Wireless the name says it all: Cut the cord. Wireless networking is cable-free, no-strings-attached networking. Most wireless networks send data through radio waves, broadcasting in all directions. One or two proprietary products use infrared light to send data. Other than infrared links between laptops and PDAs, you will probably never encounter infrared products outside the [...]

Mobile wireless adapters come in three basic flavors: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular. If you want to connect to a cellular network or to Wi-Fi access points, you need a wireless adapter to do so that is, unless your PDA has wireless capabilities built in. In addition to the type of wireless that an adapter supports, [...]

Two organizations are responsible for setting and certifying the wireless standards. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (sometimes called Eye-triple-E) is an international, nonprofit, technical professional organization. The Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) alliance is a membership organization founded in 1999 that certifies product compliance to the IEEE 802.llx wireless standards. Over two hundred companies are [...]

Another alternative to extending your access point’s range is using a wireless repeater. A wireless repeater is a device that retransmits the signal from another access point on the same channel as the original signal. Today, many access points have a repeater option built into them; rather than having them run like a normal AP, [...]

The Global Positioning System is a network of 24 satellites used for navigation. The U.S. Dept of Defense launched the first GPS satellite into orbit in 1978. By 1994, the network as we know it now was complete. Although the GPS system functioned prior to all 24 satellites being operational, it’s far more accurate with [...]

One option for extending the coverage area of your WLAN is boosting the output power of your access point’s signal. Fortunately, Linksys has begun to market a wireless signal booster for use with its access points and routers. Other manufacturers are sure to follow suit. Increasing the power of your signal increases your access point’s [...]

Finding information isn’t any harder on the wireless Web than it is on your PC. Google has a WAP page so you can perform Google searches from your phone . Google is the default search page on the Sprint PCS wireless Web; you don’t even have to enter the address, just select the search feature. [...]

When you install your X10 devices, you may notice that your controller has problems communicating with some receivers in your home. You may think this is due to interference and install filters or even signal repeaters in an attempt to strengthen the signal. None of that works, what do you do now? The problem you [...]

A software access point (SAP) is a computer with wireless NIC running software that enables it to function like an AP. Software access points can be sophisticated and may duplicate many of the features of a hardware AP. A PC acting as an SAP may suffer performance degradation if there is a lot of network [...]

As signal strength grows weaker, the throughput of the connection decreases, and the latency increases. The decreased throughput and increased latency is a result of both the distance the signal must travel and the retransmission of lost and corrupt packets between the access point and the adapter. Insider insight: Because signals travel at the speed [...]