Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wi-Fi's Widening World

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 09:54:42 -0500

A Closer Look
WiFi's Widening World
By Alan S. Kay
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 22, 2002; Page H07

WiFi has been the buzz this holiday season, and this trend in
computer fashion makes a lot of sense.

"WiFi" is the consumer-friendly label for a standard called IEEE
802.11b. A WiFi network links computers via 2.4-gigahertz radio,
using receivers -- gadgets that plug into PCs via internal PCI or
PC Card slots or external USB ports -- and base stations,
stand-alone boxes that broadcast a network signal.

This connection runs at speeds of up to 11 million bits per second
(Mbps) and at distances of up to 150 feet or so. With it, a
student can get on the Web by opening a laptop in a WiFi-enabled
coffee shop, and a multiple-PC family can share files and Internet
access without running wires through walls.

The appeal of Internet access out of thin air is easy to explain;
as a result, sales of WiFi chipsets this year should jump more
than 290 percent from last year, the Aberdeen Group estimates.

A basic WiFi home network need not be expensive. Base stations
cost about $100, receivers about $50, and you can mix and match
different companies' products to suit your budget. Properly made
WiFi hardware works together regardless of manufacturer or
operating system.

That's the upside of WiFi. But for all that it does well, this
technology also suffers some notable faults that buyers should be
wary of.

The first is ease of setup, something that varies wildly from
vendor to vendor. Rely on friends' recommendations before paying
any heed to the promotional chatter on the box. Apple Computer
Inc.'s AirPort system is well designed and easy to set up (though
expensive), and Microsoft Corp.'s recent line of WiFi products has
earned praise as well.

The second, more critical WiFi flaw is security. Its WEP (Wired
Equivalent Privacy) encryption, is, in a word, terrible -- and
most WiFi systems ship with WEP turned off, leaving the data
stream totally unprotected. I would sooner discuss my salary, tax
return or sex life on a cellular phone in a crowded restaurant
than transmit that data over a WiFi network.

The third is the prospect of upgrade anxiety. Two new WiFi
standards will offer both faster connections and compatibility
issues. Both 802.11a and 802.11g offer much higher speeds, up to a
theoretical maximum of 54 Mbps, enough to stream high-quality
video.

802.11a has a head start in the market, is faster overall and
offers greater capacity, but has half the range of regular WiFi.
And its use of the 5GHz frequency shuts out current WiFi hardware.
802.11g, just emerging from the standards-setting process, doesn't
sacrifice much range or compatibility (some 802.11b equipment may
be upgradeable to 802.11g) but is stuck in the same crowded band
as WiFi, often cluttered with noise from cordless phones and
microwave ovens.

Chipmakers are developing dual-band 802.11 chipsets, fluent in all
WiFi dialects. But this hardware won't hit shelves until the
spring and for a while will cost much more than current,
monolingual devices. That may be enough to convince many buyers
who don't actually need the faster speed of 802.11a or g to stick
with today's WiFi.

Of far greater immediate importance is security. A temporary fix
for WiFi's leaky security will come within six months in the form
of WPA (WiFi Protected Access), which will offer substantially
better encryption. It should be available as a downloadable update
for existing products, and it wouldn't hurt to ask vendors about
their WPA plans now.

Further down the road, a more robust solution is promised in the
form of yet another alphanumeric specification, 802.11i. This is
due at the end of 2003, with hardware supporting it available soon
after -- but you probably won't be able to upgrade the receivers
and base stations of today.

In case you aren't sufficiently confused, you can also look for
802.11e (built for reliability delivering real-time multimedia)
and 802.11h (which will cope with European restrictions on 5GHz
wireless use).

But that's all in the future. Should you install a WiFi home
network today? Sure, unless you'll be moving data over it that you
wouldn't want to find written on the bathroom wall in the café
down the street. If you think you'd like higher speeds, waiting a
few months -- say, until summer -- should give you more secure
choices.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20427-2002Dec21.htm
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