The first step in obtaining a wireless network comes when you unhook yourself from the electronic leash of wires. Remember your first cordless phone? Remember your first cellular phone and how free you felt? Wireless networking provides the same type of freedom and flexibility.
Just as your cordless phone and your mobile phone have different technical underpinnings, so does your wireless network. Some products (Bluetooth) are for short-range use, like your cordless phone. Other products (802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g) extend their reach to hundreds of yards.
Bluetooth can be considered an arms-length wireless technology. Developed for high speed and high reliability over a short distance, Bluetooth powers new technologies such as wireless printers, PDA (personal digital assistant) to cell phone connections, and wireless keyboard to computer links. When people say wireless networking, they usually don't mean Bluetooth, but new devices with Bluetooth support built-in are becoming more common every day.
802.11 is the wireless version of data networking that supports between 11 Mbps (802.11b) and 54 Mbps (802.11g). Wi-Fi, a more marketable name than 802.11 for wireless LANs, has made headlines as its usage spreads to more and more public locations. When you surf the Web while you sip your latte at your local coffee shop, you're using Wi-Fi technology, and gaining more work time in a more relaxing environment than ever before.
802.11a was released after 802.11b and uses a frequency range of 5 GHz to provide up to a 54 Mbps data path. However, 802.11a is not backwards compatible with 802.11b, while the newest member of the 802.11 family -- 802.11g will also work with 802.11b hardware.
One day, we won't refer to a wireless network any more than we refer to a car as a horseless carriage. Think of that when you talk on your cell phone and pull out your PDA to get a wireless e-mail.
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