Wireless Networks

Purpose of the Paper

The world has progressed beyond recognition in the twentieth century as the ways of communication have shifted from paper to paperless transmissions. In this transformation computers and their related technologies have contributed to a great extent. We could observed that there had been relatively little change in the world prior to the information technology innovations but since then we have transgressed and proceeded from the computer age to the networking age. Now in the twenty first century, the wireless networks are gaining momentum and it will not be long before we witness this phenomenon engulfing the entire world with amazing possibilities. This paper aims to scrutinize the importance of wireless networks and identify various types of wireless networks. Furthermore their associated pros and cons will be examined along with their environmental hazards and various other virtual security concerns. Finally we will conclude by stating the outcomes of wireless networking technology.

Wireless Networks

A wireless network can be defined as any type of computer network that is of wireless nature and that is linked with a telecommunications network whose connections is linked with nodes and the entire process is carried out without wires. The medium for carrying the waves are usually electromagnetic waves and this takes place at the physical layer of the network (Price, 2006).

Through wireless networks people can connect to the internet when they are not in their home or office and it is mainly designed for people on the go. However, people can connect to the network when they are at home and they can send email, browse the net wirelessly through the wireless networks. In the house or office everyone can share a single printer, router and can even share files through the wireless network.

Technically, nearly all the wireless is based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. A simple and a basic network that's wireless in nature consists of different stations that are multiple in nature that are used for communicating with radios that actually broadcast in 2.4GHz or 5GHz band (Price, 2006).

Types of Wireless networks

Like normal networks the wireless networks have different types. There are four basic types of Wireless networks. These three types are discussed below in detail.

• Wireless PAN
• Wireless LAN
• Wireless MAN
• Mobile oriented networks