Have you ever thought about having a totally wireless office? Do you think it is not possible at the moment/ not practical? If your answer to that question is yes, then you must read this article for sure.
Let’s first look at the reverse situation: 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. Real-time applications. 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 my network?
4. Incompatibility: Certain devices such as printers, etc. are not Wi-Fi enabled. The PC has no 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 they have a speed of 1000 Mbps. Wireless networks only have a speed of 54 Mbps and that is also 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 Wi-Fi networks and suppose 15 people connect to it, each user can get about 2.5 Mbps, which is enough for most 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 touch 600 Mbps in the near future. So even if 15 people connect with an 802.11n access point, they could still get more than 20 Mbps, which is more than enough for most applications on today’s network.
Real-time applications:
What happens if I run PC-based video conferences 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 30fps quality video with H.264 compression. How many conferences of this type 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 current controllers support it. Even voice is supported over wireless LAN, including seamless handover from one AP to another, if you carry 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 fixed IP phones are not compatible with wireless networks, such innovations (such as FMC and VoWLAN phones for voice over wireless LAN) help pack in additional features and deliver basic service much more efficiently.
Security
Wireless signals can penetrate walls and actually cross the street. What if someone hacks 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 applied according to the latest standards (such as 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 try to enter your wireless network automatically.
Incompatibility:
There are certain devices that are not yet compatible with Wi-Fi, such as certain printers, fax machines, etc. But you will be surprised how many devices are Wi-Fi compatible and already have commercially ready Wi-Fi based products: surveillance cameras, multi-function devices, access control card readers, laptops, projectors and almost all devices. network-based have a Wi-Fi. -Fi compatible model. Even if certain products don’t support Wi-Fi, cables could be selectively drawn just for those applications, rather than wiring the entire office with three ports per cubicle. In fact, wireless access points must be connected to LAN cables on 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, and more.
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 for 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: grouping users together and deciding 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 controllers 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 any particular topic, then visit our blog. There is a whole category in wireless networks!