WHAT IS WIRELESS LAN?
The Wireless LAN or WLAN is becoming a popular way to connect devices such as computers these days. In offices and homes, WLAN has become an alternative way of communication compared to wired LAN. The convenience to connect different devices is both cost effective and easily maintainable. The Wikipedia says: “Wireless LANs have become popular in the home due to ease of installation, and the increasing to offer wireless access to their customers; often for free.”
The other factors why WLANs are becoming more acceptable are:
1. No need to be connected physically with each other through any medium such as cables. You can roam around freely in office premises, home or around.
2. WLANs are cost effective. Cabling all the way in the offices, hotels etc are not needed. So it‟s cheap and provides same quality of service.
3. Unreachable spots where a cable is hardly accessible, WLAN signals can reach out such as big installations like airports. Also surfing outdoors is also convenient. Just install the device called Access Points (AP) and you are done.
4. Less interruption and easy trouble shooting in case of failures as compared to cabled networks.
5. More secure as most of APs support best encryption methods which protect them from sniffing and other attacks.
Figure : A typical Wireless network
