On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 20:25:32 +0100, "Colin Cooper"
wrote:

Errrrrr - but will anyone be using cable (rather than wireless) in a few
years time? Doubt it, myself - except in hostile (EM) environments... So
why not go wireless now? It's cheap, easy and far more flexible!

Colin

It depends on what is required.

Wireless networks are certainly very useful in a number of
applications, but there are limitations.

- Taking gross (rather than real) bandwidths, wireless networks are in
the 10 - 50Mbit range while wired is in the 100-1000 Mbit range
currently.

- The current wireless technology produces a shared network, so the
bandwidth is shared among all users. A cabled network can be switched
and achieve higher performance. This effect can be ameliorated
somewhat by increasing the density of access points and connecting
them to switches but this increases the cost of course.

- There are security issues with WiFi that may be at an acceptable
level for a home user but are not for business purposes without the
use of additional encryption and other security techniques.


So, yes, I think that people will be using wired networks and adding
wireless for a long time to come.




..andy

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