EC285 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Data-Rate Units, Bluetooth, Ieee 802.11
Document Summary
Wireless lan connections are made using radio. each device that supports wireless contains a radio transceiver. Although ethernet is a wired technology, the ieee specifications for wireless lans (802. 11) allow for ethernet packets to be modulated onto a carrier radio signal. Wireless nics have their own unique mac addresses that are the same length as those of their wired counterparts. From the user"s perspective, a wired ethernet lan connection and a wireless lan connection behave exactly the same way (though a wired connection is faster owing to increase bandwidth) It"s therefore common to refer to wireless ethernet. It"s also common to call any wireless lan technology wi-fi. The bandwidth afforded by wireless networks varies widely according to the specification used. The effective range of wireless is limited by metal and concrete obstructions, but is often around the same as wired ethernet.
