Wifi and Standards

Wi-Fi

In networking we know we can form a network using cables. But we can form a network without cables too. This is not meaning we are going fully apart from cables. But we can use radio waves for cables. This call as Wi-Fi. This is very popular in the present. Because most of devices are running on Wi-Fi connection in present. We know smart phones cannot connect to network via cables. In that case most of people are using Wi-Fi to connect their mobile phones and also the other devices.

                                                                                                                        (Authors view)

Wi-Fi is suitable to form a network in company environment. Because this is a new technology.  And it’s easy to use because we don’t need to mess with cables anymore. We can access to the internet in any place that covers Wi-Fi range.

WLAN

WLAN stand for wireless local area network. We know what a LAN network is. LAN network is used to create a network in a small place. In that case this company also suitable a LAN connection. WLAN means we are creating the LAN connection with Wireless connection.

WLAN pros

·         Easy to setup than wired networks

·         Less breakdowns because of WLAN using radio waves

·         Huge numbers of devices are supported.

WLAN cons

·         There is a limit range of wireless waves

·         Easy to hack(need encryption to protect)

·         We need to use repeaters to make signals stronger.

WLAN Standards

WLAN devices operate with IEEE 802.11 standard. IEEE stands for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. IEEE created the first WLAN standard in 1997.The first standard was 802.11 and for some reasons after 802.11 IEEE created 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac ETC.

Standards in detail

 

IEEE 802.11 standard

This is the first WLAN standard that created by IEEE in 1997.  802.11 supported maximum only 1 or 2 Mbps transmission in 2.4 GHZ band of network bandwidth. This speed is not enough for many applications. In this case 802.11 wireless products no longer available.

 

IEEE 802.11a standard

IEEE created an extension to IEEE 802.11 to avoid issues that appear in old standard. This standard called IEEE 802.11a. This type of WLAN provides up to 54-Mbps in       5 GHZ band. In this type disadvantage is shorter range signal and Advantage of this type is fast maximum speed.

 IEEE 802.11b standard

 In this type of WLAN provides 11 Mbps in 2.4 GHZ. 802.11b uses only DSSS. IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b was created at same time. In this WLAN we can say slower speed as a disadvantage and we can say having a good signal range as a advantage of IEEE 802.11b.

 IEEE 802.11g standard

 IEEE 802.11g supported WLAN products began to release in 2002 and 2003 to the markets. This type of network provides 54-Mbps using 2.4 GHZ.  Comparing with 802.11b the cost is higher in 802.11g.

           

 IEEE 802.11n standard

Sometimes we call IEEE 802.11n as Wireless N. IEEE 802.11n provides up to 300 Mbps. In this standard has added multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. This type of WLAN also has fastest maximum speed and good signal range.

 IEEE 802.11ac standard

This is the newest technology of WLAN standards. This type of WLAN uses dual band wireless technology those are 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ WI-FI bands. On 2.4 GHZ it provides 450 Mbps and on 5 GHZ it provides 1.3 Gbps. This is a very fast connection to the wireless local area network.

Company environment and WLAN

Wireless local area network is a type of local area network and also new technology which uses WI-FI. We know there are many advantages in WLAN. Basically company environment is a bit complex environment because there are many employers , employees , many stuffs and also a busy place. In that case before creating a network we need to observe the best network type.

When creating a network to a company I prefer wireless area network (WLAN). Because WLAN is easy than LAN why I am saying like this is if we created a WLAN we don’t need to mess with cables. LAN design need cables for connect each device. In that case the cost is also less than normal LAN network. And we know in an industry there are many people working. They might be using different types of devices. If we created normal LAN network they can access internet by only nodes that connected with cables by main network device. If we created a WLAN network we can access by nodes and other devices such as mobile phones, tablets and more other devices. In this case I like to say for a company WLAN network is most suitable. 

                                                                                    (Author’s view)