Why Have Wireless Network?

Wireless networking is 1 of the greatest new computer technologies in terms of convenience. If you're weighing the pros and cons of wireless before taking the leap, here are 5 reasons to put in the "pro" column.

No More Wires

Of all the reasons to switch your network to wireless, this is perhaps the most appealing. Wires are inconvenient, expensive, ugly and dangerous.

No more wires across the floor improves the safety of your home, since it's easy to trip over exposed wires.

The average Ethernet wire doesn't cost much per foot, but it adds up quickly. To run wires between rooms or floors, you have to knock holes in the walls, which might not even be an option for renters.

Plus when you move you don't have the mess of disconnecting all the wires only to re-connect them at the other end. Nor do you have to examine every wire for damage if your internet connection goes down.

Internet Access For All

Wireless networking gives you a cheap, easy way to share 1 internet connection among multiple computers, eliminating the need for more than 1 modem. You can add new computers to your network simply by plugging in a wireless card and switching them on -- they get an internet connection immediately!

Share Files And Printers

A wireless network gives you access to your files wherever you are, and makes it easy to synchronize the data on a laptop with a home computer. It is much easier to send files between computers with a wireless network than by email, or burning them to a CD.

Plus, with the printer connected, you can also write things wherever you happen to be, press print, and go collect them from a printer connected to another computer. Printers plugged into 1 of the network's computers are shared by all the computers automatically.

Always ON

The spread of broadband revolutionized networking by allowing internet connections to be always-on, without needing to dial in. Well, wireless networking lets network connections be always-on, meaning that any of your computers can connect to the internet whenever you want! You can take laptops from room to room -- they'll always have access. Plus, there's no need for a password system, because wireless networks work without logging in.

Games For The Whole Family

You might have seen an option in your favorite game to play over a LAN (Local Area Network). Well, wireless networks are LANs, which means that your whole family can play that game together -- from wherever their computers are. It's far more fun to play against real people you know than to play against random people over the internet, not to mention that the game will work much faster.

An added benefit is that wireless equipment lets you easily connect any game console you have to the internet, and start playing online. It's far easier to play online wirelessly than to have to connect your PlayStation to your modem every time.

Freedom!

With wireless networking, you can even take your computer outside if you want to! Going wireless is much like the switching from the old fashioned wall-mounted telephone to a cellular phone. The freedom is exhilarating.