CCENT Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician Study Guide: (ICND1 Exam 640-822), 2nd Edition

Introducing Wireless Technology

Transmitting a signal using the typical 802.11 specifications works a lot like it does with a basic Ethernet hub: they're both two-way forms of communication, and they both use the same frequency to both transmit and receive, often referred to as half-duplex and mentioned in the introduction to this chapter. Wireless LANs (WLANs) use radio frequencies (RFs) that are radiated into the air from an antenna that creates radio waves. These waves can be absorbed, refracted, or reflected by walls, water, and metal surfaces, resulting in low signal strength. So, because of this innate vulnerability to surrounding environmental factors, it's pretty apparent that wireless will never offer the same robustness as a wired network ...