By any name - and manufacturers have come up with a host of them
- 802.11g wireless networking has become the de facto
standard. Not only is 802.11g nearly five times as fast as 802.11b,
it brings new technology to the mix that allows larger networks and
more robust connections.
AirPort, Apple's name for 802.11b hardware, used a simple model.
You had a wireless hub that allowed Macs with AirPort cards (or PCs
with 802.11b cards) to network without wires at roughly half the
speed of 10Base-T ethernet. The hub itself could be a dedicated
piece of hardware, or it could be a computer with an 802.11b card
set up to share it's network connection. (Both Macs and Windows PCs
can do that.)
The 802.11g protocol was designed to offer superior throughput
(faster), reduce interference due to signal reflection (more robust
connections), and allow the use of repeaters to carry a connection
further than a single hub could.
The Pieces of an 802.11g Network
You're going to run into a lot of terms when you put together a
wireless network, and there are several ways to create a wireless
network. We'll start with the most common terms and hardware.
Wireless Router
A router (sometimes called a gateway) lets you create a network
connected to another network. A router acts as a bridge or gateway
between the Internet and your network, and in most setups it will
automatically assign IP addresses to your machines.
Most wireless routers have one WAN (wide area network) port for
connecting your cable or DSL modem and several ethernet ports for a
wired network in addition to supporting wireless networking.
A router is an intelligent device that may handle several
different protocols. Most important is TCP/IP, the language of the
Internet, but if you use older Apple hardware or older networked
printers, you will want to be sure your router support AppleTalk.
Apple, Asante, and Belkin are three brands that provide that
support (there are others as well). USRobotics is one of many
brands that doesn't support AppleTalk (most don't), as I learned
after buying one.
A computer, either Mac or PC, with a wireless adapter or access
point can also act as a router. If that's the case, you'll want to
choose a computer that's always on - or at least one that's going
to be on when you want to use other devices on your wireless
network.
Wireless Adapter
Most computers will connect to an 802.11g network using a PC
Card. Apple's newer hardware has a dedicated slot for their own
AirPort Extreme cards, and PCI cards exist for connecting desktop
computers to a wireless network.
Access Point
The third class of wireless networking hardware is the access
point, which can be one of several things - and many access points
support more than one of these functions:
- repeater or range extender that creates a bigger network
- ethernet-to-wireless adapter that lets you use wireless devices
on an existing network that already has a router
- wireless-to-ethernet or wireless-to-USB adapter that lets you
connect a computer, printer, Playstation 2, or other device to your
wireless network
- a bridge between two networks
Some routers can act as access points. Be sure you know how you
intend to use your router and/or access point before you buy so
you'll be sure to get hardware that supports your needs.
With the right access point, I'll be able to connect my ancient
Macs (the ones that have ethernet ports but no PCI or USB) to the
Internet without running cable. That's cool.
Getting Better All the Time
There was a 2 Mbps wireless protocol in use before the 11 Mbps
802.11b protocol became popular, and 54 Mbps 802.11g has pretty
much superseded 802.11b for reasons mentioned earlier.
Now we have a host of companies selling "high speed" or "turbo"
802.11g hardware that claims significant performance improvements,
some using numbers that would lead you to believe they are twice as
fast as "regular" 802.11g. But are they?
Various real world throughput tests measure 802.11g show an
improvement of 25-35% for these accelerated protocols, and
accelerated 802.11g hardware from one vendor may not offer
accelerated performance with another brand. If you do want to use
turbo or high speed hardware, play it safe and stick with the same
brand for all of your hardware unless you're happy with plain old
802.11g speed.
If you are happy with 802.11g performance, bear in mind that it
interoperates wonderfully with the accelerated brands, so don't
avoid a good deal just because you don't currently have a turbo
card for your computer. That said, because the accelerated hardware
is more marketable, you can often find great deals on plain 802.11g
hardware.
Choosing a Router
My preference is to use a wireless router on my network, one
that supports both ethernet and wireless networking. Most routers
today include three or four 10/100 switched ports, which means you
can have 3 or 4 computers connected using ethernet in addition to
your wireless machines.
Some routers let you connect a printer so you can share it over
your network. Some have a serial port so you can connect a modem
that will take over if your DSL or cable connection goes down. Most
do neither.
I've used several brands of hardware over the years, and I'm
very pleased with Belkin's support for AppleTalk, since I use a lot
of older Macs on my network. (We take the "low end" in our name
seriously. I'm writing this on a 400 MHz
TiBook, and we have several older, slower computers on our
network.)
Performance and Value
At this point, the only Mac with 802.11g hardware is my son's
12" PowerBook G4, and it's with him
at college, so the only wireless computers on our network at
present use 802.11b. For what we do over wireless, which is mostly
using the Internet, that's plenty fast. Our Comcast connection is
about 1.5 Mbps, so 802.11b is more than we need.
But for moving files over the network - especially if you do
network backup - the extra speed of 802.11g makes a big difference.
I'm sure my next PowerBook will support it. And I know that I'd
rather invest in a wireless card than ever run ethernet cabling
from our network closet to some other part of the house.
Best of all, because the hardware is becoming so affordable (I
just ordered a Belkin 802.11g wireless router for $50 before a $20
mail-in rebate!), it's easy to have one wireless router at home,
one at the apartment, one in the dorm room, one at work, one to
take on trips, one to give to the folks or in-laws so you can
connect when you visit.
You get the idea. At today's prices, there's almost no reason
not to go wireless. 
