Living with the Machine

I Love My WiFi

I'm way behind the times, but at last I've just finished off setting up my WIFI net, and it's so fast!

WiFi, also known as 802.11 networking (the IEEE standard) and wireless networking is a way to network your computers using radio signals instead of wires, the big advantage is it's simplicity and speed, Wifi typical transfer rates are between 11 megabits per second - to 54 megabits, depending on which version you buy in to.

It's very easy to set up, many new laptops have them already built in, but you can add cards to an older laptop, or desktop by installing a Wifi card.

A Wifi Hotspot is the central point for a Wifi network, it is hardwired into the internet and can transmit and receive from aprox 100 cards. You can get WiFi hotspots in all kinds of public places, hotels, restaurants and airports for example, and you can create one in your own home.

The newest machines connect directly to the hotspot as soon as you switch on and you can access the internet straight off, in older machines you have to go through a simple set of steps to connect.

You have to consider security, Wifi networks can be either open, or secure. To secure your network from eavesdropping you need to use a key, only users with a key will be able to access your network.

For a standard home, the usual setup is adequate and covers around 100 feet, multi-directional, if you have a larger home, inexpensive signal boosters are available.

All in all I wish I'd installed WiFi much sooner, it was much more simple to install than I thought and the whole setup was remarkably cheap. I wouldn't be without it now at twice the price. I am so happy to get rid of that spaghetti of wires everywhere.

posted by Tara Giles @ 8:29 AM