Girl Geekette dotNet

Wireless networks have SO many conveniences to them. No cords to tangle up and tie you down, no running unsightly cables through walls, stairs, basements, floors or ceilings, and the ease of being able to move around - but at what cost? And, I do not mean monetary costs - or do I? 

With so many reasons to want to go wireless with computers on a network, sometimes the most obvious reasons are overlooked. At what expense do people risk giving up the security of cables to go wireless? Sure, you can move around a room or floor, and you are not tied down by a cable, but the cable actually adds a layer of protection to your network.

For example, let’s say that John Hancock has a new Dell laptop he bought at Circuit City for $650.00 (on sale). It comes with a built in wireless B/G adapter in it. He buys a wireless router to go with it - at the suggestion of a co-worker. It cost John about $45.00. As one of the perks, he will be able to  take his laptop out on the patio and surf the Internet, or anywhere in the house he feels like going - all with no cables to tie him down.

For a year now, John has been wanting to build his own website. All of the pictures of the kids, his wife, all of the memorabilia he has saved up would be some of the things he would like to put on a website so others can see it.  John walks outside, lays back in his lounge chair and props his new laptop on his lap where he beings searching the Internet for a domain name. He goes to Godaddy.com ( A great and low cost place to buy domain names and register them), checks the availability of the domain name he wants, does a few searches and finally comes up with a domain name that fits him. John then looks into his wallet, finds his credit card, and then registers the domain name. He feels confident when he sees that while signing up, the site redirects him to a secure website - one that has "https" in the address instead of "HTTP". Good advice he learned from a friend when making a credit card transaction!

Next, John searches on his laptop for a web hosting company that will host the website he is going to build. He signs up - again using his credit card. John, excited by his new find, now searches on his laptop for email hosts. All of this seems easy enough. He has escaped his office environment, come outside in the crisp clean air and made a lot of progress in thirty minutes. He has created three new accounts, spent less than $50.00, and has a new web domain, a place to host his email and a place to host his website. While checking his email, he even grins to himself when he sees the account conformations.

Thinking about how little he paid for the web services and how well the investment in his new laptop has paid of, John decides to check his balance at his banks online website. Pleased with himself, he gets up from his chair, smiles as he sets his laptop down and walks in and pours himself a nice big glass of iced tea.

While pouring the glass of tea, John thinks to himself how easy all of that was. He bought the laptop, brought it home, charged the battery, connected the new wireless router to his cable modem (The wireless router has a built in firewall too,, so John did not even mind that the Norton Firewall on his computer picked up any activity), and then after the ease of plug and play, he actually had "fun" making his purchases. No having to sit in the hot office waiting for the email sounds so he can check his email, no being tied down to the uncomfortable chair by his computer, no feeling of cables when he puts his feet on the ground. And best of all, he can go back and even watch TV for a while carrying his laptop with him. There are no more cables tying him down to one room!

So, you have read all of the good things about having a wireless network, and you may be thinking you know someone that has done something very similar to that - or maybe even you have. What’s not to like about the idea of the freedom that comes with wireless networking?

Let’s take a little bit of a closer look at this. In the following articles, we will break the steps down one by one and see the behind the scenes scenarios that could very easily be going on - without anyone even suspecting it.