Wireless networking guide

Wireless networking has been in the mainstream for the last few years, it's appeal is the flexibility it offers in terms of no wires, being able to connect to the internet from literally anywhere in your house, garden or where the range of the wireless router/modem permits a decent enough signal.

Just how do we go about connecting to the internet wirelessly? A wireless network needs to have two components a Wireless Router/Modem to share the internet connection a suitable Wireless card in your laptop or desktop Just about every new laptop has a wireless card built in, the actual type is the mini PCI

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.

Lastly we have the PCMCIA type of wifi network card, although PCMCIA ports are pretty much redundant just about every laptop has one of two of this type of long horizontal port, if your short of USB ports this could be just what your looking for, maybe not as obtrusive as the USB type, but it still needs to be removed when travelling with your laptop though.

Due to the amount of wifi network cards around the prices have really come down a lot over the past year and now really good wifi cards can be bought for as little as 15 pounds by good we mean either a 54mbps or 54g type of card, rather than the much slower 802.1l b type of cards.

Installing
When installing a wifi network card, make sure that you read the manuals prior to installing, most cards need to have the software installed before the wifi card is connected or plugged in, otherwise the software drivers may fail to load or Windows will attempt to locate a driver from elsewhere, giving driver or configuration issues which can be a hard to resolve it may mean removing the card again.

Now your ready to connect, you should see a popup on the bottom of the screen when a wireless network is in range of the card, click on the popup and you'll be able to enter your pass code (if you have one) to connect to your wireless network.

Notes
Only use wireless networks your familiar with, especially if you need to disclose credit card details for any reason. If you setup your own wireless network you must ensure that you implement some form of ecurity, if your router is not protected, not only could anyone simply browse from your Wireless network, but if so inclined could be much more malicious, performing such actions as changing your routers password, preventing you from accessing your own internet, they can also 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 ofour other articles at computer-adviser.com

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