Wireless technology 802.11 online experts, Wireless technology 802.11 live experts, Wireless technology 802.11 online help

What is Wireless Technology?

When viewed as a method of data transport, wireless technology appears very similar to wired technology. You have a piece of hardware, a method of transmission, and connections on both ends that transform data from human-intelligible to transportable and back. For both wired and wireless technology, the range of transmission is an issue. You can't move your laptop 15 feet from the wall jack when depending on a 10-foot cable. Similarly, you can't go out for a jog and expect your in-home cordless phone to keep a connection five miles away from its receiver. But if you get either a 20-foot cable or a wireless connector of sufficient power, you can move your laptop 15 feet away from the wall jack; and if you get a cellular phone, you can go jogging five miles away from your house and still take calls (as long as your service provider has a reasonable antenna set up).

The methods of connection and ranges of service available vary in wireless technology just as they do in wired technology. Home telephones with a wireless handset have a more limited range than cellular phones; infrared transmissions have a more limited range than radio-wave (including microwave) transmissions. Different types of wireless solutions can communicate ten feet, ten miles, or with a satellite in orbit.

To support networking solutions that consumer electronic devices and appliances can plug into, Microsoft is working on a range of wireless technologies to enable a robust set of user scenarios for local area networks (LANs), personal area networks (PANs), and wide area networks (WANs).

Windows provides extensive Native 802.11 support, which is the widely adopted standard for high-speed networking across wireless local area networks (WLANs). Windows includes built-in support for Bluetooth wireless technology. Compatible hardware complies with the H:2 (USB) HCI specification for Bluetooth wireless technology. The hardware vendor does not have to provide a separate driver. Bluetooth L2CAP protocol drivers should use KMDF or a device-class-specific driver model such as AVStream. Drivers for RFCOMM devices should use UMDF.

Wireless technology 802.11 online experts, Wireless technology 802.11 live experts, Wireless technology 802.11 online help