PCMCIA Wireless Card
First there was dial-up, then broadband and now wireless Internet. If you’re a bit behind when it comes to technological advances don’t despair. Setting up a wireless network is much easier than you think and the best advantage is there are no wires to worry about. For laptop users a PCMCIA wireless card is all you really need for wireless connection.
This allows you to venture out pretty much anywhere, even across the world and have instant access to emails and news. There is just one tiny catch. There does need to be the presence of a Wi-Fi signal to receive and transmit information from your PCMCIA wireless card.
Thankfully, portable laptop users are finding that there is an increasing number of Wi-Fi spots that are freely available to the public. If you see a person with a laptop in a café using the Internet, there is no doubt a Wi-Fi signal available. You can also check specific locations for Wi-Fi spots online.
For better security and protection, choose a wireless PCMCIA adapter that has high data encryption offered by manufacturers like Cisco, TrendNET, Netgear and Belkin. This isn’t a fail-safe measure, but it will certainly reduce the risk of receiving anything malicious on your laptop. As a precaution, avoid accessing credit or bank details online in public areas and always have virus protection and a firewall setup.
Should you not need to take your laptop away from home, you can set up a wireless network at home. Apart from your PCMCIA wireless card, which is all but a USB stick that slots into your portable computer, you’ll need to install a modem as well as a wireless router to transmit and receive information to and from your PCMCIA adapter to the modem.
While this might sound difficult to setup, it really isn’t and most Internet service providers offer free installation. Once you have your wireless router setup you can immediately use your personal laptop to surf the Net. On top of that, any computer in the house, whether it’s a laptop or desktop can connect to the same network.
Desktop computers however, use a different wireless network adapter but work in almost the same way. As with installing a PCMCIA wireless adapter, you’ll need to install the software and setup a connection. To keep your wireless network protected from hackers and people trying to connect to your network, you must setup password protection.
Today, wireless networks offer the same speed and security as conventional cable networks. But in terms of practicality and freedom to use Internet wherever you go, they win hands down.