Get Online Minus The Wires With Wireless Broadband
Years ago, a wireless was a radio. Now, having a wireless doesn’t mean you sit around listening to a box and trying to imagine pictures. It means wireless internet.
Wireless broadband works by using short-range radio waves to create a small area where your computers can be networked without wires - most wireless networks are no bigger than a house, although larger ones are possible.
This is how it works. First, the broadband Internet connection is plugged into a wireless router - basically, a small, cheap computer that does nothing except acting as the hub of your network. You then fit wireless cards into each one of your computers, either by opening them up and putting it inside or by plugging it in using a cable (such as USB) or a port (like laptops’ PCMCIA).
Although WiMAX are networks are available in several major metropolitan areas in the US, base stations are very expensive to build, and aren’t cost effective in less densely populated areas. Because of this limitation, WiMAX technology is not yet available in most non-urban regions.
Wireless broadband access is usually no slower than plugging the modem in directly, unless you have very cheap wireless equipment and a very fast Internet connection. It also gives you the added advantage that your computers will be networked together wirelessly, too - so you can easily make your folders shared and access them from any computer in your house using ‘My Network Places’.
Tags: Internet
