WiFi Access

There’s a groundswell for WiFi access.  And this is mostly from commercial establishments which offer customers access to the internet while within store premises.  The WiFi access is usually free, depending on the establishment.  But more and more, it’s not just the commercial establishment which offers the WiFi connectivity but the mall management adding this as a feature.

WiFi access is not just in the malls, of course.  Nowadays, colleges and universities have laid down the foundation for WiFi connectivity.  But that decision may be more due to financial considerations than for student/professor considerations.  It is a whole lot cheaper to install WiFi access points and routers than to pay for civil works to lay cable all around the campus.  Besides, with a structured cabling strategy, sooner or later, LAN cable theft would be a big blip on the crime radar.

As it is, even without going into WiFi enabled establishments, it is possible to leach the service by staying close enough to the building or shop.  With a good WiFi implementation, the signal should get across the street without any problems.  And just in case there’s concern that someone outside the building is accessing the network, security could be implemented by limiting the internet access to specific MAC addresses.

And with regards printing, I would opt for the network printer to be connected via it’s own cable.  The alternative is to have the printer connected to a computer on the network as a shared resource.  This would mean that the computer has to be turned on whenever the printer has to print.  Which runs counter to the logic behind a network printer.

Closer to home, the cost of a wireless LAN router has been dropping steadily and it has become a viable alternative for a small office/home office environment.  And with a WiFi in the home, cabling would not be a concern.

Setting up a home WiFi network is almost as easy as a cabled LAN.  With a WiFi router connected to the DSL modem, WiFi enabled notebooks should have an internet connection in no time.  In the case of desktops, a WiFi dongle or a WiFi LAN card could be installed in order to capture an internet connection.

Among several considerations, signal strength can be assured by having a clear line of sight from the laptop to the WiFi router or access point.  Strictly speaking, this is not really necessary.  Although from a psychological viewpoint, this gives the user peace of mind with regards LAN connection to the router.

There are however, some issues with WiFi routers.  For some reason, WiFi routers time out on their own, leaving the user without any internet connection at odd or random times.  What’s worse is that, even if you reset the WiFi router, the connection might still be missing.  There’s not much to tweak in the router maintenance as the router settings are usually bare with “no user serviceable parts.”

For the most part, any intermittent service from the WiFi router is a small price to pay for the cable-free internet access.