Reasons to Start a Wireless Network.

By: Lee Asher

As far as I'm concerned, wireless networks would have to rank as
one of the best inventions in history. They really are the best
thing since sliced bread. I mean, really, bread is easy enough
to cut yourself, but have you ever tried to wire up a network?
Its a lot of hard yakka as many would say. WiFi is the wireless
way to handle networking. It is also known as 802.11 networking
and wireless networking. The big advantage of WiFi is its
simplicity. You can connect computers anywhere in your home or
office without the need for wires. The computers connect to the
network using radio signals, and computers can be up to 100 feet
or so apart. So, in the spirit of spreading the word, I'm going
to give you some great reasons why you need a wireless network.

Sharing Internet Access.

Wireless networking gives you a cheap and easy way to share one
Internet connection between multiple computers, eliminating the
need for more than one modem. You can even add new computers to
your network simply by plugging in a wireless card and switching
them on -- they get an Internet connection straightaway! There
aren't many wired networks that can say that.

Sharing Files and Printers.

A wireless network gives you access to your files wherever you
are in your home, and makes it easy to synchronise the data on a
laptop with a home computer. It is much easier to send files
between computers with a wireless network than it is to send
them by email, or even by burning them to a CD.

Plus, with the printer connected, you can also write things
wherever you want, press print, and go and collect them from a
printer connected to another computer -- printers that are
plugged into one of the computers on the network are shared
between all the computers automatically.

Always On Connection

A big factor in the spread of broadband was that it let Internet
connections be always-on, without needing to dial in. Well,
wireless networking lets network connections be always-on,
meaning that any of your computers can connect to the Internet
whenever you want! You can take laptops from room to room, and
it doesn't matter -- they'll always have access. Plus, there's
not even any need to set up a username and password system, as
wireless networks work without logging in. It's just so
convenient!

No More Wires.

This, of course, is the biggest reason why you should switch
your network over to wireless. Wires are inconvenient,
expensive, ugly and dangerous -- you'll be delighted to see the
back of them.

The average Ethernet wire doesn't cost that much per metre, but
once you've bought enough metres to do whatever you need to do,
well, it tends to add up quickly. Not only that, but if you want
to run your wire between rooms or floors, you have to knock
holes in the walls -- which might not even be allowed if you're
renting. I know plenty of people in rented apartments who had to
keep their network confined to one room until they went
wireless. With wireless networking, well, you can even take your
computer outside, if you want to!

No more wires also means no more spaghetti all over the floor
and in the corners. Not only does this improve the safety of
your home, as it's all too easy to trip over exposed wires, but
it also means that you don't have to go to all the trouble of
packing all the wires up and re-connecting them at the other end
when you move. It also means that you don't have to examine
every wire for damage if your Internet connection breaks down.

Play LAN and Internet Games.

You might have seen an option in your favourite game to play
over a LAN. Well, wireless networks are LANs, which means that
your whole family can play that game together -- without needing
the computers to be anywhere near each other. It's far more fun
to play against real people you know than to play against random
people over the Internet, not to mention that the game will work
much faster. You could even invite your friends to bring their
computers and join in -- a 'LAN party'!

An added benefit is that wireless equipment lets you easily
connect any games consoles you or your kids might have to the
Internet, and start playing online. It's far easier to play
online with a wirelessly connected Xbox or PlayStation 2 than to
have to connect it to your modem every time.

Convinced Yet?

If you're excited, then that's great -- keep reading these
articles for advice on how to set everything up. If you don't
think it's for you yet, well, don't give up on it -- I'm sure
you'll come round when you realise just how easy and cheap
wireless really is.

About the author:




Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of Eclipse Domain
Services

Domain Names, Hosting, Traffic and Email Solutions.