Wireless Internet Terminology - Confusion Or Clarity?
Kevin Erickson

Wireless Internet Terminology, like many things in life,
especially those that have anything to do with computers is
filled with terminology. But like most things, once you learn a
few of the basic terms, understanding will come quickly. So
don't be confused get informed and to help clarify, I've put
together a basic wireless "internet-to-english" guide to help
you along.

IEEE - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The IEEE is in charge of the wireless networking standard, as
well as many other computer-related standards - including the
Ethernet standard. They ensure that computer equipment made by
different manufacturers can work together.

PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association
Simply another standard for how to plug credit card size
devices into a laptop computer to boost it's capabilities. It's
been suggested by some that it should stand for "People Can't
Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms". PCMCIA is a great way of
adding wireless networking to your laptop as easily as
inserting a disk.

PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
Used to install devices like graphics cards and network devices
inside your computer. You would be using a PCI, if you wanted to
install a wireless card inside your computer.

802.11
Set by the IEEE, it's the current wireless networking standard.
It helps ensure that wireless devices can communicate with one
another or in other words - they are interoperable.

Interoperable
Simply means that two different pieces of equipment have the
ability to speak to each other or another way to put it - they
are compatible. They can use them together because they were
designed using the same standards. Because of the IEEE and the
principle of interoperability, all wireless equipment you
purchase should be compatible.

Driver
Not a piece of golf equipment but computer software that
informs a computer how to talk to devices that plug into it.
Most wireless networking drivers come on a CD-ROM. You then
download the drivers from the CD onto your computer.

Ethernet
Currently, the most common way of connecting to a LAN or Local
Area Network. Most wires connected to your computer today are
ethernet and if you have a cable internet connection an
ethernet wire is in all likely-hood, what is being used to
connect to your modem.

USB - Universal Serial Bus
A port used for connecting all sorts of devices to a computer,
including keyboards, a mouse, printers, external hard-drives
and basically anything else you can think of. If you don't have
a laptop or want to open up your computer you can get a USB
wireless device.

WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy
No longer used because in 2001 it was found to have security
issues. As a result, it is now the old standard for encrypting
wireless networks.

WPA - WiFi Protected Access
The new standard for encrypting wireless networks. An upgrade
of WEP to fix security issues. To avoid becoming vulnerable, a
WPA encrypted network changes encryption methods often. In
addition, if an attack is detected, it has the ability to shut
itself down for thirty seconds.

PAN - Personal Area Network
A network of devices connected together in one small area. A
simple example of a PAN would be your computer, USB keyboard
and mouse. Using a technology called Bluetooth, a PAN can be
wireless.

LAN - Local Area Network
Briefly mentioned above, LAN is a computer network that...
generally speaking is confined to one building, such as a home
or office. A wireless LAN is also known as a WLAN.

MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
A network that covers a larger area, like a city or town. They
are expensive but a wireless MAN has the capacity to spread
Internet access across a wide area. Many college universities
set-up a MAN to connect the entire campus.

WAN - Wide Area Network
A network that covers or connects to more than one physical
site. A simple example would be a business that has locations
in different cities, states or countries and they need them
each location connected on the same network. The Internet
itself is a WAN... the biggest WAN in the world.

Mbps - Megabits Per Second
Not to be confused with MBps, megabytes per second. Mbps is
measurement of connection speed. There are eight megabits in a
megabyte.

GHz - Gigahertz
One gigahertz is one billion cycles per second... it's a
measurement of frequency. If the term sounds familiar it's
probably because it's also used to measure the processing speed
of the CPU on your computer, which is also measured in
gigahertz.

Linux
A popular and growing alternative operating system to Windows.
Linux is a less bulky, more efficient operating system in many
ways than Windows and not to mention - it's free. Many servers
run Linux for this reason. Computers running Linux can run many
programs and connect to the Internet without needing Windows.
Many wireless devices run Linux or are compatible with it.


About The Author: Kevin Erickson is a contributing writer for:
http://www.zephyrnet.com and http://www.eyeonvoip.com and
http://www.usfairtrade.com. This article may be reproduced only
in its entirety.