RUNNING HEAD: Wireless network trends

Wireless Network Trends
Prepared by:
Rossell Powell
Professor Yana Todorova

ISSC321 I002 Win 12

American Public University

02-25-2012

Networking abilities in households is an important feature as an increasing number of students attend school online and still others work from home. With this increase, an increase in the number of computers in the household increases and all are dependent upon one Internet source. There are advantages and disadvantages to household network set-ups ( Dubendorf, V. A. (2003)
The advantages in the ability to form a home network are numerous. The three main advantages to home networking are: sharing a single Internet connection among multiple computers, sharing files among computers, and using a printer or other device connected to another computer. Another advantage is that less wiring is needed when additional computers have wireless capabilities
(Freeze, J. T. 2000). “The addition of wireless capabilities to these gateway devices gives the user the convenience of taking a computer anywhere in the house, and not have to worry about running wires through walls and crawl spaces and attics to connect computers in various parts of the house” .While the student is doing homework, the parent can continue to do work online and access their e-mails.
Security issues are the biggest disadvantage to home networking. From , there are at least four types of security issues that exist. The first is bandwith parasites that use another person’s wireless connection to surf the web for free( Habraken, J. W. 2002).The second is criminal activity that may cause harm to one’s computer or conduct illegal activity, such as fraud, through wireless connection access. The third is identity or personal information theft that is obtained through another accessing information through an unsecured wireless network. Lastly, unsecured wireless networks may allow intruders to access company information stored on an employee’s laptop that is used at home. The other disadvantage to a wireless home network is the speed of online access and transactions may slow if too many users are on the same connection at the same time (Freeze, J. T. 2000).

When it comes to the world of a wireless network, you do not have many options when it comes to finding the correct components for the wireless network. Below you will find components that are in both wired and wireless networks, the functions/purpose, and the average price that one can expect to pay for the components.

Wireless router is a network device that performs the functions of a router, but also includes the functions of a wireless access point. It is commonly used to allow access to the internet or a computer network without the need for a cabled connection. Prices of a wireless router ranging anywhere from $20 up to a few hundred dollars.

Computer is an electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations. The price of computers can ranging anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars; depending on how much technology you want in it, with laptops being the most portable.

Firewall is an integrated collection of security measures designed to prevent unauthorized electronic access to a networked computer system. It is also a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria with the prices up to $700.

Wireless access point acts as the base station for the wireless network. All of the devices that have a wireless NIC can transmit to the AP, which in turn redirects the signal to the other wireless devices. The second function of an AP is to act as a bridge between wireless and wired networks.

Hub is a device for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber optic Ethernet devices together, making them act as a single network segment.

Modem A device that converts analog signals to a digital format or digital to analog format for transmission.

Printer a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most new printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source.

Server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs (and their users), in the same or other computer. The physical computer that runs a server program is also sometimes referred to as

Switch is referred to as a "gate" when abstracted to mathematical form. In the philosophy of logic, operational arguments are represented as logic gates. The use of electronic gates to function as a system of logical gates is the fundamental basis for the computer—i.e. a computer is a system of electronic switches which function as logical gates

Wireless network interface card (NIC) the device that connects the computer to the network so that it can send and receive data.

Router connects two or more logical subnets, which do not necessarily map one-to-one to the physical interfaces of the router.

Scanner is a radio receiver that can automatically tune, or scan, two or more discrete frequencies, stopping when it finds a signal on one of them and then continuing to scan other frequencies when the initial transmission ceases.

Multiplexer A technique for sending multiple signals simultaneously over one channel.

References

http://www.pricewatch.com/networking/wireless_router.htm

www.bizrate.com

Dubendorf, V. A. (2003). Wireless Data Technologies : Reference Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (UK).

Freeze, J. T. (2000). Sams Teach Yourself Computer Basics in 24 Hours. Pearson Education, Inc.

Habraken, J. W. (2002). Microsoft Office XP : 10 Minute Guide. Pearson Education, Inc.

Pastore, M. (2003). A+ Certification Study Guide. McGraw-Hill Professional.

Zheng, P. (2010). Wireless Networking Complete. Elsevier LTD.

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