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Wireless networking has become very popular in recent years because it eliminates the need to run cables for each machine connected to the LAN. Wireless Ethernet comes in an array of confusing standards and terms. However, most of the early teething problems associated with this kind of network have been sorted out. The main standards for wireless Ethernet are 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n. The differences are mostly in speed and radio frequency. The A standard was first, and runs in the 5GHz spectrum with a speed of 54Mbps. However, this standard never really became popular because of the short range of most of the receivers. The B variant was designed as a slower 11Mbps system in the 2.4GHz band, which was much cheaper to implement than the A version and had better range. This was a bit more popular due to lower cost. When the G standard arrived, it ran in the same band as B, but offered the same speed as A, at increased range. This rapidly killed off most of the A standard equipment, and G is still the most popular standard today. 802.11n is the future standard. Some manufacturers started adding improvements to their 802.11g equipment that could improve the speed significantly, but most of these solutions were proprietary. You needed to have the same brand of wireless equipment for all the machines involved for it to transmit at higher speeds. This wasn't really ideal. So, 802.11n was proposed to incorporate all the various improvements that have been made in the last few years. Wireless hardware often has issues in home networks due to the environment. Walls tend to seriously impede the signal, especially ones with internal plumbing, as the pipes can interfere. So, most homes with a single access point will have radio shadows in various places depending on the construction of the house and where the router is placed. Some manufacturers sell wireless repeaters that are somewhat cheaper than a full-blown repeater or access point that can solve this problem by adding mare coverage. Another concern with a wireless home network is security. There are several measures that should be undertaken to prevent just anyone who wanders into signal range from getting on your network. One is to enable encryption. Virtually every wireless access point or router supports at least some form of basic encryption. You can normally set up a key or password that machines connecting to the network need to know. Another thing that is recommended is hiding the SSID. This is the name the wireless network appears as when other machines detect it. Most routers will let you optionally hide the name so that it's another thing someone needs to know to get on the network. Even if someone scans for your network with special tools, they'll only know a network is present, but not what it's called. This can add an extra layer of effort that will convince small-time hackers you're not worth the bother when someone else with worse security is nearby. Nothing is ever completely secure, since there are always flaws in software and hardware.
However, most people capable of defeating the standard security measures aren't interested in the average home user, but rather larger corporate networks. The truly paranoid have the option of more extreme measures such as MAC address access lists and third-party solutions that can improve network security, but in general, most users will be fine with encryption enabled and the network name hidden.
Learn more about the Wild World of Wireless! [http://network.silverfoil.co.uk/wireless.htm]
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