Is WiFi Right For You?
 By B.J. Addington

WiFi is short for wireless fidelity. And it’s a hot topic among small-business owners.

WiFi-capable devices such as laptop computers and PDAs connect without cables or wires anywhere an access point is available. If your tech gadgets are equipped with WiFi, you can tap into the Internet, company networks, e-mail and even storage devices – from any place you can find an access point.

The potential for freedom away from wires is mouthwatering for most business owners.

You’ll want WiFi if you value mobility and flexibility because it permits access to your computer network from virtually anywhere in your office or home office, and from increasingly more locations on the road.

You’ll like WiFi if you need to set up temporary offices for Internet access in venues like trade shows or hotel rooms.

You’re a candidate for WiFi if you frequently reconfigure your office, moving computers and peripherals. WiFi is for you if you don’t want to punch holes in walls and floors to string wires and cables from room to room.

You’ll love WiFi if you agree that “work is something you do, not somewhere you go.”

WiFi technology uses radio-frequency transmissions to connect computing devices. It’s relatively easy and inexpensive to add to your existing network or to a standalone computer and peripherals.

WiFi networking technology is becoming standardized around the world. Today many laptop computers and hand-held devices come with WiFi connectivity built in. Desktops need only inexpensive PCMCIA (personal Computer Memory Card International Association) cards or USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectors to communicate via access points or gateways, which are inexpensive antenna devices that link the wireless network together by radio waves.

WiFi networks enable you to expand your already existing cabled network or create an entirely wireless network to tie together computers, peripherals and Internet access among several computing devices. Rather than be stuck at a desktop computer in your office, you can access any data or peripheral on your network from your living room or patio. You can also tap into a access point (known as a hot spot) at a coffee shop or airport lounge.

The downsides are few, but can be significant. Hot spot availability in public venues has increased greatly in recent years, but is not always free to use or entirely secure. Without proper security encryption and authentication, your transmitted data and even your home-office based desktop computer are vulnerable to snooping hackers.

The variety of user interfaces and security provisions can be problematic, if not outright incompatible. However, the stamp of “WiFi Certifiedtm” insures compatibility for more than 2,000 products, including computers and PDAs.

You also may not wish to switch to wireless technology until one standard emerges. Of competing standards (known as 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g) the newer, faster 802.11g offers the best combination of range and speed, but an even faster and farther reaching version, 802.11n, is expected in a year or two. Complicating further the standards war is the just released Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) technology, which is said to reach farther and to be three to five times faster than even the not-yet-released 802.11n.

All of these WiFi standards are fast enough to accommodate a broadband connection. In fact, they are faster than your DSL or cable Internet access.

Sellers of WiFi equipment are quick to point out that the standards war does not generally create significant connectivity problems because backward compatibility is increasingly built into new devices. Different flavors of WiFi offer different speeds (from 11 Megabits to 54 Megabits per second) and various broadcast distances (from 100 to 150 feet) as well as varied wall-penetrating and broadband capabilities. Similarly, security threats can be overcome with built-in configurations, or with third-party add-on products, the experts say.

You may, however, wish to hire a consultant to configure your WiFi network to ensure optimal spacing of the antenna access points and gateways and to maximize security.


(Posted October 2005)

>>Back to Owner's Manual