Wireless Card

A notebook without a wireless card, or some sort of wireless access point is severely restricted. To the point where is might as well be a bulky desktop PC for all the mobility it will give you. While there may be times when connecting to the Internet with an Ethernet cable is a good idea, the whole point of a notebook being a mobile computing device is lost if you remain tethered to a wire.

Luckily, nearly every new laptop made today comes with a built-in wireless network card. For those that don't, or an older machine, help is at hand. With a notebook wireless card, you can surf without wires. While there are many brands available, such as the linksys wireless card (pictured), they all work pretty much the same, connecting to the PCMCIA port of the notebook.

The important thing to check is the protocol used. While there are several types of 802.11 wireless card available, the 802.11 g card is the current standard, and thus the one recommended. This information should be available either as part of the online description, or displayed on the box if you buy one in a store. A wireless 802.11 b card will work if your router is a 'g' type, but at a much slower speed (11Mbit/s instead of 54Mbit/s). Some models will be shown as 'b/g', meaning they will work with either standard. This is a bit of a misnomer, since as just mentioned, a 'b' card will work with a 'b' or 'g' router. But if you have a 'g' router, the 802.11 g wireless card is the way to go.

Installation (such as with the netgear wireless card, shown here), is just a matter of running the setup CD-ROM. It will configure everything, and tell you when to slip the card into the PCMCIA port. The CD will also usually contain some sort of protection software to help protect your notebook from being seen as an open door for trouble. The security features will work with your existing firewall to help keep your connection secure and private.

By now you should have information to make informed choices on routers and wi fi connections, with links to several examples of what you'll need to get started. In the final section, wireless network setup,we'll look at how it all goes together, the security considerations, and some do's and don'ts to get you surfing without cables.