Top Ten Sources for More Information

In This Chapter

Shopping on CNET

Blogging for 802.11

Practically (wireless) networking

Surfing the vendor sites
We’ve tried hard in this book to capture all that’s happening with wireless
networks in the home. However, we can’t cover everything in one
book, and so, in fairness to other publications, we’re leaving some things for
them to talk about on their Web sites and in their print publications. (Nice of
us, isn’t it?)
We want to keep you informed of the latest changes to what’s in this book. So
we encourage you to check out the Wireless Home Networking For Dummies
update site at www.dummies.com/extras — where you can find updates and
new information.
Here’s a listing of those publications that we read regularly (and therefore
recommend unabashedly) and which you should get your hands on as part of
your home wireless networking project. Many of these sources provide up-todate
performance information, which can be critical when making a decision
about which equipment to buy and what standards to pursue.
The Web sites mentioned also have a ton of information online, but you might
have to try different search keywords to find what you’re looking for. Some
publications like to use the term Wi-Fi, for instance, while others use 802.11.
If you don’t get hits on certain terms when you’re searching around, try other
ones that you know. It’s rare to come up empty on a search about wireless
networking these days. All sites listed here are free.
CNET.com
CNET.com (www.cnet.com) is a simple-to-use, free Web site where you can do
apples-to-apples comparisons of wireless equipment. You can count on finding
pictures of what you’re buying, editor ratings of the equipment, user ratings
of the gear, reviews of most devices, and a listing of the places on the
Web where you can buy it all — along with the actual pricing. What’s great
about CNET is that it covers the wireless networking aspect of Wi-Fi as well
as the consumer goods portion of Wi-Fi (such as home theater, A/V gear,
phones, and so on). You can count on being able to find all sorts of products
and ideas in one place. It’s your one-stop resource for evaluating your future
home wireless purchases.
What we especially like is the ability to do a side-by-side comparison so that
we can see who’s got which features. You can go to the Wi-Fi portion of the
site and see available gear from major manufacturers. By clicking the boxes
next to each name, you can select that gear for comparison shopping. You
can also filter the results by price, features, support, and so on at the bottom
of the page. Then just click Compare to receive a results page.
Overall, this is a solid site that we often visit before buying anything.
802.11 Planet
802.11 Planet (www.80211planet.com) is a great resource for keeping up
with industry news as well as getting reviews of access points, client devices,
security tools, and software. Look for the tutorial section where you can find
articles such as Understanding Internal 802.11 Card Form Factors and
Extending WLAN Range with Repeaters.
One of the great parts of 802.11 Planet is its forum where you can ask questions
to the collective readership and get answers. (You can ask a question,
and the system will e-mail you with any responses — very nice.) The forum
has sections on General, Security, Troubleshooting, Interoperability and
Standards, Hardware, and Applications. The discussions are tolerant of beginners
but can get quite sophisticated in their responses. All in all, this is a
great site for info.