Wireless
| Radio
| Radio transmission is sometimes used as a method to directly connect computers (usually laptops) to a LAN. Radio connections are slower than wired connections and more vulnerable
to interference. It is easy to add extra computers to a radio network as no new wiring is required. Computers connected by radio can be moved around whilst remaining connected to the network.
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| Microwave
| Microwave transmission is used to connected together two different sites that belong to a WAN. For two sites to be connected by a microwave link there must be a line-of-sight
between them (you must be able to see one site from the other) and they must be within about 30 miles of each other. Operating a microwave link is cheaper than paying to use the telephone network if you have a lot of data
to send but transmissions can be affected by poor weather conditions.
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| Satellite
| Satellites provide a versatile but expensive means of transmitting data. Satellites can transmit data very quickly and (subject to a suitably located satellite) to/from anywhere in the world. A suitable satellite
dish and transceiver are required. Data transmitted by satellite is less affected by the weather than data sent by microwave as the signal travels through space rather than through the atmosphere.
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| Infra-Red
| Infra-red transmission sends data through the air as invisible light. Infra-red transmission speeds are very slow so this method is not usually used in networks. Instead it is used by hardware devices to
communicate with each other. For example a remote control communicates with a televsion using infra-red and a laptop could print to a printer by infra-red.
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