Wi-Fi Handbook-Building 802.11b Wireless Networks

Frank Ohrtman

Konrad Roeder

McGraw-Hill

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 Ohrtman, Frank.   Wi-Fi handbook: building 802.11b wireless networks / Frank Ohrtman, Konrad Roeder.     p.  cm.   Includes Index 

ISBN 0-07-141251-4 (alk. paper)

1. IEEE 802.11 (Standard) 2. Internet service providers-Standards. 3. Telecommuncation-Technological innovations-United States. I. Roeder, Konrad. II. Title

TK5105.5668.036 2003

004.67'8-dc21 2003044574

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOC/DOC 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

ISBN 0-07-141251-4

The sponsoring editor for this book was Stephen S. Chapman and the production supervisor was Sherri Souffrance. It was set in Century Schoolbook by MacAllister Publishing Services, LLC.

Printed and bound by RR Donnelley.

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This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing a minimum of 50 percent recycled de-inked fiber.

This book is dedicated to all the WISP and other wireless pioneers that are blazing new trails in wireless telecommunications.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Frank Ohrtman has 20 years experience in professional networking, including high-security installations for industry and the military (US Navy). A former Account Manager at Lucent Technologies, Netrix and Vsys, he is most recently the author of Softswitch: Architecture for VoIP. He has a master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Colorado University. He lives in I Denver, Colorado.

Konrad Roeder has over 20 years experience with various technologies such as Wi-Fi, GSM, Cellular, SMR, VoIP and ISDN. Konrad has a BS in Computer Science from University of New Mexico and MS in Computer Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. He has 3 patents issued and 3 patents pending. He currently works at T-Mobile on the 802-11 project deploying Wi-Fi in Airports and Airline Clubs. Mr. Roeder lives in Seattle, WA.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the generous donation of time and talent from Mike Schmidt, Jackie Peterson, Richard Siber, Geri Mitchell, Karim Damji, Chris Fine, Patrick Sorqvist, Priyank Garg, Rushabh Doshi, Majid Malek, Russell Greene, Maggie Cheng, Rob Flickinger, Mathew Gast, Brent Bierstedt, Fred Goldstein, Plamen Nedeltchev, Jim Zyhren, Al Petrick, Tim Pozar, Friederick Kaemmerer, James and Ruth LaRocca, Michael Collins, Doug Haslam, Kathryn Korostoff, Charles Jackson, Robert Crandall, and Dale Hatfield.

As with any great work of literature, this book could not have been written without the cheerful assistance of the barristas Jennifer Le Grand, Heather Thompson, and Robin Balchen at St. Mark's coffee house and Maria Steed at Diedrich's coffee house, both in Denver, Colorado.