Networks

WIRED OR WIRELESS, that seems to be the question these days. Lets discuss the basic pros and cons of each.

No matter what your choice is there are a lot of considerations to take in before making a decision.

WIRELESS PROS:

It's very easy to setup a basic installation. If you by the same brand of equipment like D-Link ounce you install the devices you are up and running with no problems.

With decent radios you can surpass the range of standard CAT5 installations.

Wireless networks are relatively cheap to install compared to running wire for hardwired networks.

Troubleshooting is much easier as you only have two points of failure in a normal network, the pc or the access point

WIRELESS CONS:

Security is the major issue with wireless networks. In a default installation a wireless access point will broadcast its network id, this gives a hacker a lot of information to work with. Out of the box installations do not utilize encryption which allows someone with a laptop to sit outside your office or house and read your data in clear text.

Speed can become an issue due to several issues, if the network uses encryption it slows data transfer due to the processing power required to encrypt data. Line of site is another issue that will greatly effect transfer rates

WIRED PROS:

Secure, a person would have to physically be attached to your network in order to access any resources.

It is much more reliable than wireless networks as you have a hardwired connection to the other endpoint.

The speed of a hardwired network is not limited by environmental issues such as walls, or trees. The speeds that a hardwired network run at are currently unattainable by wireless networks

WIRED CONS:

Cost is the biggest con in a wired network, it can be extremely expensive to install a physical cable plant, between the labor the punch blocks, hubs, and other hardware it can be hard to justify the cost, it is at this point that a company needs to define what is really important to there business plan.

Distance is a limitation in hardwired networks, 300ft is the max length you can run CAT5 without installing a hub to regenerate the signal.

Troubleshooting a hardwired network can be difficult if there are multiple hubs or switches involved, or if a break occurs in the wire.