SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE
The preceding two chapters discussed the first two wireless protocol standards to achieve wide market success at inexpensive prices. Today, IEEE 802.11b hardware is largely obsolete, while IEEE 802.11a hardware is largely restricted to corporate networks. However, this does not mean that IEEE 802.11-based wireless networking is unimportant. Rather, it reflects the overwhelming dominance of the newest wireless networking standard, IEEE 802.11g. IEEE 802.11g wireless networking is so inexpensive that almost anyone or any business can afford it. PCI, CardBus, and USB adapters are available for about $40$50 each, and many recent notebook computers already include an integrated IEEE 802.11g network adapter. Wireless Access Points (APs) with integrated routers and Ethernet switches are available for less than $50. At these prices, wireless networking is about the same price per system as wired networking, and is even less expensive if you include the cost of rewiring your home or office for a wired network. Because it's easy to interconnect wired and wireless Ethernet clients into a single network, it's worthwhile for you to consider if it's time to add wireless networking to your home or office, or use it as a complete replacement for wired networking. That said, if you already have an installed base of network cables for users in a wired environment, do you really need wireless networking? Conversely, there are a few scenarios that make wireless networking the best solution. If wireless is for you, the question of which standard to choose arises. Although some variants of wireless networking hardware are now very inexpensive, there are a few relevant considerations you need to think about, such as these:
The 802.11g standard was approved in 2003. |