To go wireless or not to go wireless?

To go wireless or not to go wireless?

To go wireless or not to go wireless?

Wireless networks have been on the open market for around 13 years, way back when the first generation of wireless networking came in at a speed of 2Mbps(IEEE 802.11), this was quickly followed a couple of years later by an 11Mbps wireless networking(or 802.11b), at the same time a 54Mbps connection was created(802.11a), normally you would only find 802.11a on business networks due to its higher cost amongst other things.

Then finally in 2002 a 54Mbps(802.11G) wireless connection came into existence, it combined the the good bits from both 802.11a and 802.11b, giving a fast yet affordable wireless solution, however, for this and all the previous incarnations of Wireless connectivity security was a major problem, as your data was travelling through the air someone could easily tap into that connection, to combat this there were two main methods of securing your data on a wireless network, you could use WEP(Wired Equivalent Privacy) which basically allowed you to create a hexadecimal password of 128 or 256 bits, and then later on you could use WPAv1(Wi-Fi Protected Access) however with WPAv1 you could use either a passphrase or a 64 character hexadecimal password. While both of these forms of security helped stop your casual hacker, these were no real deterrent to someone with a little time and determination.

Recently there has been a new contender on the block these boast wireless network speeds of 300Mbps and a range that is 10 times that of 802.11g, its name I hear you ask!! 802.11N. The problem with 802.11N is that the actual wireless connection and how it works have not been standardised yet, this means that hardware manufacturers are using different sets of rules when programming the firmware of their routers, what does this mean for you and me? Well if the manufacturers have done their job right, not a lot but, there is a bigger chance that things can go wrong and on top of that it could interfere with any existing 802.11a/b/g connections.

There's been a bit of talk recently that once 802.11N is standardised home and primarily business LANS will be changed forever, in that they will become wireless LANS, network admins will chuck out their dusty old switchboxes and long frustrating cabling infrastructure in favour of multiple wireless access points. While I do not doubt this will become a viable option in the future, I cannot see it catching on for 802.11N

Granted 802.11N security features have been hardened and indeed expanded on, hackers will still be able to gain access if they wanted too, this means investing in a large security infrastructure that will cover all your access points, for me and many others this would outweigh any benefits in mobility you gain, or how tidy your communications/data room looks.

I think that this has been a bit of a witch hunt for wireless networks, but I'm not saying individuals or businesses should not use them, only to be aware of the negatives as well as the positives.

Personally I use a wireless network at home, but would shy away from adding a wireless network to a business unless there was no other option.

I suppose it's a matter of how important the data is you are sending across that network? for more info go to www.access-it-systems.co.uk and we can give you the advice you need.

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