How does a Wireless Router Work?
A wireless router is a networking hardware that allows one or more computers to be connected to the same communication network to share the data, peripheral devices and a single internet connection etc. You can setup a wireless network in your office and home provided that you have the basic networking equipment like wireless card, network adapter and a wireless router.
In a wireless home networking, the wireless router is the central device and more than a single PC can be connected to the networking without the use of cables or wires. Wireless routers have an integrated wireless access point which broadcasts wireless signals within the range just like a wi-fi hotspot in public places like airports, restaurants etc. The wi-fi enabled laptops which are connected to the wireless network pick up these signals and communicate with other wireless devices within the networking area.
Home Networking
Courtesy: Netgear.com
There are two types of wireless routers based on the applications they are put into. The first type of wireless router comes with shorter ranges so they are used to provide wireless network in smaller areas. When you use this type of wireless router, you can add three or four wireless routers all over your home to get better range. This will allow you to improve the reception and signal strength and create a small wi-fi zone within your home. This wireless network will also allow the computers to share a single broadband connection, depending on the range of the wireless router and on how many wi-fi routers are used in the networking area.
The second type of wireless routers is designed for larger households and offices as they come with longer ranges and powerful features. So, you can use a single wireless router, instead of multiple wi-fi routers, to connect numerous PCs into a large network.
Wireless Router is a wireless device that uses radio frequencies to transfer data among the systems in a network. In a wireless network, both the wireless router and the wireless network card which is installed in the PC use the similar radio frequency so that they can send and receive the data within the coverage area. Hence, the name ‘router’ refers to the device which routes the data back and forth between the devices. This is done by the wireless router by buffering and sending the data transversely in a network towards other PCs connected to the same network.
Routers use level three of the OSI protocol stack. A router is quite different from a hub or switch as it is based on OSI model (layer 3) while switch uses layer 2 and hub functions on layer one.
To establish wireless broadband Internet connection, you need to install wireless cards into all the PCs that would share the single broadband connection. The wireless card can be installed just by connecting it to the PC with a cable (like USB) or directly plugged into the PCMIA of your laptop.
Wireless PCI Adapter
After you have installed the cards, turn on your PC. The Windows OS will automatically detect the presence of new hardware and will ask you to choose the wireless network. If you use Linksys or Netgear wireless routers, they would automatically create the network. Then you will select the network and you will be logged on to the internet.
Wireless broadband access is generally faster than the standard internet setup that plugs the modem directly into your PC. With powerful wireless routers, you will be getting faster and reliable connection speeds so you can share and access the files much faster using the wireless broadband connection.
