Compare and contrast wired and wireless LANs. What unique concerns must be addressed by the designer of a wireless networks. Answer 1:- Introduction: LAN is a local Area Network and a computer network covering a small physical area, like a home, office, restaurant or small group of buildings, such as a school, a college or an airport. Although a LAN can be used as an isolated network to connect computers in an organization for the sole purpose of sharing resources, most LANs today are also linked to a wide area network or the Internet.
A LAN can be one of two types: wired or wireless.Here is the comparison for installation, cost, reliability, performance and security between Wired and Wireless LANs. Wired LANs| Wireless LANs| 1. Installation| In wired LANs Ethernet cables must be use between computers and other networking devices. It can be time and cost consuming.
And also very difficult to run cables under the floor or through walls, especially when computers are located in different rooms. The installation of cable can be depending on the devices and the type of internet connection, and whether internal or external modems are used. However, none of these options pose any more difficulty than.Installation of cable is a main part of wired LAN.
After installation, the remaining steps in configuring either wired or wireless LANs do not differ much. Both are using same standard Internet Protocol and operating system configuration options. | Wi-Fi networks can be configured in two different ways: Ad-hoc and Infrastructure mode. Ad-hoc mode allows users to connect directly each other and can communicate in peer to peer mode. Ad-hoc networks make sense when needing to build a small, all-wireless LAN quickly and spend the minimum amount of money on equipment.
On the other hand, Infrastructure mode allows wireless devices to communicate with a central node like access point that in turn can communicate with wired nodes on that LAN. Infrastructure mode is mostly used for internet connection, printer sharing or access other wired devices, whereas ad-hoc mode supports only basic file sharing between wireless devices. | 2. Cost| In wired LANs use of cables are inexpensive. Use of modem or broadband router cost more, but these are optional components of a wired LAN, and their higher cost is offset by the benefit of easier installation and built-in security features.
While Wi-Fi networks are often seen as simple and inexpensive to deploy, there are plenty of hidden costs and complexities lurking under the surface. Wireless LAN deployments are often expensive for companies because RF surveys, which help ensure proper network coverage. Now wireless products have dropped in price considerably. | 3. Reliability| Ethernet cables, hubs and switches are extremely reliable compare to wireless products, mainly because manufacturers companies are improving day by day over several decades. Loose cables likely remain the single most common and annoying source of failure in a wired network.
When installing a wired LAN or moving any of the components later, be sure to carefully check the cable connections. As all products are improving their reliability, broadband routers are also improving compare to those old days one. | Wireless LANs are facing some problem in reliability but manufacturers are improving their reliability day by day. 802.
11b and 802. 11g wireless signals are subject to interference from other home appliances including microwave ovens, cordless telephones, and garage door openers. With careful installation, the likelihood of interference can be minimized. Now 802. 11g are also improving.
Expect it will take time for these products to mature. | 4. Performance| Wired LANs are providing a very good performance. Now a day, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet technologies are also available in market but it costs little more. Although 100 Mbps represents a theoretical maximum performance never really achieved in practice because it depends on operating system, hardware type, etc. Fast Ethernet should be sufficient for home file sharing, gaming, and high-speed Internet access.
Using hub can suffer from slow performance but here we have choice to use dual speed hubs or we can use witches instead of hubs to overcome this problem.Switch will cost more than hub. | Most common wireless LANs using 802. 11b support a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 11 Mbps, mostly same as that traditional Ethernet speed.
New version of wireless 802. 11a and 802. 11g is providing 54 Mbps, that is approximately one-half the bandwidth of Fast Ethernet. Wi-Fi performance can be varies on distance. Near to the access point can get maximum performance but as you go far away from AP you will see degrade the performance.
Finally, the performance of 802. 11a and 802. 11g is sufficient for home Internet connection and simple file sharing but not good for LAN gaming. | 5.
Security|Firewalls are necessary in any wired LANs if LAN is connected to the Internet. Wired Ethernet hubs and switches do not support firewalls. There are firewall software products available in market. That also can be installed on the computer and configure. Broadband routers are providing inbuilt firewall software.
That also can be configured as well. | In general, wireless LAN is less secure than wired LAN. In wireless LAN data travel with signals through the air and can easily be intercepted. To prevent this issue we can use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption standard, which makes wireless communication reasonably as safe as wired.Although attacks against 802.
11b and other wireless technologies will undoubtedly increase in number and sophistication over time. | These are the unique concerns must be addressed by the designer of a wireless networks: When designing a network, it is necessary for a network designer to consider what type of data the network will transmit. Bandwidth needs are dictated by the applications that will use the network. Two application specific bandwidth requirements need to be considered: throughput and latency.
Throughput is the data transmission rate, measured in bits per second, whereas latency is the delay, or lag in data transmission.It is also important to know what unique properties of wireless LANs might amplify existing LAN vulnerabilities or introduce new ones. Wireless transmission techniques, topologies, and vendor offerings were surveyed from a security perspective. A purely wireless client network would still entail some cabling, but only to the access points. Costs can also be lowered by implementing thin wireless access points, particularly in larger networks.
Traditional wireless deployments utilize thick APs, each configured individually. Conclusion: Finally, we need to decide that which is better wired or wireless?If you are not much caring about mobility and care about cost than must be go for wired LAN. You can get maximum performance on wired LANs. On the other side, wireless LANs is costly, advanced technology for those who don’t care about cost and like to try new technologies.
Generally, wireless LAN proved to be a reliable and reasonably fast mobile networking solution. For most purposes, the bandwidth it provides should suffice, although cabled LANs offer more possibilities to extend the bandwidth. In situations where mobility is as good as bandwidth, a wireless LAN should certainly be considered a serious option.
