Why Build a Wireless Home Network?

A network (either wired or wireless) increases the usefulness of your home computers. Wireless home networks offer even more benefits than wired ones.

What Hardware is Required to Build a Wireless Network?
Strictly speaking, no hardware other than wireless adapters is required to build a small wireless LAN (WLAN). Access point,routers,antenna

How Many Computers Can Share a WiFi Network?255 all total

Can a Wireless LAN Share Dial-up Internet Service? yes

Can Two Routers Be Used on the Same Home Network?
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.

Is 5 GHz Wi-Fi Computer Hardware Better than 2.4 GHz?
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.

Is It Legal to Use Open Access Wi-Fi Internet Connections?
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.

What is WiFi Ad-Hoc Mode?
On wireless computer networks, ad-hoc mode is a method for wireless devices
to communicate with each other peer-to-peer.

What is WiFi Infrastructure Mode?
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.

Are 802.11b and 802.11g Compatible?
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?

How Can I Get 300 Mbps Speed on My 802.11n Network?
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.

What Are the Limitations of WiFi Ad-Hoc Mode Networking?
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.

Do Wireless Routers Support Hybrid Networks?
Many (but not all) wireless routers support hybrid local area networks containing a mix of wired Ethernet and WiFi clients.

What is Wi-Fi Bridging Mode?
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.

Are Wireless Networks a Health Hazard?
Can prolonged exposure to wireless
network devices cause memory loss or other brain damage?

How Does Wi-Fi Use Affect Computer Battery Life?
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).

Can Wi-Fi Be Turned Off for Computers and Routers?
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.

What Is Wireless Spread Spectrum Communication?
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.

What Is Wibree?
Wibree is not much related to Wi-Fi the name notwithstanding; instead, Wibree is a short-range wireless technology more comparable to Bluetooth.

What is the Actual Speed of an 802.11b Wi-Fi Network?
The theoretical bandwidth of an 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless connection is 11 Mbps. However, this level of performance is never realized in practice due to network overhead and other factors.

Why Does My WiFi Data Rate Keep Changing?
Wi-Fi network connections automatically adjust their data rate
(connection speed) based on the quality of the communication signal. Sometimes called "dynamic rate scaling," this feature of Wi-Fi extends the range at which wireless devices can connect to each other.

How Can the Range of a WiFi Network Be Extended?
Boost the coverage of your wireless LAN by strategically adding more equipment. Alternatively, a few simple tweaks to your router (access point) may also do the trick.

Which Wireless Router Has the Best WiFi Signal?
Consumer wireless routers vary in the WiFi range they support. Routers with stronger WiFi signals allow devices to connect at higher speeds from a greater distance and stay connected more reliably. Which wireless router then, has the best WiFi range?

TCP/UDP Port Numbers
IP networking uses the concept of protocol "ports" at the transport layer to manage communication channels between programs. Many TCP/IP port numbers are associated with specific applications as explained here.

A general rule of thumb in home networking says that 802.11b and 802.11g WAPs and routers support a range of up to 150 feet (46 m) indoors and 300 feet (92 m) outdoors.

Another rule of thumb holds that the effective range of 802.11a is approximately one-third that of 802.11b/g.

TCP/UDP Port 0
Port 0 is officially a reserved port in TCP/IP networking, meaning that it should not be used for any TCP or
UDP network communications.

What is TCP/IP?
TCP/IP is an extremely popular network protocol that enables communication between most of today's computers. Did you know that TCP/IP is over 30 years old?

Guide to Working With IP Addresses
IP addresses are a key element of TCP/IP technology that must be set up correctly for home networks and Internet access to function. Learn about the basics of finding, changing, and hiding IP addresses.

Multihoming
Multihoming is the configuration of multiple network interfaces or IP addresses on a single computer. Multihoming can increase the reliability and sometimes the performance of network applications.

MTU - Maximum Transmission Unit
In TCP/IP networking, MTU is the largest size (in bytes) of a single IP data fragment that can be sent over the physical network link.

tcpdump on Linux
Tcpdump is a command-line tool for monitoring network traffic available on Linux and other popular operating systems.

Do IPX Games Work Better Than TCP/IP Games?
IPX games sometimes run more smoothly on a home LAN than TCP/IP games do. There is a technical reason for this, and a technical fix that helps TCP/IP games perform better.

What is Wireless Networking?
In computer networking, wireless technology is a modern alternative to networks that use cables. A wireless network transmits data by microwave and other radio
signals.

Benefits of (Wireless) Networking
Any kind of network technology (either wired or wireless) increases the usefulness of home and business computers. Wireless networks offer even more benefits than wired ones.

Wireless Network Gear - Routers Access Points Adapters
A wireless network may contain several different types of equipment. Use this guide to learn about each type of network gear including routers, access points and adapters.

Top 802.11g Wireless Routers
The 802.11g technology standard supports much faster peer networking than the older 802.11b standard. 802.11g routers are designed to share a broadband Internet connection and usually contain a built-in firewall, DHCP server, and network switch.

What Is a Bandwidth Cap?
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) sometimes place limits on the amount of data customers can send and/or receive over their Internet connections. These are sometimes called bandwidth caps. Bandwidth limits may be imposed by providers on a monthly basis, real time on active connections, or at the level of individual applications.

RFID - Radio Frequency Identification
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID uses a wireless radio frequency system to read data from and write data to special-purpose RFID chips for the primary purpose of tracking mobile objects.

dB - Decibel
A decibel is the standard
unit for measuring the strength of WiFi wireless radio signals. WiFi radio antennas and transceivers both include decibel ratings, usually in units of dBm.

WLAN - Wireless LAN
A WLAN supports network communication over short distances using radio or infrared signals instead of traditional network cabling. WLANs often extend an existing wired local area network.

Cantenna Wireless Booster Antenna
Years ago, geeks found it fashionable to make their own WiFi antennas from Pringles cans. Based on that idea, the Cantenna is a commercial product that extends wireless networks to reach a neighbor's home, detached garage, or other nearby location.

What Is P2P?
P2P is a standard approach to network design that eliminates the need for dedicated servers. P2P is also a popular term for freely available Internet file sharing software systems.

Internet Connection Alternatives for Home Networks are DSL,CABLE   MODEM INTERNET, DIAL UP INTERNET,ISDN,BROADBAND OVER POWERLINE,T1/T3 INTERNET,CELLULAR CONNECTION,WIRELESS BROADBAND NETWORK.

VPN - Virtual Private Networking
VPN consists of private network access over public connections. A VPN can provide secure but more cost-effective LAN-WAN communication.

• GSM - 9.6 Kbps
• CDMA - 9.6 Kbps to 14.4 Kbps
• CDPD - 19.2 Kbps
• GPRS - 9.6 Kbps to 115 Kbps
• EDGE - 384 Kbps
• EV-DO - 1.5 Mbps - 2.4 Mbps