Advantages of Wireless (Wi-Fi) Networks Over Wired LAN Networks

Have you ever looked at owning an all wireless office? Do you think it isn't possible as of this point/ it is not practical? If your solution to that question for you is yes, you will need to learn this informative article for sure.

Let us look at the reverse situation first: What is the features of wired networks over wireless networks? Well, the immediate points that comes to mind could possibly be the following:

1. Speed. Wireless networks are considered being slow and having the lowest bandwidth.

2. Real time applications. Wireless networks cannot handle real time applications like voice and video.

3. Security. The wireless signals reach even over the road. What if someone hacks into my network?

4. Incompatibility: Certain devices like printers etc. usually are not Wi-Fi enabled. The PC does not have Wi-Fi cards.

Let us examine each point individually (I am writing this short article inside viewpoint associated with an enterprise/office network, and therefore I am let's assume that the Wi-Fi network was made using Wireless Controllers, Access Points and Management Software)

Speed:

Wired networks were built with a decent speed of 100 Mbps that days possess a speed of 1000 Mbps. Wireless networks only have a speed of 54 Mbps which too is shared among many users.

Give me one application which may occupy 1000 Mbps per port, as well as 100 Mbps per port and after that probably I could accept the aforementioned statement. The fact is, even if your working environment runs demanding applications like multimedia, ERP, video etc, the most bandwidth requirement per user may well not cross even 4 Mbps! Now consider the 54 Mbps of Wi-Fi networks and believe that 15 individuals are connecting to it, each user may get around 2.5 Mbps, that's sufficient for some from the applications that people have today, and if all the 15 users don't connect simultaneously, an individual user could easily get more bandwidth. In fact, with the advance of 802.11n standard for Wi-Fi, the bandwidth available per access point is around 300 Mbps and definately will touch 600 Mbps within the near future. So, even though 15 people talk with one 802.11n access point, they may get in more than 20 Mbps, that's more than sufficient for the majority of from the applications around the network today.

Real Time Applications:

What if I run PC based interactive video during my company? Can the wireless networks handle live traffic?

A decent interactive video client may not take greater than 256-384 Kbps for giving 30 f/s quality video with H.264 compression. How many such conferences are likely to happen simultaneously? And real-time applications run well in case your wireless controller can hold WMM - Wireless Multi Media protocol which prioritize the live traffic in the normal traffic, and most of the controllers today support it. Even voice is supported on the wireless LAN - such as seamless handover derived from one of AP to an alternative, in case you are carrying the VoWLAN handsets. There is an interesting technology which is growing fast, that's called FMC - Fixed Mobile Convergence where your IP Phones and Cell phones might be integrated with a single mobile handset and you've got one number for both. Though IP Land line Phones are not sustained by Wireless Networks, such innovations (Like FMC and VoWLAN handsets for voiceover wireless LAN) help include functions in addition to provide basic service much more efficiently.

Security

The wireless signals can penetrate the walls and actually go through the road - imagine if some one hacks my network?

This can be a valid concern. The security is compromised if your wireless communications are not encrypted using the latest standards and proper security policies are certainly not applied. But if the security policies are applied in line with the latest standards (like 802.11i etc), then this chances of damaging the network from the outside is extremely less. Also, you can find Wireless Intrusion prevention software's available within the market nowadays which keep scanning for wireless threats and intrusions and they also notify as well as thwart tries to intrude into your wireless network automatically.

Incompatibility:

There are certain devices that usually are not yet Wi-Fi compatible - like certain printers, faxes and copiers etc. But you will probably be astonished at what number of devices are Wi-Fi compliant and still have commercially ready Wi-Fi based products already - Surveillance Cameras, Multi-Function Devices, Access Control Card readers, Laptops, Projectors and nearly every network based device features a Wi-Fi compliant model. Even if certain products aren't Wi-Fi compliant, cables might be drawn selectively for all those applications alone, rather than wiring the full office with three ports per cubicle! In fact, Wireless Access Points need to become linked to LAN cables at the back end, so a fixed quantity of wired switch ports is anyway required. And there are always USB based Wi-Fi adaptors that can be used to generate a computer (PC) wireless.

So, having established that wired networks are certainly not inherently better than current generation wireless networks, let us now consider the additional advantages that wireless networks provide over wired networks :

Less Cost - Saving not only inside quantity of cables, switch ports required but additionally inside the price of passive components.

Comfort and Mobility - The wireless networks are available anywhere - even inside the canteen along with the lawn. All you need is really a Wi-Fi enabled laptop gain access to them. And the users can connect with the network from anywhere - cubicles, conference rooms, lawns etc.

Redundancy: If an Access Point fails, another neighbouring access point can automatically connect you (and never having to change the port connection manually like in wired networks).

Network access control, AD integration: The centralized management functionality with the wired networks using Active Directory (or LDAP etc) can be acquired with many in the wireless networks today. In fact, controller based wireless networks also provide network access control - grouping you and deciding which users have accessibility to which resources in the network (Restricting certain users from accessing the internet, etc).

Load balancing: The access points can automatically push a gamers to neighbouring access points if they're overloaded. Some controllers even allow to restrict the bandwidth that an individual user/group can access inside the LAN, so that they don't overload the network.

There are numerous more, but when you wish to discuss further about the same or on any particular topic, hop over to blog. There is often a whole category on wireless networks!