Understanding Wi-Fi Networks
You're on the road and you've found a location with a Wi-Fi
broadcast device that your mobile computer can talk to. A Wi-Fi broadcast device
is variously referred to as an access point, an AP, or a hotspot.
With your access point located, you're ready to sit right down,
establish a wireless connection, and start reading your email and surfing the
Web, right? Not so fast, partner.
It's really important to understand that being able to "talk"
with a wireless access point just means that you can "talk" with a wireless
access point. It doesn't mean that you can connect to the Internet unless the
wireless access point is itself connected to the Internet.
So if Starbucks or whoever wants to provide you with the chance
to surf on their turf while you sip that latte, Starbucks needs to provide an
Internet connection. Generally, this connection is wired, and uses a cable or
DSL (digital subscriber line) telephone line for high speeds.
A high-speed wire brings the Internet to the location, and a
Wi-Fi access point broadcasts the wireless Internet connectivity to wireless
devices (in technogeek-speak, the wireless devices are generically referred to
as clients).
Between the Internet connection and the Wi-Fi access point,
there also needs to be some hardware designed to connect with the Internet and
share the connectivity. There are a whole lot of different ways this can be
done, depending on many factors. For example, is a wired network also involved?
I'll be getting into these details in Part IV.
For now, you need to understand that connecting to the Internet
via Wi-Fi involves four things:
-
Your Wi-Fi device (the client)
-
A Wi-Fi broadcast unit (the access point)
-
Network connectivity hardware (such as a router and
modem)
-
The actual Internet connection (usually via cable or
DSL)
A fairly typical simple Wi-Fi network setup of this sort, that
lets Wi-Fi users connect to the Internet, is shown in Figure 1.1.
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