Wired or Wireless, What’s the Difference?

The main difference between a wired and wireless data communication infrastructure is the
existence of physical cabling. The same, or similar techniques are employed for both types of data
communication infrastructure in terms of the core elements of essential network services.The basic
difference between a wired and a wireless network is self-explanatory. A wired network uses wires
to communicate whereas a wireless network uses radio waves. Let us look at what are the other
differences and how one technology gets an edge over the other.Wired networks are easy to set up
and troubleshoot where wireless networks are comparatively difficult to set up, maintain, and
troubleshoot.Wired networks make you immobile while wireless ones provide you with convenience
of movement.Wired networks prove expensive when covering a large area because of the wiring and
cabling while wireless networks do not involve this cost.Wired networks have better transmission
speeds than wireless ones.In a wired network, a user does not have to share space with other users
and thus gets dedicated speeds while in wireless networks, the same connection may be shared by
multiple users.One of the most common questions we as consultants have to answer on a daily basis
is the difference between wired and wireless networks. Wired:

The communication between two devices via cables. Wireless: the communication between two
devices without cables.Now, is it that simple Not exactly, each method of networking has its own
pros and cons.Wireless networks do not use any form of cable. The transmission of data (your files,
music, printing to the printer etc) occurs over radio waves just like cordless phones or the
Bluetooth headset that came with that snazzy phone you purchased recently. The major advantage
of having a wireless device is the mobility and freedom that comes with it. Moreover, there is less
clutter and fewer wires to worry about. But, you sacrifice in most cases on speed and security.Wired
networks on the other hand have been around for some time now. Officially known today as the
Ethernet, the cables usually connect these devices using CAT5 cables. The speed and security in this
scenario are greatly enhanced. The latest Ethernet routers can support up to 1000Mb/s or a
gigabit/sec. that’s 10 times faster than the widely used 100 Mb/s router. Moreover the over all cost
of a wired network is lower, provides high performance and better security than wireless
networks.The choice depends on your day to day activities. Wireless networks won’t become
mainstream anytime soon in office environments. But as home users, wireless networks have
become the choice. A little sacrifice in speed or security as a residential user is minimal but for an
enterprise environment - well, it becomes a whole new ball game and, pretty detailed too.If a user
or a company wants to make a data portable then Wireless networking is the answer. A wireless
networking system can avoid the downtime, which may be caused in the wired network. A wireless
network is also save your time and efforts in installing the lot of cables.Also, if you need to relocate a
client machine in your office, you only need to move the computer with wireless network
card.sWireless networking is very useful in the public places, libraries, hotels, schools, airports,
railway stations where one might find wireless access to the internet. A drawback in the wireless
internet is that quality of service (QOS) is not guaranteed if there is any interference then the
connection may be dropped.

WLANS allow users in local area, such as in a university or a library to form a network and gain
wireless access to the internet. A temporary network can be formed by a small number of users
without the need of access point; given that they do not need to access the resources.
Wireline allow the connectivity of multiple networks such as building in a city. The network
connectivity is the alternative of copper or fiber cabling.

Wired Equivalent Privacy is intended to stop the interference of radio frequency that is signaled by
unauthorized users and this security measure is most suitable for the small networks. There is not
key management protocol and each key is entered manually into the clients that’s why this is very
time consuming administrative task. The WEP security method is based on the RC4 encryption
algorithm. In the WEP all the client computers and Access points are configured with the same
encryption and decryption keys.

Service Set Identifier (SSID) acts a simple password by allowing WLAN network to be split up into
different networks and each having a unique identifier. These identifiers are configured in the
multiple access points. To access any of any networks, a computer is configured in such a way that
each is having a corresponding SSID identifier for that network. If the SSID match between the two
computers or networks then access is granted to each other.

A list of the MAC addresses of the client computers can be inputted into an Access point and only
those computers are granted to give the access to the network. When a computer makes a request,
its MAC address is compared to the list of the MAC addresses to the Access point and based on this
access permission granted to deny.
This is a good security method but it is mainly involved in the small wireless networks because there
is more manual work is involved of entering the MAC address into the Access point.

WLANS wireless networking type is very popular in home networking and more than 20 percent
homes with broadband internet are using WLANS and this number is increasing. In a general
estimate worldwide hotspots have now reached more than 30,000 and will grow about 210,000 in
the next few years. Most large hotels already offer Wi-Fi and the business travelers are willing to pay
wireless access. 802.11 is the next Wi-Fi speed standard is set to offer bandwidth around 108Mbps
and is still under development. With the speed of 70 Mbps and a range up to 30 miles, the 80216
standard, known as WiMAX is sure to get boost.

The term wireless networking refers to technology that enables two or more computers to
communicate using standard network protocols, but without network cabling. Strictly speaking, any
technology that does this could be called wireless networking. The current buzzword however
generally refers to wireless LANs. This technology, fuelled by the emergence of cross-vendor
industry standards such as IEEE 802.11, has produced a number of affordable wireless solutions that
are growing in popularity with business and schools as well as sophisticated applications where
network wiring is impossible, such as in warehousing or point-of-sale handheld equipment.

An ad-hoc, or peer-to-peer wireless network consists of a number of computers each equipped with
a wireless networking interface card. Each computer can communicate directly with all of the other
wireless enabled computers. They can share files and printers this way, but may not be able to access
wired LAN resources, unless one of the computers acts as a bridge to the wired LAN using special
software. Each computer with a wireless interface can communicate directly with all of the others. A
wireless network can also use an access point, or base station. In this type of network the access
point acts like a hub, providing connectivity for the wireless computers. It can connect (or "bridge")
the wireless LAN to a wired LAN, allowing wireless computer access to LAN resources, such as file
servers or existing Internet Connectivity.