wireless-networking-guide
by silviaholloran
Wireless or WiFi networking has become more and more common over the last few years, its biggest appeal is being able to work anywhere within in range of your wireless router without physical network cabling, this also means its much easier to give more than one computer internet or network access.
So how can we connect to the internet wirelessly? A wireless network needs to have two components a Wireless modem or router to share the web connection, a wireless network card in your desktop or laptop computer. Just about every new laptop has a wireless mini PCI network card built in, which will support both 802.11b and the faster 802.11g networks.
But what if you have an older laptop that does not have a wireless network card built in?
Don’t despair there are a number of options available to make most laptops wireless. The best choice is the mini PCI or internal wireless card, the biggest advantage offered by this type of card is that it is installed internally, no obtrusive aerial or anything else sticking out, check online or contact us to find out if your laptop will take one of these types of cards.
The USB wireless type or dongle is perhaps the most common as its just a case on installing its software plugging in the dongle and you are pretty much ready to go The big advantage of this type of network card is the ease of installation, but on the downside it means you will need to remove it if you ever travel and they do have a habit of getting knocked if your limited by your USB ports, this type of network card is suitable for desktop and laptop computers, just make sure your computer has USB type 2 ports or you might find it too slow.
If your using a desktop pc, the most common type of wifi card is a PCI type card, you will need to install the cards software, switch off the computer, open up your computer to install the wireless card, but it really is just a case of removing the case, removing the blanking plate, fitting the card and putting the case back on, once done power it on and it will install itself.
The final type of wireless card is the PCMCIA type, just about every laptop has a PCMCIA port or 2, which in 99.9% of laptops is unused (PCMCIA ports are the long thin horizontal ports usually in the side of a laptop) so if your short on USB ports or your computer only has USB type 1 then this would be a good choice for you as these ports are usually redundant.
Due to the amount of wireless network cards on the market the prices have come down a lot over the past year and now decent wifi cards can be purchased for very little today, by decent I mean either a 54g or 54mpbs type of card, rather than the much slower 802.11b type of cards.
Installing
Most wireless network card require you to install the software before the card, as this not only provides Windows ready with the cards drivers, but also many wireless cards come with their own proprietary software application too. Make sure you read the cards installation guide to confirm this. Fitting the card and installing the software may only install the drive, and it can be the wrong driver causing the card to malfunction.
Now your ready to connect, you should see a pop-up at the bottom right of the screen when a wireless network is in range of the card, click on the pop-up and you’ll be able enter your pass key (if you have one set ) to connect to your wireless network.
Notes
Only connect to wireless networks you trust, especially if you need to disclose credit card details for any reason. If you have setup your own wireless network you must ensure that you have some form of wifi security, if your router is not protected, not only can anyone simply just connect and browse from your Wifi network, but if so could be much more malicious, performing such actions as changing your router passwords, stopping you from accessing your own internet connection, they will also be see any able to see any computers or devices attached to your router and may try to gain access to these.
So please make sure any wireless connections are secure, feel free to checkout more on Wireless security, plus all of our other articles.
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