Nothing but net(work): Why you need one

Wireless home networking isn't just about linking computers to the Internet. Although that task is important - nay, critical - in today's network-focused environment, it's not the whole enchilada. Of the many benefits of having wireless in the home, most have one thing in common: sharing. When you connect the computers in your home through a network, you can share files, printers, scanners and high-speed Internet connections between them. In addition, you can play multiuser games over your network, access public wireless networks while you're away from home, check wireless cameras, use Internet Voice over IP (VoIP) services, or even enjoy your MP3s from your home stereo system while you're at work - really!

Reading Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition, helps you understand how to create a whole-home wireless network to reach the nooks and crannies of your home. The big initial reason that people have wanted to put wireless networks in their homes has been to 'unwire' their PCs, especially laptops, to enable more freedom of access in the home. But just about every major consumer goods manufacturer is hard at work wirelessly enabling its devices so that they too can talk to other devices in the home - you can find home theater receivers, music players, and even flat-panel TVs with wireless capabilities built right in.

People go with wireless networking for:

• File sharing
• Internet connection sharing
• Printer and peripheral sharing
  

Introduction to Wireless Networking

Over the past 5 years, the world has become increasingly mobile. As a result, traditional ways of networking the world have proven inadequate to meet the challenges posed by our new collective lifestyle. If users must be connected to a network by physical cables, their movement is dramatically reduced. Wireless connectivity, however, poses no such restriction and allows a great deal more free movement on the part of the network user. As a result, wireless technologies are encroaching on the traditional realm of 'fixed' or 'wired' networks. This change is obvious to anybody who drives on a regular basis. One of the 'life and death' challenges to those of us who drive on a regular basis is the daily gauntlet of erratically driven cars containing mobile phone users in the driver's seat.

Wireless connectivity for voice telephony has created a whole new industry. Adding mobile connectivity into the mix for telephony has had profound influences on the business of delivering voice calls because callers could be connected to people, not devices. We are on the cusp of an equally profound change in computer networking. Wireless telephony has been successful because it enables people to connect with each other regardless of location. New technologies targeted at computer networks promise to do the same for Internet connectivity. The most successful wireless data networking technology this far has been 802.11.