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Wireless Throughout The House – With No Wires!!!
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22-Dec-2008
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The growing trend in mobile computing has been wireless WiFi access spread as far around as we can, as easily as we can. The problem, of course, has been that WiFi access points haven't had that much range, or there was too much interference, and the only way to achieve complete saturation was to run wires between multiple access points, which kind of defeats the purpose. That, however, is no longer the case.
There are now devices, such as the Netgear WNR834B, that offer something new for the residential consumer and user; Wireless Repeaters. With two or three of these babies spread throughout your house, you would easily have your entire house, all floors, and probably most of your yard (within a hundred feet or so in every direction) completely covered with no dreaded dead zones. What makes this particular type of router so special is that it can link up with other compatible wireless access points wirelessly, which completely eliminates the hassle of drilling holes, running cables, hiding cables, not tripping over cables, the eventual liability law suits, et cetera.
The Good.
As indicated, you can completely saturate your living space with WiFi access. No more wires, no more tangles, no more mess.
The Bad.
There are, however, some bad points. The first is security. Despite offering relatively easy security methods (that are, for the most part, effective against at least the casual wireless eavesdropper), there are still many residential (and even some commercial) wireless networks that do not have any security implemented whatsoever. This really hasn't been a serious problem as someone would almost have to be standing right outside your window in order to have any effective signal. With the latest routers, linked with repeaters, that is not really the case. Someone could sit in their car out in front of your house and, with no security enabled, have access to your connection at the very least, your entire identity at the very worst.
There are many options available to you, as indicated, so there really is no excuse available. You can run different security codes, allowing you to give easy access to friends and relatives when they come over and need to sign online with their own devices. You also can run security by the device itself if you plan on having no e-visitors and have a fairly stable herd of computers in your house. There are more options yet, each of which would likely prevent all but the most determined of e-vaders. And if they are really determined and quite good at what they do, you probably aren't going to stop them, or even slow them down, regardless, so you can't really factor them in anyway.
Another issue, which is more of an annoyance than a genuine issue, is that while traveling between access points, you will likely have to re-establish your connection. Theoretically, this should happen automatically and you would only experience a 'hiccup' at best. However, that isn't always the case, so plan and expect for that to happen.
The final biggest issue for the residential user is going to be speed. Although it may not be so noticeable to the uninitiated, I have noticed a slight drop in speed when running off a wireless repeater. In theory you would experience this running off a wired repeater as well, however, it is practically non-existent there with respect to human perception. It is nothing to worry about, even with respect to online gaming, but nonetheless, it exists.
The Verdict.
The verdict is in, and so is wireless saturation. These devices are a very good buy considering what they are offering you (expect to pay between $175 and $250 for a full implementation, and possibly $20 to the college kid down the street to set it all up – and don't let him haggle you, it's not difficult). As well, we all know, the true leap in mobile computing was not in bringing the computer from the office to the home, but rather from the desk to the couch...and bed...and patio...and wherever your computing needs desire. |
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