Have you ever thought of having a totally wireless office? Do you think it’s not possible at the moment/impractical? If your answer to that question is yes, then you must read this article for sure.
Let’s look at the reverse situation first: What could be the advantages of wired networks over wireless networks? Well, the immediate points that come to mind could be the following:
1. Speed. Wireless networks are considered to be slow and have low bandwidth.
2. Applications in real time. Wireless networks cannot handle real-time applications like voice and video.
3.Security. Wireless signals even reach across the road. What happens if someone hacks into my network?
4. Incompatibility: Certain devices like printers, etc. they are not Wi-Fi enabled. The PC does not have Wi-Fi cards.
Let’s look at each point individually (I am writing this article from the point of view of a company/office network and therefore I am assuming that the Wi-Fi network is built using wireless controllers, access points and management software)
Speed:
Wired networks used to have a decent speed of 100 Mbps and today have a speed of 1000 Mbps. Wireless networks only have a speed of 54 Mbps and that too is shared among many users.
Give me an application that would occupy 1000 Mbps per port, or even 100 Mbps per port and then I could probably accept the above statement. The fact is, even if your office runs demanding applications like multimedia, ERP, video, etc., the maximum bandwidth requirement per user may not even cross 4 Mbps! Now take the 54 Mbps of Wi-Fi networks and suppose 15 people connect to it, each user can get around 2.5 Mbps, which is enough for most of the applications we have today, and if all 15 users not connecting at the same time, a single user could get even more bandwidth. In fact, with the advent of the 802.11n standard for Wi-Fi, the available bandwidth per access point is around 300 Mbps and will reach 600 Mbps in the near future. So even if 15 people connect with an 802.11n access point, they could get more than 20 Mbps, which is more than enough for most applications in today’s network.
Real-time applications:
What happens if I run PC-based video conferencing at my company? Can wireless networks handle traffic in real time?
A decent video conferencing client may not need more than 256-384 Kbps to deliver quality 30fps video with H.264 compression. How many such conferences are going to happen simultaneously? And real-time applications work great if your wireless controller supports WMM, the wireless multimedia protocol that prioritizes real-time traffic over normal traffic, and most controllers today support it. Even voice is supported on the wireless LAN, including seamless transfer from one AP to another, if you bring the VoWLAN phones. There is an interesting technology that is growing rapidly which is called FMC – Fixed Mobile Convergence where your IP phones and cell phones can be integrated with a single mobile phone and you have one number for both. Although IP landline phones are not compatible with wireless networks, such innovations (such as FMC phones and VoWLAN for Voice over Wireless LAN) help to include additional features and provide the basic service much more efficiently.
Security
Wireless signals can penetrate walls and actually cross the street. What happens if someone hacks into my network?
This is a valid concern. Security is compromised if your wireless communications are not encrypted to the latest standards and proper security policies are not in place. But if the security policies are enforced according to the latest standards (like 802.11i, etc.), then the chances of breaking the network from the outside are very low. Also, there are wireless intrusion prevention software that are available in the market these days that keep looking for wireless threats and intrusions and notify or even attempt to break into your wireless network automatically.
Incompatibility:
There are certain devices that do not support Wi-Fi yet, such as certain printers, fax machines, etc. But you’ll be surprised how many devices are Wi-Fi-enabled and already have commercially ready Wi-Fi-based products: surveillance cameras, multifunction devices, access control card readers, laptops, projectors, and just about every device. Network-based have a Wi-Fi. -Fi compatible model. Even if certain products are not Wi-Fi capable, cables could be selectively drawn for just those applications, rather than wiring the entire office with three ports per cubicle. In fact, wireless access points must be connected to LAN cables at the back-end, so a limited number of wired switch ports are required anyway. And there are always USB-based Wi-Fi adapters that can be used to make a desktop computer (PC) wireless.
So, having established that wired networks are not inherently superior to current generation wireless networks, let’s now look at the additional advantages that wireless networks provide over wired networks:
Less cost: savings not only in the number of cables, switch ports needed, but also in the cost of passive components.
Convenience and mobility: Wireless networks are accessible from anywhere, even in the dining room and on the lawn. All you need is a Wi-Fi enabled laptop to access them. And users can connect to the network from anywhere: cubicles, conference rooms, gardens, etc.
Redundancy: If one access point fails, another neighboring access point can automatically connect users (without having to change the port connection manually as in wired networks).
Network Access Control, AD Integration: Centralized management functionality of wired networks using Active Directory (or LDAP, etc.) is available with most wireless networks today. In fact, controller-based wireless networks can also provide network access control: group users together and decide which users have access to which resources on the network (restrict Internet access for certain users, etc.).
Load balancing: Access points can automatically push users to neighboring access points if they are overloaded. Some drivers even allow you to restrict the bandwidth that a single user/group can access on the LAN, so they don’t overload the network.
There are many more, but if you want to discuss more on the same topic or on any particular topic, please visit our blog. There is a whole category in wireless networks!