Wireless networking: Advantages and disadvantages

Wireless LANs are a popular choice due to their ease-of-use, cost efficiency, and integration with other networks and components. Today’s computers come with the majority of wireless LAN technology.

Wifi has many advantages

Convenience

Wireless networks enable users to access network resources from almost any location in their primary networking environment.

(A home or office). This is especially relevant given the growing popularity of laptop-style computers.

Mobility

Users can now access the internet from anywhere, thanks to the availability of wireless networks. Many chain coffee shops offer customers free or very low cost wireless internet access.

Productivity

Wireless network users can keep a close connection with their network even when they travel. This can make an employee more productive for a business as he or she can work from any location.

Deployment

An infrastructure-based wireless network is easy to set up. Wired networks on the other side have the added cost and complexity of physical cables being run to multiple locations (which can be difficult for some locations in a building).

Expandability

Wireless networks are able to serve an increased number of clients using the equipment already in place. Additional wiring would be required for additional clients in a wired network.

Cost

At best, wireless networking hardware will offer a slight increase in cost over their wired counterparts. The potential increase in cost of wireless networking hardware is almost always greater than the cost savings and labor involved with running physical cables.

Wifi’s disadvantages

Security

Wireless networks can use a variety of encryption technologies to combat this problem. However, some of the most popular encryption methods are susceptible to being compromised by a skilled adversary.

Range

A common 802.11g network equipped with standard equipment has a range of approximately tens to dozens of meters. It is sufficient for the average home but not enough for larger structures. Additional repeaters and access points are required to increase range. These items can be expensive and quickly add up.

Reliability

Wireless networking signals, like any radio frequency transmission are susceptible to interference and complex propagation effects beyond the control or management of the network administrator.

Speed

Most wireless networks are slower than the fastest wired networks (100Mbps to several Gbps) In some cases, however, a wired network may be required in order to provide the necessary throughput.

Wireless networking: Advantages and disadvantages