Before You Buy Wireless Equipment
Five Things You Must Do

Do these and when you buy wireless equipment, you won't go wrong!

Make sure you understand what you need, what works together, and how to do it, before you spend money on any wireless equipment.

In fact, you surely do not want to buy all the necessary equipment and figure out that it just doesn't work in your house, or it is incompatible with your computers. So, read the following checklist of what you need to go through before you start spending your money on wireless networking equipment.

Check What Your Walls are Made Of

Theoretically, wireless networks are able to go through walls and other panels without difficulty. Nevertheless, do not forget that some walls may be thicker than others and may consequently prevent some the signal from passing through. Only the internal walls count, not the ones outside. These consist of your floors too, if the connection will go though different levels.

If you wish to have wireless networking, the best materials for your panels are: drywall, plywood, other wood (including doors), and glass.

Wireless doesn't work well with: brick, plaster, cement, metal, stone, double-glazed glass.

What really counts is the wall/floor materials porous level -- those that usually let in other things also let more wireless signal to travel through well.

If a wall is made of one the 'bad' materials, your wireless connection could be slower or have shorter range, which means that you should probably spend more to get equipment that can overcome this problem.

By planning properly when you buy wireless equipment, you'll minimize the surprises when you set up your system!

Check for Possible Interference

Even though it doesn't prevent a wireless network from working, interference in the LAN's frequency range can considerably slow it down and reduce its range. If your connection stops working, it quite common to discover that there's interference in the range.

Wireless interference is caused primarily by two reasons: wireless phones and microwave ovens. The most widespread wireless networking frequency of 2.4Ghz, is also a commonly used wireless frequency for phones. While some phones may operate at different frequencies, microwave ovens always use 2.4Ghz. Even though it is normal to have such devices in your home, try not to arrange them in the same room as the computers you plan to use for a wireless connection.

Decide Your Budget to Buy Wireless Equipment

Decide exactly what you need before you buy wireless equipment, and then define a budget you are willing to spend. Are the distances you need to cover long? Does the connection have to pass through stone walls? Going through each of these aspects will help you determine the level of the required expenditure- keep in mind that the more problems you have, the greater power you will have to use. In contrast, if you live in a smaller wood-framed home, your investment will probably be very modest.

Read Wireless Networking Reviews Before You Buy Your Wireless Equipment

Before you buy any kind of wireless equipment, take a look and read what people say about the different available brands and what you can afford to buy with your money. Especially when you buy something online, take the time to reflect on your possible choices and try to go to a computer shop to see some wireless networking equipment working before you make your purchase.

Search here for the wireless devices you desire...

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Install and Update Windows XP or Vista

Lastly, try to get the latest version of Windows to facilitate your wireless experience. Since wireless networking is a developing technology, when Windows 98, ME and 2000 were released support for them wasn't developed into the system. Therefore, it was much harder to install wireless on operating systems like these compared to Windows XP and Vista.

Even though you have Windows XP, there are still some things to consider. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (an updated version of Windows XP) includes tools for configuring and using wireless that will make your job even easier. Vista does the same. To update your copy of Windows you can easily get all the latest updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com before going further.





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