) Wireless,
of course, is slicker than using cables, and works anywhere within
range of the router; no drilling holes in walls so you can feed cables to all
parts of your home or office. Figure 7-3 shows a typical wireless network
with four computers (three PCs and one PDA).
Figure 7-1. An example of a wired peer-to-peer network (LAN) comprised of three
computers connected with a switch (or hub); the printer is connected to one of the PCs,
which shares it with the others
Figure 7-2. A quick and dirty hubless workgroup; given its limitations, however, it??™s best
suited as a temporary solution
348 | Chapter 7: Networking and Internet
Wireless needs more setup than cables (if you do it right) and is less reliable
than Ethernet. Windows needs at least 5??“10 seconds to connect to a
previously configured wireless network (more for the first time), and may
drop your connection as you move around.
Speed may or may not be a factor in your decision. WiFi is
not nearly as fast as wired Ethernet; common 802.11g wireless
connections (rated at 54 Mbps) transfer data at about
20??“30 Mbps, and this speed drops rapidly as reception worsens.
The fastest Ethernet connections move data at 1,000
Mbps (1 Gbps), reception notwithstanding. Of course, the
difference is moot if you??™re only doing Internet (typical
broadband is only about 1??“3 Mbps), but if you need to
transfer files between PCs in your workgroup, wired Ethernet
will do it in a fraction of the time.
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