wireless LAN : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

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wireless LAN
WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) rhymes with Hi-Fi (High Fidelity). Instead of using cables to connect your computers, you can connect them wirelessly using radio transmitters. You use a router with a broad cast antenna and Ethernet adapters configured with radio receiver/transmitters. This will let you easily connect any number of computers in a house or apartment.

The catch is, by default, anyone in earshot can tap into your LAN (Local Area Network) as if there were one of your computers. Make sure you configure encryption, user ids and passwords to make each station log into your LAN. You must give your wireless network a name. Other wireless LAN users in your building will also see this, so keep it clean and informative e.g. Apt 1a, 2030 Main Street. Usually you let the configuration program pick a random encryption key. You can use my password generator to compute and unguessable one for you. Write it down in case you later have to refresh the memory of your devices.

Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) are usually slightly slower than using cable and they are more susceptible to electical interference.

The advantage is ease of installation and lack of clutter from the cables.

A wireless LAN is not totally wireless. It will have at least a cable to the Internet modem.

Some advanced cellphones take advantage of any nearby wireless LAN for fast, free data transfer, particularly music, video and web surfing. This only works within a building. For fast transfer to a cellphone tower, you need 3G.

On 2009-09-14 the new IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) 802.11n standard was ratified. It supports 300+ megabits per second.

Shopping for a Wireless Router

electronic product image recommend electronic⇒Linksys EA2700 App-Enabled N600 Dual-Band Wireless-N Routerto electronic home
asin B007IL72CI
Gigabit Ethernet connection. 4 ports.
American flag amazon.com bestbuy.ca Canadian flag
Canadian flag amazon.ca canadacomputers.com Canadian flag
German flag amazon.de ncix.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es newegg.ca Canadian flag
French flag amazon.fr www.staples.ca Canadian flag
Italian flag amazon.it tigerdirect.ca Canadian flag
UK flag amazon.co.uk bestbuy.com American flag
India flag junglee.com ncixus.com American flag
UN flag other stores newegg.com American flag
www.staples.com American flag
tigerdirect.com American flag
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock
electronic product image recommend electronic⇒Linksys E1200 Wireless-N Routerto electronic home
asin B004T9RR6I
Cisco. Single band, 300 MBps. Supports Wireless-N, -B, -G protocols. Has four × 1000 Mb/sec ports and one USB printer port.
American flag amazon.com bestbuy.ca Canadian flag
Canadian flag amazon.ca canadacomputers.com Canadian flag
German flag amazon.de ncix.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es newegg.ca Canadian flag
French flag amazon.fr www.staples.ca Canadian flag
Italian flag amazon.it tigerdirect.ca Canadian flag
UK flag amazon.co.uk bestbuy.com American flag
India flag junglee.com ncixus.com American flag
UN flag other stores newegg.com American flag
www.staples.com American flag
tigerdirect.com American flag
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock
electronic product image recommend electronic⇒Linksys EA3500 App-Enabled N750 Dual-Band Wireless-N Router and USBto electronic home
asin B007IL6OR2
Gigabit Ethernet connection. 4 ports. 5G. 300+450Mbps
American flag amazon.com bestbuy.ca Canadian flag
Canadian flag amazon.ca canadacomputers.com Canadian flag
German flag amazon.de ncix.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es newegg.ca Canadian flag
French flag amazon.fr www.staples.ca Canadian flag
Italian flag amazon.it tigerdirect.ca Canadian flag
UK flag amazon.co.uk bestbuy.com American flag
India flag junglee.com ncixus.com American flag
UN flag other stores newegg.com American flag
www.staples.com American flag
tigerdirect.com American flag
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock
electronic product image recommend electronic⇒Linksys EA4500 App-Enabled Dual-Band Wireless-N Router and USBto electronic home
asin B007IL7AKM
Gigabit Ethernet connection. 4 ports. 450+450Mbps
American flag amazon.com bestbuy.ca Canadian flag
Canadian flag amazon.ca canadacomputers.com Canadian flag
German flag amazon.de ncix.ca Canadian flag
Spanish flag amazon.es newegg.ca Canadian flag
French flag amazon.fr www.staples.ca Canadian flag
Italian flag amazon.it tigerdirect.ca Canadian flag
UK flag amazon.co.uk bestbuy.com American flag
India flag junglee.com ncixus.com American flag
UN flag other stores newegg.com American flag
www.staples.com American flag
tigerdirect.com American flag
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

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