Wireless networking has now become mainstream. You see wireless network component displays in all the PC and electronics stores and even in the local Wal-Mart. But, as I have pointed out in the past, you have to take wireless with a few grains of salt. Don't jump into wireless until you understand some of the issues.
On the surface, wireless is a fairly easy concept to understand, Instead of connecting PCs together (and perhaps to the Internet) with cables (called CAT5 cables), you just put a wireless router or access point in place in a central location and then put the appropriate adapters in the individual PCs. Some PCs, such as recent Intel Centrino based notebook PCs, come with wireless networking adapters built-in.
But there are some significant limitations. First of all, wireless uses radio waves. Radio signals are subject to distance limitations, especially if there are intervening walls or floors. Radio signals can also be interfered with; I have heard of cases where microwave ovens have caused wireless networks to be intermittent. Also, most of the wireless equipment uses the 2.4 GHz. (gigahertz) frequency band, which is shared by the most popular kind of cordless phones; you may want to get a 900 Mhz. or 5 GHz. phone instead.
But the biggest issue related to radio frequency use is that you cannot share the radio band - in other words, only one transmission can occur at a time. With a wired network and a network switch as the central point, you can have simultaneous data flowing between PCs; in wireless, each PC has to wait its turn. True, this happens very quickly and with light use will appear to be simultaneous, but it's not. If you have a lot of PCs connected to a single wireless access point, you could see significant performance degradation if they all become active.
Another issue related to wireless performance is that it is slower than cables. Wireless 'b' runs theoretically at 11Mbs (megabits per second), but in practically is about half of that. Wireless 'g' (the newer standard) runs at 54Mbs maximum and again about half of that in practicality. But wired networking runs at 100Mbs. If you are using wireless just for your high speed Internet connection, then wireless has plenty of speed, as the Internet connection itself is only about 1.5Mbs. But if you use your network for more intensive data (such as sharing files between PCs), you may notice a problem on heavily used networks. For example: opening a QuickBooks company file on a remote PC can be very slow over wireless.
If you are putting together a wireless network in your home, most of the above issues are not a problem (except for cordless phones). But businesses need to take a second look, or use the services of a professional. The bottom line is: if you are building a new building, or refurbishing an older one, don't plan for wireless as your primary network - put the wires in; you can always upgrade to wireless selectively later.
One final issue regarding wireless is security. Wireless networking equipment out of the box is insecure and can be accessed by anyone within the radio signal range. This means that the potential for someone to drive by with a notebook computer and access your data is real. If security is an issue, consult a professional or stick to a wired system.
To sum it up, wireless can be great, especially when you want to use a notebook PC (or PDA) without wires. But you need to address the issues.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).