Quinn Ebert

In my own home network, the vast majority of our networked devices are wired.  In the past, I have considered “Wired” to be “the only way to go” when it comes to reliable, fast computer networking.  Though, in just the past few weeks, I have purchased a Wireless-N router, which I have made into a sort of “bridge” onto the existing wired-only network.  Because of certain functions of IP-network hardware (such as the MAC addressing system, and the IEEE 802 standards), it was possible for me to use a little bit of my knowledge of networking hardware to merge in the wireless access point into my existing network.  Even though 802.11-standard wireless connections use a different media for transmission and reception of network traffic (they use radio communications, instead of wires, obviously), the fact that they “talk the same language” as Ethernet (which is also another IEEE-802 standard) means that services of an Ethernet network (including IP-addressing services like DHCP) can also be used across the wireless connections.  So, in my case, an existing wired router’s DHCP server can provide the IP addresses to any new, wirelessly-connected machines on my network (even though the wireless access point also has router functionality — I have disabled this functionality to make it behave like a switch instead).

A business that is a customer of mine has a network that I set up for them; this network is fully-wireless using the 802.11b standard (all except for one machine, which is used by the business’s owner, in his own office — where the router is kept).  This is almost the polar opposite of my configuration, where my laptop is the only wireless machine, and everything else is wired (by the way, you can think of me of “the boss” of my home if you want to, but only if  it helps your “process”).  ;-)  In my customer’s network, the office spaces are all confined to a small area of their property, but each office is a seperate room, thereby making wiring a bit tedious, especially considering I didn’t know how to wire for Ethernet at the time I setup their network.  :blush:

BUT, the truth is that both of these are very similar “home-style” networks. Even though my own network may have multiple routers/switches/hubs combined to make connectivity more abundant and/or convenient, the truth is that many large organizations (such as the ones we may find ourselves working in) will have network setups that are infinitely more complex.  Not only might these networks have floors with enough computer systems to need multiple switches and/or routers, but floors themselves will need efficient ways to transmit data back and forth.

Home Users, in the majority of cases, will find themselves content to have just one router and/or access point.  If a home is very large and/or if it has several stories — 3 or more, especially — the wireless signal might not cover the whole house (heck, mine doesn’t cover my own one-story house — but that’s a different issue I won’t discuss here).  If a home’s wireless signal doesn’t cover the whole home, pretty much every home-oriented network equipment maker can offer a number of “Wireless Range Extender” devices, which can be as simple as a box that plugs into an electrical outlet and retransmits wireless signals, in effect boosting the wireless network to include a radius-range around the range extender.  In-general, the best standards home-based users can follow for installing and configuring these and other network devices are the recommended safety, setup, and usage instructions provided by the makers of the individual devices.

Businesses, however, generally tend to rely more heavily on wired communications for computer-based networking at their office locations.  While this isn’t strictly the case, for the purpose of this discussion, this demographic is rather important.  When businesses install new network wiring, they must be careful to pay attention to local fire and electrical codes, and must be much more concerned with such details as the length of cable runs, bend tolerances of cables, and weights of cables.  At the same time, though, when installing new devices on networks, as with home-based networks, many of the best practices for installing, configuring, and using network devices will come from the devices manufacturers themselves.