Chapter 1: Getting Wise to Wireless LANs
In This Chapter
Checking out wireless technologies and standards
Getting the skinny on frequencies and modulation techniques
Comparing the different solutions on the 802.11 networking technologies
Wireless technologies have been around for over a hundred years, with Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi making commercial use of wireless technologies from the beginning of the 20th century. With each major improvement in technology through the 20th century, there was an improvement in wireless communications. Just as people used early wireless to transmit traditional telegraph signals, people today use wireless to transmit traditional networking signals.
But mobile technology has gone way beyond the brick-like phones of the 1980s and has invaded all aspects of society. It would be rare for a networking specialist today to not have to work with wireless devices or wireless networking. This chapter reviews where this technology stands today and where it has come from and gives you a good overview of wireless technologies in general, as well as the specifics for wireless LAN technologies that you will likely encounter on the market. You look at the ...
