We all have people on our holiday lists who seem to have more computers than they know what to do with. If you have someone on your list like that - or if your household has more than one PC, but you don't want to spend the time or money attaching them all with wires - the solution is simple. Get a wireless network. It hooks up all the computers in a house, and lets everyone share a single high-speed connection. Here's how to buy (and for the gamer in your house, you'll also find advice on how to wireless connect a gaming console for online gaming as well).
To put together a network you need a wireless access point, which connects to your broadband modem, and connects all your PCs to the Internet and to each other. And for each PC you'll have to buy a wireless network adapter, which connects them to the access point. The wireless hardware is commonly called WiFi, although techies know it as 802.11 technology. There are a few types of 802.11 hardware - the older and less-expensive 802.11b, which connects at up to 11 megabits per second; and the newer and more expensive 802.11g, which connects at up to 54 megabits per second. A word to the wise: Those numbers are only the networks' rated speeds. As a practical matter, figure you'll connect at about half those rates. More... |
