Why Wireless?

For those of you still on the fence about going wireless, we start this chapter off by trying to convince you that it is worth the time, effort, and money to go wireless, especially because it only takes a little of each to get started. The biggest reason for making the switch to wireless boils down to a single word: flexibility.

Wireless technology provides us with a great deal of flexibility when it comes to what devices we put on the network, how many devices we use, and where we put those devices. Let’s look at an example. Suppose a family wants to connect to the Internet using broadband cable (this example works with any type of broadband). This family has three computers in the home, one for each parent and one for their teenager, and all family members want to connect to the Internet at the same time. First, they must determine where the cable jacks are located in the home and decide which one they want to connect to the cable modem. Is a cable jack close to where one of the computers will be used? If not, that’s a problem. They have to either put a computer where they don’t want one or string a long cable across a room.