even a new set of numbers such as 802.15.)
More and more people are asking this question, as wireless LANs ? or local-area networks ? continue to get better and easier to use. Despite the tech slump of recent years, sales of wireless networks continued strong. Annual revenue from wireless LAN equipment is predicted to jump to $4.5 billion in 2006 from $969 million in 2000, according to Allied Business Intelligence, an Oyster Bay, N.Y., research firm.
Collos Filisenz is the webmaster of wireless
wireless http://www.fortwireless.com