Number 229 - June 2002

Wireless Wonders
By Nathan Taylor, ICON News, Nov 17, 2001
Wi-Fi promises to snip the shackles of cables and make computing truly mobile. Nathan Taylor cuts loose.     Wireless is hot. No, we're not talking about the much-delayed mobile phone system known as 3G (third generation), we're talking about local area wireless networking, which will free us from the cabling nightmares of yesteryear.     It is about more than cutting the cord, however. People are using wireless to develop community networks that provide high-speed Internet access and file sharing for all.     According to research group Cahners In-Stat, a staggering 6.2 million wireless networking devices have been sold worldwide in 2001. Most of those are devices that use a technology known as Wi-Fi.     Wi-Fi provides local area wireless networking, allowing computer users within a short range of each other to transfer files, video-conference, have online chats and even play games with people, without the need for cables. For people with notebook computers it is very handy. A notebook user could walk within range of the wireless network and be instantly and automatically connected to other computers in the network without having to plug in a single cable. They can move around and stay connected without hassle.     The range of Wi-Fi is about 100 metres (about 327 feet-ed). Computers talk to a Wi-Fi access point that manages communications between the computers, and can also connect those communications to a wire-based network. This way, a computer communicating via Wi-Fi can talk to computers connected to a wire-based network. This can also be used to connect a modem to the network, so everybody with Wi-Fi can access the Internet from wherever they are.     For the increasing number of homes with multiple computers, Wi-Fi can be the solution to unsightly cables being run along walls and across ceilings. For business, it enables mobile computers to actually be mobile, remaining connected to the network as long as they're in range of a hub.     With a transfer rate of 11 megabits per second, it is about a tenth the speed of most of today's cable-based systems, but still quick enough for most applications, including Internet access if a modem is connected to the network. To put it in perspective, it communicates about 200 times faster than a 56Kbps modem and 20 times faster than Telstra's cable or ADSL broadband.     To set up a Wi-Fi network in a home, each of the computers needs a Wi-Fi card (some of the newer notebooks, including the Toshiba Portege 4000 and Apple iBook, come with one built in) and a single hub. Right now, all of these are a little hard to come by, and some digging around in specialty shops will probably be necessary. They're not cheap, either. A card for a PC or notebook costs between $300 and $400, and an access point can cost more than $1000. The rising freenets     Wireless homes and offices offer convenience, but new developments, particularly in the US, point to far more exciting things ahead. Using Wi-Fi, community networks are being developed with enormous ramifications for telecommunications providers.     A large network of such access points would in effect make systems like G3 obsolete in these areas; why pay for expensive mobile phone calls when you can access the Internet through cheap Wi-Fi networks? Imagine the scenario: you get together with the occupants of your block (be it a block of flats or group of homes). You decide to buy one Internet connection for the entire block. You hook a broadband cable or ADSL modem up to a Wi-Fi access point, and presto: everybody within 100 metres of the access point has high-speed Internet access for virtually nothing. You can split the cost of the Internet	access--divided among 20 or 30 people the cost is negligible, maybe a few dollars per person per month. What's more, you can communicate within this community quickly and easily. You could even set up community network printers and scanners and the like.     It may sound far-fetched, but in fact with Wi-Fi it is very easy to do. The difficult part would be maintaining access control so only the people who paid could access the Net connection.     In October, [2001] Byte magazine commentator Moshe Bar detailed how he and several other people were creating a wireless neighborhood freenet. The idea was to set up an Internet connection that everybody in his neighborhood could access for free. He set up mail services, three hubs and the Internet connection for about 70 to 80 users in his area.     Bar's efforts were not unique. In the US, the Personal Telco Project and Seattle Wireless.net aim to create a network of community free-access points. In areas where these projects operate, anybody with a Wi-Fi card in their computer or notebook can access the Internet over the airwaves for nothing.     In Australia's current climate, it's not really an option, however. Consumer broadband accounts have strict rules about how much data is allowed to pass through the connection every month, and having a large number of people using the same connection is a sure-fire way to blow the limit and get kicked off the service. If a truly unlimited service is needed, consumers have to buy business accounts that charge by volume, which tend to be very expensive.     Security is, of course, a big concern for wireless networks. In April this year the Bay Area Wireless User Group in San Francisco decided to test how good the security system of people using wireless networks was. Two of it members, Peter Shipley and Matt Peterson, wandered through the central business district of San Francisco with a Wi-Fi notebook, and reportedly found more than 40 corporate networks that they could access just by wandering past the outside of the building. They could report when somebody logged into their computers or transferred a file.     That is the problem with Wi-Fi: anybody in range can access the network unless proper access systems are implemented. The experiment followed reports by the University of California and University of Maryland that there were serious security concerns, particularly for companies that do not use encrypted transfers. An individual's or company's communications were "out there" for anybody to listen in on.     Despite these teething problems, the future for Wi-Fi looks bright. It is already being built into some notebook models and offered as an option with several PCs. Could your future be wireless? What's in a name?     The wireless standard that we are talking about goes under a few aliases, and it is worth knowing that they're all talking about the same thing. Technically, the standard is known as 8O2.11b, which is the designation given it by its inventors, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).     To make the system sound a little friendlier, some marketroid came up with the idea of calling it Wi-Fi. And then there's Apple, which calls it AirPort. No matter what the name, they all refer to exactly the same thing, and the devices should be interoperable.     The standard should not be confused with Bluetooth, a much-hyped (but little-used) system for wireless communication with peripherals such as keyboards and printers. There is also an 802.11 - which is interoperable with 802.11b but is about a fifth the speed.
Number 229 - June 2002