Find answers to commonly-asked questions about Wi-Fi home networking, Bluetooth, wireless services, gear, and security considerations.
A network (either wired or wireless) increases the usefulness of your home computers. Wireless home networks offer even more benefits than wired ones.
Strictly speaking, no hardware other than wireless adapters is required to build a small wireless LAN (WLAN).
The exact number of devices that can connect and effectively share a WiFi varies but is probably larger than you think.
Try either of these two approaches for setting up shared dial-up Internet access on a home WLAN.
Installing two routers on the same home network can be useful when building a hybrid wired and wireless network or generally expanding the existing capability.
Mainstream wireless network equipment used in routers and computers generally signals in either a 2.4 GHz range or a 5 GHz range. However, just because it carries a bigger number, 5 GHz hardware is not necessarily better than 2.4 GHz hardware.
Wi-Fi technology simplifies the sharing of network connections between multiple computers and people. However, using someone else's Internet service may not be legal even if it is open access.
On wireless computer networks, ad-hoc mode is a method for wireless devices to communicate with each other peer-to-peer.
In wireless networking, infrastructure mode bridges a WLAN with a wired Ethernet LAN and allows Wi-Fi networks to support more clients with greater reach.
802.11b and 802.11g are both popular standards for Wi-Fi home networking. Can 802.11b and 802.11g gear be mixed on a wireless network, or are they incompatible?
802.11n network equipment supports up to 300 Mbps of rated bandwidth under certain conditions as described here. Unfortunately, sometimes an 802.11n network will operate at much lower speeds.
WiFi ad-hoc mode networking allows devices to connect wirelessly without the need for a central access point or router. However, ad-hoc WiFi also suffers from some key limitations as described here.
Many (but not all) wireless routers support hybrid local area networks containing a mix of wired Ethernet and WiFi clients.
In Wi-Fi networking, bridging mode allows two or more wireless access points (APs) to communicate with each for the purpose of joining multiple LANs.
Can prolonged exposure to wireless network devices cause memory loss or other brain damage?
The Wi-Fi network protocol requires electric power to operate the radios used to send and receive data. Using Wi-Fi on a computer or handheld device can significantly increase its power consumption (shortening battery life).
To save power and somewhat improve your network’s security, you should consider turning off the Wi-Fi radios on both the router and all computers when not using wireless connections.
A set of techniques that have been used in radio communications for decades, spread spectrum is also employed in modern Wi-Fi networking to enhance reliability, increase bandwidth and/or improve security of wireless computer connections.
Wibree is not much related to Wi-Fi the name notwithstanding; instead, Wibree is a short-range wireless technology more comparable to Bluetooth.
