Chapter 7
Wireless networking is most likely in every single home and building we see. It all started in 1978 with the introduction of analog cellular network capable of sending voice only messages very slowly, this was the 1G network. Since 1978 it has greatly expanded and the capabilities along with it. Text messages came about during 2G and faster message transfer. Again, with 3G came faster network connection, the smartphone was popularized during this time and offered a huge plethora of features you can now do on your cellular device including listen to music, watch videos, display web pages, and the introduction of GPS. At the time the book was published 4G was the latest network supporting devices and again faster and more powerful than the past, now 5G is released and the Book does not cover it, but it is now the fastest and strongest connection there is ahead of Star Link. Many times, you visit a building, and it has free internet. This is the use of a wireless local area which is just about the same as a wired local area except the use of cords tethering connection between devices and a router. Wireless connection is nice as you can take your devices freely to anywhere you like as long as you are within the range of the wireless access point. A mesh network is a new term to me. My understanding is that these nodes communicate to each other for the best way to transmit data, my only question would be does LCCC use this kind of network and if so, how? When they say this kind of connection is used in universities how wide is the span they give out that they can connect to other buildings sometimes hundreds of feet away. I never heard of personal area networking before but if I had before reading this, I would not have said Bluetooth is an example. I use Bluetooth everyday whether I am listening to a podcast in my car or listening to music with my headphones or illegally streaming a football game on my phone and playing it on my tv. When you hear anyone refer to using “data” they are talking about a wide area network. It allows you to access the internet in many geological locations but driving through the woods in Northeast Pennsylvania you might find yourself losing connection. The rest of the chapter talks about wireless network security such as ways of protecting yourself and the risks involved with using public wireless networks. I feel like chapters 6 and 7 should be flip flopped so the wireless networks come first and then the next chapter can talk about cyber security. I think it would make more sense to get an understanding of one thing and then add wireless network security into the cyber security chapter as most of the information goes hand in hand.