Wireless Network Card - Invention of Modern Era
In the older days, the methods of communication were telegram, letters, Morse code etc. but with the invention of internet, there has been a drastic change in the methods and the time taken for communication. These new methods have made the world a global village. It has become the most useful and effective tool of modern era. There have been various changes and modifications since the evolution of internet. New techniques and methods have been introduced since its inception which includes wireless internet access, local area networks (LAN), wide area network (WAN) etc.
Wireless network interface card is a modified version of a regular network interface controller (NIC). A network interface controller is connected with a wire based network such as Ethernet or token ring where as a wireless network interface card is that type of a network card which is linked with a radio based computer network. A wireless network has some similarity with the network interface controller in a way that both work on layer 1 and layer 2 of the OSI model. Wireless network interface communicates through microwave with the use of antenna. A wireless network interface card is usually connected by using PCI bus in a desktop computer and can be connected through USB and PC card as well. A wireless network interface card is an essential component for wireless desktop computer.
A wireless network interface card is usually operated in two modes namely infrastructure mode and ad hoc mode. A Wireless Network Interface Card needs an access point while operating in an infrastructure mode as all the data is transferred using the access point as a central hub. In this mode network, all the wireless nodes are connected to an access point. One must ensure that the Service Set Identifier (SSID) must be same for the access point as well as the wireless nodes connected with the access point. If WEP is used for the access point then the wireless nodes must have the same WEP key or other authentication parameters.
When it comes to ad hoc mode than wireless network interface card does not require any access point and rather than that it directly interfaces with all other wireless nodes directly. One thing a user must ensure is that all the nodes in the ad hoc modes must have the same channel and service set identifier (SSID). In the past, interface controller were only compatible with earlier variants of the standard where as the newer cards such as wireless network interface card support both old and current standards.
As wireless networks communicate through microwaves, they might be affected by the object in the way of signal or by the quality of antenna. Heavy electrical appliances such as fuse boxes, metal plumbing refrigerators and air conditioning can create hurdles in the wireless network signals. Closer the range would be, higher the speed can be achieved. The theoretical maximum range is only reached under ideal circumstances and true effective range is typically about half of the theoretical range. There are many websites on the internet regarding wireless network interface card which you should visit in order to know more about wireless network card.
