Article was written by Benjamin Miller and Gene T. Hill, Global Knowledge Instructors, CWNEs.

Here are some questions that I am asked quite frequently and this article dispells alot of myths about wireless networls. If you are getting ready to install a wireless network at home in in your squadron. this article is well worth reading PRIOR to installing your new wireless router. It might save you alot of headaches and lost time. You will be able to download the pdf file at the bottom of the page.

Myth #1:

If you leave your Wi-Fi adapter turned on, someone could easily hijack your notebook and take control
of your computer.

Myth #2:

Even with 802.11i, you still need a VPN to provide enterprise-class security for a wireless network.

Myth #3:

Captive Portals are an effective way to prevent unauthorized users from accessing a network via Wi-Fi.

Myth #4:

Disabling the SSID broadcast will hide your wireless network from wardrivers and hackers.

Myth #5:

You need a wireless IDS to prevent rogue access points.

Myth #6:

A wireless IDS is unnecessary if other rogue AP prevention measures are in place.

Myth #7:

Assigning low Wi-Fi data rates is a good way to make sure that every station gets equal bandwidth.

Myth #8:

If channels 1, 6, and 11 are already being used, it's best to choose another channel somewhere in the middle.

Myth #9:

When an 802.11b station connects to an 802.11g network, the entire network is reduced to
802.11b speeds.

Myth #10:

If you need more Wi-Fi coverage, replace the antenna on your access point with one that has a higher gain.

Myth #11:

You can point two antennas in different directions to get more area covered with one access point?.

Conclusion:

There you have it. All of our years of traveling North America delivering classes on Wi-Fi networks distilled down into the dispelling of 11 common 802.11 myths. Of course, as we mentioned in the introduction, wireless networks are growing, so we expect that in another six months or so there will be a whole bunch of new networks to fix and new myths to dispel.

If there's one message that we are trying to convey with this paper, it's that there's no substitute for good oldfashioned hands-on research.

Reading books and articles about Wi-Fi (like this one!) will help you learn a lot about the technology, but using it yourself and seeing its true behavior is an essential part of the equation as well. Next time you've got a few spare minutes, take out a wireless protocol analyzer and set up a test network that depicts a few of the myths we've described. You'll certainly learn something, and you probably have some fun as well.

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download the entire Article: 11 Myths about Wireless Networks

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