Wireless
This past Sunday's Washington Post business section has several pretty good articles on wireless Internet connections. I have been using one since September or so without understanding much about it (despite Mitch's best efforts). Finishing my info systems class, reading the Post items just now, and all the practice using it this 8 months have combined and I may have reached the tipping point. I hope a little processing, a little writing will help.

Webopedia tells us that Wi-Fi, wireless fidelity generically indicates a wireless Local Access Network meeting a couple of interoperability standards. Even though this notebook computer is not networked to any others, my set up still counts as a LAN. Internet comes into the house through a DSL line; it goes to the router. The router beams Internet all around; a card in the computer picks it up.

Whenever my Internet connection is slow, I am not sure if the Verizon DSL or the wireless broadcast is to blame. From Mike Musgrove's article, I learned that many of the things that seem to muck up WiFi apply to my set up. The traffic of other users, other gadgets, and the rowhouse structure could all be culprits. He quotes one expert asserting that the end of the WiFi age is already fading because too many people (in urban areas) now have the gear compared to "available airspace." While 11 frequencies are available, it's best for users to be spaced out on them (think of switching the channel on early cordless phones) to avoid "noise."

Speaking of cordless phones, if yours is on a 2.4Ghz frequency, that's the frequency WiFi wants, so your gadgets could be competing. While I was upstairs getting the computer, I pulled out my phone's directions and could not find a note on the frequency. Just now, I went in to pick up the phone itself and look at lots of tiny print on the bottom: nothing. That's because it's emblazoned on the top: 900Mhz. Okay, my phone is not a competitor, and I have no baby monitor or microwave. (The article notes these may be problems, but it's hard to say for sure.) But what if my neighbors do?

The neighbors factory is a tricky thing. On the one hand, the folks one house north in the row do have Linksys: it appears on my list of "site survey" sometimes. But on the other hand, Musgrove found that experts think that "older homes that incorporate plaster or cinderblock can block WiFi signals." That would be this house. Practice shows that I get 11 Mbps most often in the bedroom, where the router is, and also here on the back porches, and in the dining room under it (sometimes). I have the lower speed connections, the weaker signals (1 or 2; "Low") in the rooms separated by the most brick and plaster.

In contrast to his alarmist expert at the opening, Musgrove closes with a quote from another expert who predicts that new technologies will keep WiFi viable and make it better. Now that I am really using it, I am glad to know it. I like getting Internet access while at school, with my own machine, my own bookmarks in place. It's a little like having a lucky pen: I like working on a project with the same familiar tools. I have not tried recently getting online at WorldCup, where there is free access. Another article tells of free vs. paid access that you might have available to you: libraries (of course), non-chain coffeeshops, and even some McDonald's locations. Starbucks, chain bookstores, and hotels almost always charge a fee. Before travelling, author Daniel Greenberg recommends checking some websites that list access points (JiWire for instance).

So what have we learned, here? Some vocabulary words: I believe I can use "WiFi" and "wireless" synonomously. I learned that it does make sense to have trouble getting online downstairs, with brick and plaster between me and the router. I learned that those folks with their laptops at the Starbuck JP likes are paying to be online.

In other news, JP reminded me that Arts in the Park is this weekend.