Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network

A wireless LAN is an ideal solution for any business or organization that needs to provide its employees with mobility. Wireless LANs empower mobile workers, enabling them to stay in touch with easy access to real-time information. Wireless LANs also can provide flexibility in a networking environment that requires frequent LAN wiring changes. And, of course, WLANs are a godsend when deploying a networking solution in a difficult wiring situation.

But, a WLAN will never behave or perform precisely like a wired network. Thus, when considering the deployment of a wireless network, the first item everyone needs to attend to is the development of a thorough understanding of how a WLAN and its clients (i.e. computing devices, printers, etc.) perform in various networking environments.

Second, if you are introducing wireless into an existing wired network or in anyway mixing wired and wireless, you need to understand that the two network types differ in their access methods-wireless uses CSMA/CA and wired needs CSMA/CD. Consequently, TCP/IP, with its inherent back-off algorithms, will actually degrade the performance of wireless clients when it attempts to retransmit lost packets.

Finally, while the appeal of WLANs is their ability to augment or supplement existing wired LANs in difficult-to-wire locations, wiring remains a consideration when deploying WLANs, as the wired infrastructure must be extended to the WLAN's access points.

The combination of the proper design and a good deployment plan that can implement the proper extension of existing technologies and corporate policies, accommodate the WLAN's management and maintenance needs, and plan around any performance issues, will enable a WLAN that is a part of a strong, viable networking system.