3. Wireless networks

An alternative to connecting computers together using wires is to transmit information between them using radio waves. There are a number of technologies that allow this.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a common wireless technology for small Personal Area Networks (PANs).

Bluetooth can connect up to seven active devices, but only if they are close together. For example in a modern car you can 'pair' a smart phone to the car so that you can play music from your phone or make and receive hands-free calls.

Bluetooth 3.0 allows for a network speed of up to 25Mbps.

Wi-Fi™

To wirelessly connect computers together within the space of a house or office, a better choice is Wi-Fi.

All Wi-Fi networks have a piece of hardware called a 'wireless access point' (WAP). Radio signals are sent from Wi-Fi enabled devices to the WAP. The WAP can then either relay the signal to another wireless device, or it can convert it into an electrical signal to send on to a wired network.

Speeds of up to 54 Mbps can be acheived.

Microwave

Long distance wireless connections can be established with microwave links. This is a line-of-sight technology, which means each telecom tower containing the microwave dish need to be in sight of another one a few miles away.

A typical network speed of 3Gbps can be sustained.

Large companies make use of this technology to create private WANs