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How Does Wireless Internet Work?
By Ronnie Shargill
We are living in a truly amazing time. If you have every wondered how does wireless
Internet work you are not alone. When you think about it, it really wasn't that long ago
that we were all dependent on land line telephones for communication. Families stayed in
touch with weekly phone calls and talking to people around the world was not a regular
occurrence. However, once cell phones came along we gained the freedom to communicate with
anyone from anywhere. We were no longer tied to our phone lines.
Then the Internet came along and made communication even easier with the introduction
of email. Weekly phone calls were long gone and now friends, family members and co-workers
could communicate via email from their home or office several times a day. All of this set
the stage for the advent of wireless Internet. Just like we broke free from phone lines,
we can now access the Internet from just about anywhere via a wireless connection. This
article will briefly explain how this is all possible.
If you are like many, you may believe the explanation of how wireless Internet works
lies somewhere in the realm of magic. This is far from the truth. Wireless Internet access
is really much simpler than most people think. Consider the most basic form of wireless
Internet available. This is wireless access provided via a router. In this scenario
transmission towers start the process of providing wireless Internet.
These towers are located around the world and typically have the capability of sending
out signals that reach a radius of approximately 30-40 miles. Typically these towers are
located in areas where there are not obstructions which will block the signals being
emitted by the transmission towers. However, new construction of high reaching buildings
can become a problem. Internet users located near these towers and in areas where obstructions
are not a concern usually have the opportunity to enjoy wireless Internet access.
The data being transmitted from these towers must be captured by a receiver. Once the
receiver has the data it is transmitted to your wireless device via an 802.11b connection.
You enjoy access to the Internet without wires and your waiting times are minimal since
the data is transmitted from a tower that is just a few miles from your current location.
Now that you have a basic understanding of how a wireless Internet works, it is a good
idea to examine one other very important question associated with wireless networking. In
particular, you may wonder how a wireless network is created. There are a couple of
different approaches to setting up a wireless network. Office workers who are mainly
interested in sharing files with each other may prefer a peer-to-peer wireless network.
With this type of network each of the computers will be equipped with a wireless
networking interface card. Each of the computers would then be able to interface with all
of the other computers equipped with this card and files and printers could be shared.
Business owners such as cafe owners and coffee shop owners would likely take a
different approach to providing wireless Internet access to their customers. This is
because in this situation the primary need for a wireless network is to allow customers to
access the Internet. In order to do this it is necessary to provide an access point for
the customers. Customers can then use their own mobile devices to access the Internet via
this access point.
Ronnie Shargill has written more on How Does Wireless Internet Work at
How Does Wireless Internet Work
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