Wireless Home Networking - Index of

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Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals
abbreviations (TCP/IP, DHCP, NAT, MIMO, WEP, and WPA). Pshew. Whether
you’re shopping for, installing, or configuring a wireless network, you will
undoubtedly run across some or all of these not-so-familiar terms and more.
This chapter is your handy guide to this smorgasbord of networking and
wireless networking terminology.
If you’re not the least bit interested in buzzwords, you can safely skip this
chapter for now and go right to the chapters that cover planning, purchasing,
installing, and using your wireless network. You can always refer to this chapter
whenever you run into some wireless networking terminology that throws
you. If you like knowing a little bit about the language that the locals speak
before visiting a new place, read on.
Networking Buzzwords
You Need to Know
A computer network is composed of computers or network-accessible
devices — and sometimes other peripheral devices, such as printers —
connected in a way that they transmit data between participants. Computer
networks have been commonplace in offices for nearly 20 years, but with
the advent of reasonably priced wireless networks, computer networks are
becoming increasingly common in homes. Now, we mere mortals can share
printers, surf the Internet, play multiplayer video games, and stream video
like the corporate gods have been doing for years.
A computer network that connects devices in a particular physical location,
such as in a home or in a single office site, is sometimes called a local area
network (LAN). Conversely, the network outside your home that connects
you to the Internet and beyond is called a wide area network (WAN).
In a nutshell, computer networks help people and devices share information
(files and e-mail) and expensive resources (printers and Internet connections)
more efficiently.
Workstations and servers
Each computer in your home that’s attached to a network is a workstation,
also sometimes referred to as a client computer. The Windows operating
system (OS) refers to the computers residing together on the same local area
network as a workgroup. A Windows-based computer network enables the
workstations in a workgroup to share files and printers visible through Network
Neighborhood (or My Network Places). Home networks based on the Apple
Macintosh OS offer the same capability. On a Mac, just use Finder to navigate
to Network.