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CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

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Association (IrDA) protocol. Finally, the cell phone companies have gotten

into the mix and offer access to the Internet through cellular networks.

Wireless networking capabilities of one form or another are built into

many modern computing devices. Infrared transceiver ports have been

standard issue on portable computers and high-end printers for years,

although they’re absent from most of the latest PCs and portable computers.

Figure 20-1 shows the infrared transceiver ports on an older laptop and

personal digital assistant (PDA)—a precursor to the smartphone. Back in the

day, these infrared capabilities were used to transfer data between nearby

devices. Today an infrared interface on a device such as a smartphone is

present primarily so the device can be used as a wireless remote control. In

place of infrared as a data transfer mechanism, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

capabilities are now common as integrated components, and you can easily

add them when they aren’t. Figure 20-2 shows a PCIe Wi-Fi adapter. Built-in

cellular networking is less common, found on some portable computers (and

smartphones, of course). You can also add wireless network capabilities by

using external USB wireless network adapters or wireless NICs, as shown in

Figure 20-3.

Figure 20-1 Infrared transceiver ports on a laptop and PDA

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