Does wireless communications have a place in today's office? I would say yes, but then have some reservations. Wireless technology has progressed from the first implementations and is useful, but like all tools, it must be used correctly.

I would first like to deal with the pros of this argument. The biggest pro and probably the only reason to consider wireless is the freedom that it gives users to move about the office. Almost all laptops come with a wireless network interface card. This card gives the laptop user freedom to take his laptop to meetings, to other offices, to hotels, and to any Wi-Fi hotspot. It also makes a good short-term network solution when someone moves his or her computer within an office and cabling is not available or you will need to wait for a new cable run.

There is an equally important con for wireless communications. That is the issue of security. When building a network infrastructure within an office, this is a controllable risk. All wireless networks should use the strongest encryption allowed by the wireless standards. The older Wireless Equivalence Privacy (WEP) standard has been shown to be a week protection. The newer Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a better choice for protection.

Travelers who use wireless access in hotels and other hot spots need to be educated about the risks of using wireless communications. The people around them may not be browsing the Internet, but mining the traveler's computer for unprotected data.

Other cons to consider when using wireless connectivity are:

1. Interference within the building - The signals will not propagate as far as the wireless radio's box indicates they will. The distances quoted are without the interference of walls and other obstructions within buildings.

2, Capacity of the Access Point - It is easy to overload an access point. If you have more users accessing the network through one radio, there may be more traffic than the access point is capable of handling. Poor signal quality for some users will only exacerbate this by adding to the traffic with retries for lost communications.

3. Wireless is slower Even with the advent of the Wireless N standard (802.11n) and its speed increase to a maximum of 248 mega bits per second (mbs), wireless is slower than wired connections. 100 mbs wired networks are the standard. The two cons above will probably slow a wireless connection to less than 100 mbs. Add to this the emergence of gigabit communications and the best wireless connection will be slow for large data transfers.

In spite of the cons of wireless, the convenience of removing a cable tether from your computer makes the technology very useful. It can be used to a company's advantage if the implementation is planned and the risks are mitigated.

Learn more about this author, Larry Wiggins.
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