Six elements of constructing wireless LAN

The "ubiquitous" charm of wireless networks is becoming the focus of people's pursuit. Whether it is the network upgrade or a new group network, people always hope that their network can get rid of the shackles of cable, into the world of freedom. But compared with wired products, wireless products are new things, not all users can grasp the main points of formation. Here, we have collected six questions with universal answers, hoping to help you build a WLAN.

Is it 802.11g or 802.11b?

At present, people realize wireless Internet access There are three ways, are WLAN wireless Internet access and CDMA, GPRS Internet. For home users, whether it is speed or tariff, WLAN wireless Internet access is an excellent solution to experience wireless freedom. Now the market can be set up WLAN network of products according to the rate of different, can be divided into 11M, 54M, 22M, 108M, and so on, which the previous two products most see. So which of the two standard products is more suitable for home users?

It is not easy to answer this question because while 802.11g products can be viewed as upgrades to 802.11b products, the advantages of compatibility, stability, and coverage and price are not obvious. First of all, 802.11b products 11M transmission speed than DSL, LAN and other common broadband type of access speed, can fully meet the needs of home users wireless broadband sharing Internet. Second, 802.11b products in the price is easy to accept, from the current price, the same brand of 802.11g products are often 802.11b product price 2~3 times, but recently a few manufacturers have just lowered the price to the user acceptable level. There are more than 802.11b products tested by the market, the choice of large, so more suitable for home users to choose.

802.11G is the mainstream of future development, but here need to remind everyone is that 802.11g products with 802.11b products mixed, throughput can only reach 14.4M, so 802.11g products more suitable for the formation of a new network. (Computer science)

Do you need to purchase a separate wireless firewall?

Network security is an eternal topic, but it is particularly heavy in wireless networks. As for the security vulnerabilities of 802.11x there is no more to repeat. The question we want to answer is: Do you need to buy a wireless firewall to build a wireless network?

In the wireless field, the focus on the firewall function of the product is not much, even if there is, in the price of home users can not afford. In other words, wireless firewalls are always bundled with other products, and as an additional feature of other products, most of them are wireless broadband routers.

Wireless broadband routers are more cost-effective than wireless AP products, is currently to achieve home network sharing on the best products. Household product prices remain between the 500~1000 yuan, and during the summer promotions, their prices have declined significantly. These products will generally integrate AP, Routing and switch functions, and some products also use advanced stateful Packet inspection firewall technology, you can protect against Dos attacks, but also to the problem of possible e-mail alerts. In addition, many products also have a variety of security measures, such as 128-bit WEP encryption, SSID hiding, MAC address filtering and so on. Among them, MAC address filtering is a high efficiency security solution of small scale network, it authenticates the user's trustworthiness by checking the source MAC address of the user's packet. For advanced users, you can also establish their own dedicated security channel through the VPN function.

In order to ensure the security of the wireless network, the use of firewalls is necessary, but for home users do not need to purchase a separate, those wireless router with the firewall and related security measures to meet the demand. Although this kind of hardware firewall can not block all network virus, but to prevent hacker attack still have certain effect, do not occupy the system resources at the same time. Finally, we need to remind you that in the wireless network, the traditional software firewall, anti-virus software can also play a good role in security.

is the wireless network card a USB or PCI interface?

Wireless card According to the different types of interface, mainly divided into three types, namely PCMCIA wireless network card, PCI wireless network card and USB wireless network card. Among them, the PCMCIA wireless network card can only be used for notebooks, the latter can be used for desktops.

PCI wireless network card is mainly for the desktop using PCI slots, the advantage is that it can be independent of the host CPU, and computer memory directly between the exchange of data, reduce the burden of the CPU. But its shortcoming is also very obvious, mainly is the signal accepts the position to be not adjustable, easily receives the computer host the interference, easy to drop the line. The wireless card with USB interface not only has the advantages of Plug and Play, strong heat dissipation, high transmission speed and so on, but also can conveniently use USB extension line to keep the NIC away from the computer, avoid interference and adjust the position and direction of the network card at any time. The disadvantage is that it is not easy to manage, and the price is relatively slightly expensive.

From the above analysis we can see that, unless your motherboard does not support USB interface, or should try to give priority to the use of USB wireless network card, and the price is generally acceptable, such as Tp-link WN230 USB wireless network card only 290 yuan. If you have more USB devices, you can use the "one drag four" USB adapter to solve.

Is the wireless set a chicken?

From recent promotions, a variety of wireless suits are the most dazzling. From the business point of view, this product is mainly targeted at the primary users, the purpose is to expand their market share, and in product compatibility, matching on the consumer has a certain guiding significance, in addition, the price also has more obvious concessions. But from the consumer's point of view, this cheap is not necessarily so good accounted for. A friend of the author because of the work need, in the unit early start to use wireless, recently want to at home also set up a wireless network. Although the wireless set cost is very good, but he already has the PCMCIA wireless card, need only a wireless router. If he buys the whole suit, it's not worth it, and if you buy it, the "big" drop in price is hard to accept.

However, it should be emphasized that each product has its own market positioning, wireless packages are mainly facing the "impoverished" of the primary users. Those who already have a certain basis to buy wireless package although some inconvenience, but not necessarily spend money. Here is a kind of practice is worth learning: in the market to find a "like-minded" friends, two people need to buy a set of wireless package. Contact each other before you break up so that you can take care of each other during the warranty period. This has enjoyed a preferential policy, and bought a satisfactory product, while also a "circle" friends.

Do you need to buy an antenna?

The demand for wireless transmission distance is endless, at the same time we also know that the "Maximum transmission distance" in the product introduction is calculated in the absence of any occlusion, the actual use of which can not be achieved. Do we need to buy an antenna?

First of all, we should be clear, whether it is a wireless network card, wireless AP or wireless router, the built-in wireless antenna. When the transmission distance, general indoor 20~30 meters, outdoor in 50~100 meters, there is no need to purchase external antennas. Secondly, the effective transmission distance of wireless is also related to the penetrating ability of the signal, the gap between different products is also very big. General brand-name products can be done within 30 meters through two walls, and a small number of low-end products may be a turning point will fall off the line. In addition, the key to determine the transmission range of wireless networks is the AP or wireless router, and wireless network card relationship is not large.

From the above analysis we can see that for home users, only when the need for long-distance data transmission, it is necessary to consider outsourcing gain antenna, and home short distance transmission is not necessary to buy another antenna. If the merchant has repeatedly stated that the product does not configure the external antenna will affect the normal transmission, then we have reason to question the quality of the product, this product does not buy.

Mature products also pay attention to the brand?

Relatively speaking, 802.11b is a relatively mature technology, there are many products in the market to support it, and the price is very attractive. Can we ignore the brand and value the price?

It may seem trite, but our intention to promote reliance on brands is not limited to the product itself, which requires buyers to look at wireless products from a long-term perspective.

First of all, on the speed and signal reception capacity, currently support 802.11B standard products are almost the same, but the power and stability is very different. Famous brand manufacturers will adopt brand-name authentic wireless chips and electronic components, reliable quality and stable performance. and individual nameless small factory more use low-grade or even defective wireless chips, the result of the product power is too large or too small. Power is too small, the wireless network signal coverage and transmission stability is poor, the power is too large, it will have adverse effects on the human body. If it is a PCMCIA card, the wireless free ability of the notebook is even worse.

Second, wireless products are a constant progress of the products, only those manufacturers have the ability to provide users with timely upgrade programs, and small factories do not have the energy to provide this service.

Finally, we need to remind that, although now support 802.11x standard products a lot, but not very standard, the manufacturers of products in mutual compatibility still need to be further improved. At the same time, the manufacturers in order to highlight their own characteristics, but also created too many technical terminology, ordinary users do not have the energy to discriminate. So if you want your wireless network to expand and upgrade in time, choose a brand-name product.