Now that you know the acronyms, you're ready to start experimenting with wireless networking. At minimum, you'll need two wireless 802.11b PC Cards or desktop cards.
This is enough to allow two PCs to communicate in a peer-to-peer ad hoc network. But to get a real taste for wireless networking, pick up a low-cost AP, such as Linksys' WAP11, which supports 32 users and a few PC Cards or PCI-card carriers.
The first thing you'll realise is that manufacturers' specs on how far you can be from an AP to get the full 11mbps are optimistic. Linksys, for instance, states a client can achieve 11mbps indoors up to 57 metres from the AP, while Intel plugs a more realistic 30 metres. The distance you achieve is contingent on the type of walls, if any, that stand between you and the AP. If any decent thickness of brick, steel, or concrete--especially reinforced concrete--stands in the way, you'll be lucky to get 1mbps or 2mbps. If wooden floors or Sheetrock walls are all that stand between you and the AP, hitting 11mbps within 30 metres in any direction should pose no problem.
At 11mbps, it takes a keen eye to spot a difference between an 802.11b wireless link and a standard 10BaseT line, particularly on a lightly loaded AP; the performance is that good. And if you're using the wireless link to tap into the Internet, even a connection at 1mbps feels speedy.
The one item an experienced network tech may discern is that, unlike standard wired Ethernet, a wireless PC link can't detect network collisions while transmitting. Packet collisions are common on both wired and wireless networks, thanks to the nature of Ethernet design. On a wired network, every client on the network "hears" every transmission, and a receiving PC sends an acknowledge (ACK) packet back for each item to let the sender know it arrived. On a wireless system, however, a transmitting client won't necessarily receive an ACK packet and may continue to send information that won't arrive in the event of a collision. To address this, ACK packets on wireless systems are assigned a higher priority than any other network traffic.
Location, Location, Location
As in real estate, the three things to remember when installing APs are location, location, location. Most high-end APs, including those from Intel, 3Com, and Cisco, include "site survey" utilities or WLAN tools to help you gauge the signal strength in different spots so you can position APs for maximum coverage.
If you've positioned the APs properly and with the same network ID, roaming should be seamless when moving from one AP to another. The original 802.11 wireless networking spec couldn't handle roaming between networks of different IP subnets; 802.11b can.
Beyond these basics, most APs include many other parameters and tweaks, such as SNMP management, filtering, various retry and threshold settings, and in some cases, the ability to connect a modem directly to an AP. Fortunately, you can administer nearly every AP through a Web browser, or by Telnet in some cases, and the better APs store a range of statistics to help you fine-tune their operation.
So what are you waiting for? Wireless networking isn't going to happen by itself, and there's no better time to give it a try.
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