Chat takes place in real time just like IM does; the main difference is that chat enables more than two people to interact at once. There are several chat clients available for mobile devices. Many of them integrate with Internet chat servers and enable you to use an existing chat account. The type of...

Perhaps you have a laptop that you want connected wirelessly, or maybe you don't want to run an Ethernet cable to connect your kid's Xbox for Internet gaming. If you have an existing Ethernet network you can easily add wireless connectivity for a few devices. You also may want certain devices connected...

You can share printers on your WLAN in several different ways. Perhaps the easiest is to attach the printer to one of your WLAN client PCs and then share that printer with the rest of the network. Although this approach is simple, it has three potential drawbacks: - The computer physically attached to...

Chances are that you won't have to install any antennas for your access points or NICs. Most come with antennas already attached and ready to go. However, if you purchased external antennas to increase the performance of your WLAN, you have to properly attach and position these. Whenever you purchase...

If you suddenly start noticing problems with your network or you experience intermittent difficulty, RF interference may be affecting your WLAN. Identifying sources of RF interference isn't easy, especially if they originate from outside your home. There are a number of things in your home that can cause...

The first thing you need to consider is whether wireless fits your needs, or if you should go with a wired alternative. I know, funny thing for a wireless book to even suggest, but Ethernet is worth considering for some applications. If you are planning to network just two or three computers and they...

Careful planning in choosing which Wi-Fi standard your WLAN will be based on will help you avoid headaches and wasted money. 802.11b has been on the market the longest, and that means that there's a lot of 802.lib-compliant hardware on the market. Now that 802.llg and 802.11a have arrived on the scene,...

Besides the obvious difference, the wireless Web differs from the regular World Wide Web primarily by the content that can be presented on mobile devices. The wireless Web isn't a separate entity. When you access the wireless Web you're accessing the regular Internet, just via a different route. To deal...

The next factor to consider in designing your WLAN is to determine how many devices you want to connect wirelessly. You may want to connect everything right off the bat or start out with a few devices and expand as your budget allows. Or you may be adding a few wireless elements to an existing Ethernet...

Simply put, antenna theory is boring. If I were to go into great technical detail about how antennas work, your eyes would glaze over and you'd eventually start snoring. Because it's not my goal to create a 400-plus-page sleep-aid, I'm going to keep this description very simple. Of course, simple is...