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Wireless home networking is beginning to proliferate. Learn compelling reasons why installing a Wi-Fi network at home makes sense.
Wireless home networking is beginning to proliferate. Learn compelling reasons why installing a Wi-Fi network at home makes sense.
For years, wireless LANs having been supporting enterprise applications, such as warehouse management and mobile users in offices. With lower prices and stable standards, homeowners are now starting to install wireless LANs at a rapid pace. The sharp increase in advertising seen on T.V. and retail store ads for Wi-Fi networking is definitely promoting this trend.
Wi-Fi the Easiest to Install
It’s much easier to install a wireless LAN at home as compared to a wired network. A typical homeowner won’t consider running cables throughout the house. It’s time consuming and requires stringing wires through the walls, which can be tricky and frustrating.
The installation of a wireless system, however, only requires the connection of a wireless LAN router to the broadband modem and the installation of Wi-Fi cards in the laptops and PCs (if they don’t already have them). This can be done in less than an hour, and you’re ready to start networking. Thus, the installation of a wireless LAN at home is much faster and easier, which is why wireless in homes is flourishing.
Flexible Access Makes Life Easier
With a wireless LAN, employees can bring laptops home from work and continue working just as they do from their offices. For many professions, this makes it possible for people to work from home more effectively, whether it’s to spend a few more hours researching stuff on the Internet or enable telecommuting on a daily basis.
Of course with a wireless laptop, you truly can work from any place in the house. There’s nothing tying you down to a desk in a particular room. You’re free to use the Internet or access files on other computers while relaxing in a comfy chair in front of a T.V., lounging on the patio breathing fresh air, or sitting at a desk in a quite bedroom – just like you see in the commercials on T.V.!
As an independent consultant, I do much of my work from home. Without any defined work hours (a good thing), I tend to work off and on from morning to late evening (a bad thing). With this type of work schedule, I like the idea of working in the presence of family, which enables me to socialize a bit despite my work habits. With my wireless laptop, I can easily go back and forth to work. Of course this takes some practice because it’s nature to procrastinate and spend too much time socializing.
Jim Geier is an independent consultant and founder of Wireless-Nets, Ltd (www.wireless-nets.com), a consulting firm assisting municipalities, enterprises, hospitals, airports, and equipment providers with the development and deployment of wireless networks. | 
