Ross - The book of wireless: a painless guide to wi-fi and broadband wireless

This is a book for people who want to use the Internet everywherenot just in the office or in the room at home where there's a telephone or cable connection, but in the backyard, at the public library, at a highway rest area, or in a hotel lobby. In this book you will learn how to choose the best wireless data service for your particular needs, how to set up your computer for wireless, and how to design and install your own wireless network. We'll also describe some wireless products and services that you might not have known about, such as the ability to make low-cost, worldwide Voice over Internet (VoIP) telephone calls from your laptop computer.

The combination of wireless Internet services and portable computers can make a huge difference in the way we use the Internet. By eliminating the tether to a wired network, we can gather information, watch and listen to streaming video or audio, and exchange messages wherever we might be, rather than only at specific locations. It's no longer necessary to return home or to the office or search for an Internet caf or a public library. Like mobile telephones (which use related technology), go-anywhere, always-accessible Internet services can change the way we live, work, and entertain ourselves. When wireless broadband Internet services work properly, they're practically invisible; just turn on the computer or a smaller portable device such as a smartphone, and a universe of information is immediately at your fingertips. But we're talking about computers, so complications are always possible. In order to help you identify the causes and solutions for wireless connection problems, the first few chapters of this book offer details about how wireless data communication systems work, including the surprising tale of the avant-garde composer and the glamorous actress whose wartime invention provided the foundation of modern spread-spectrum technology.

As you read this book, I hope you will remember that a wireless network, and for that matter, any kind of communications technology, is a means to an end that you use to achieve some other objective. Remember that your original goal was to find out if your favorite team won, invite your friends to a dinner party, read your class notes, or watch the latest YouTube videos. If you have to concentrate on making your wireless connection, you're doing something wrong.

You're in control. The computer and the network should do things the way you want to do them, rather than forcing you to adjust your life or work to meet the machine's requirements. If you have trouble making your wireless connection (or any other computer activity) work "properly," it's almost always the computer's fault, or the fault of the people who designed the hardware and software. The computer and the network are your servants, and not the other way around.

New wireless network products and services are appearing all the time, so the information in this book represents a snapshot of a moving target. Within another year or two, manufacturers will have replaced some of the products described here with new and better models, and the wireless service providers will offer faster connections over wider areas. The specific makes and models will change, but the general principles ought to remain.

The first edition of this book, The Book of Wi-Fi , was limited to 802.11b Wi-Fi networks, which were the only practical choice when that book was published in 2003. When I wrote that book, I expected Wi-Fi networks to replace or supplement wired home and office networks, but I did not anticipate that a huge number of additional Wi-Fi hot spots would also cover public locations. In my Seattle neighborhood, I can connect my laptop computer to the Internet at a branch library, half a dozen coffee shops, three taverns, four pizza joints, and a supermarket. Today, Wi-Fi signals are everywhere, and other broadband services offer wireless signals that cover much wider areas than any Wi-Fi network. A few years from now, more and better wireless services will offer even faster connections. The dream of a high-speed wireless service that works almost everywhere is rapidly coming true.