Faithe Wempen, M.A., A+, MOUS MI
Faithe Wempen is the author of over 50 books on computer hardware and software, including Windows® XP Home Edition Simply Visual (Sybex, September 2001). She owns and operates Your Computer Friend, a PC training and troubleshooting business in Indianapolis.
These days everyone is buzzing about wireless networking -- it's going to be the dominant network type of the decade, or so experts are predicting. While there have been several competing standards for wireless networking, the 802.11b standard, also known as Wi-Fi, seems to be emerging as the victor and has been endorsed by Microsoft® as the preferred wireless protocol for Windows® XP.
Windows® XP has some incredible new features that enable effortless wireless networking using the 802.11b standard, but beware -- not all Wi-Fi wireless hardware for sale in stores today is Windows® XP-compatible. In this article, you'll find out what Windows® XP wireless can accomplish -- and how to make sure your hardware will work with it.
Windows® XP makes wireless easy
When Windows® XP is paired with compatible hardware, wireless networking couldn't be easier. You simply plug in an access point device (basically a wireless hub) and install wireless LAN cards into each of the PCs to be networked, and they all detect one another automatically and start working. No drivers to install and no setup utilities to run.
What's more, you can roam among networks automatically. Let's say, for example, that you're in Conference Room A and your PC is using a wireless access point in that conference room. You take the elevator up three flights to Conference Room K, and your PC automatically determines that Conference Room K's access point is closer than the one in Room A and switches over to using it. Logging on and off need not be an issue because Microsoft has integrated 802.11x security into Active Directory.
Switching also is automatic between wireless and wired networks. For example, suppose that when you're in your office, you have a 100Mbps Ethernet connection to the network through standard Ethernet cabling. But you pack up your laptop to go to various meetings throughout the day, all over the building. With Windows® XP, you can simply unplug the Ethernet cable and the PC will automatically find and switch to the best wireless connection available in its current location. When you come back and plug the Ethernet cable back in, it automatically determines that the 100Mbps wired connection is better than the 11Mbps Wi-Fi connection and switches back.
Internet-connection sharing over a wireless network is also effortless in Windows® XP. This can be a real boon for small-business networks and also for home networks. In Windows® XP, a PC can look for other PCs on the network that have Internet Connection Sharing enabled and use that PC's connection for Internet access. Internet security is also enhanced in Windows® XP with a software-based firewall that is enabled by default.
What makes a wireless network wireless?
To create a wireless network, you need a wireless adapter for each PC. This can be either a USB device or a PC Card. If it's a PC Card, it'll fit directly into a Type II PC Card slot on a notebook PC, but if you have a desktop PC, you must get a PCI-based expansion card and then plug the PC Card into it. (These are typically sold separately.)
If you're connecting just two PCs, you only need the adapters, but for more than two PCs, you'll also need a wireless access point. This is a little box with an antenna that all the wireless computers talk to; it functions as a traffic director for the network traffic, just like a hub does on an Ethernet network.
If you want to share a broadband Internet connection among PCs, one way to do it is to connect it directly to one of the PCs and then use Internet Connection Sharing in Windows to share it via the network with the other PCs. However, this can cause a performance drain on the sharing PC. An alternative for cable or DSL Internet subscribers is to buy a wireless gateway. The cable for the broadband Internet connection plugs into this gateway instead of to a specific PC and is shared with all PCs equally. The gateway also functions as an access point as well.
If you're building a large-scale wireless network, you will probably want multiple access points, spread out all over the building, and you'll want to keep your regular wired Ethernet connectivity as well. Wireless networking runs at a top speed of only 11Mbps, as opposed to 100Mbps for wired Ethernet, so the technology is not quite ready to replace other networking. A wireless access point or gateway typically includes an Ethernet cable connector, so you can tie your wireless network into your regular network for seamless interaction between the two.
Older hardware? Beware!
One "gotcha" with Windows® XP wireless networking is that it doesn't work on some of the Wi-Fi networking hardware that's on the market at the moment. Equipment manufacturers are scrambling to come out with updates that will enable compatibility, but at this writing, not all have done so.
This interim compatibility problem across multiple hardware manufacturers has stemmed from a single source: a company called Intersil that makes the firmware chips for over 100 brands of wireless devices. They have been slow in coming out with Windows® XP-compatible updates, and therefore the updates have not been available to the equipment manufacturers for integrating into their products. The updates are available now, but not all products in the stores today include the updates, and not all manufacturers have patches available yet.
If you already own wireless networking equipment and are planning to upgrade your PCs to Windows® XP, do some research first. Check with the wireless equipment manufacturer to find out whether a Windows® XP firmware and/or driver update will be needed. If you have not bought wireless networking equipment yet, make sure when shopping that you buy equipment that is certified to work with Windows® XP.
Notice the word “certified” in the preceding paragraph. That's because a few manufacturers advertise that their products "work with" Windows® XP, but they are not certified to do so, and many users have developed problems with them after applying the latest Windows XP security patches. Products that are certified to work with Windows® XP have undergone rigorous testing by Microsoft® and have proven their compatibility.
Selecting wireless hardware
Even if you aren't quite ready to upgrade to Windows® XP, it pays to buy Wi-Fi hardware that is Windows® XP-ready, because eventually the day will come when you do upgrade the operating system, and you won't want to struggle with firmware patches and driver updates.
Hewlett-Packard offers a variety of Windows® XP-certified wireless networking products that feature trouble-free setup, no matter which version of Windows you choose. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call your friendly local HP reseller, who can advise you about the best wireless products for your needs.
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