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Wi-Fi Wireless Networking

This page contains information on wireless networking, especially for mobile phones and handheld devices.

What is Wi-fi?

Wi-fi is wireless networking - the ability to connect to a network or PC using radio (as opposed to network cabling). It's faster and has a greater range than Bluetooth, and is ideal for home or office connectivity. Using a wi-fi setup with your PDA or laptop means that you can share a broadband or dialup Internet connection, swap files, or share a printer or CD ROM between computer users.

Wi-fi comes in two speeds: 802.11b (data transfer rates up to 11 megabits per second) or the newer to 54 mbps, 802.11g (data transfer rates up to 54 megabits per second). This compares with Bluetooth's much slower speed of 0.57 megabits per second. There's a newer standard, 802.11n due in 2007 that offers even faster connectivity.
Devices based on the 802.11g standard are backwards compatible with 802.11b equipment, may be a better investment.

Wifi 802.11b/g operates in the 2.4GHz frequency band (also used by Bluetooth and microwave ovens), and has a typical range of around 500 feet (with clear line of sight). Indoors, you can expect around 150 feet with 802.11 - this will increase with the 802.11n protocol.

Getting the kit

Here's a summary of wi-fi hardware types:

	Wireless Network Access Point Allow machines to connect onto a network to share resources such as a Broadband Internet connection and a printer. If looking for an access point, try: PC World - Take a look in "Upgrades", "Network" to see what's on offer BT Shop - A good range of top products Dabs.com- Good for network accessories Amazon - Always a good choice for reliable delivery at good prices Aug 06: BT is currently offering a free wi-fi router, the BT Home Hub, on selected broadband packages
	Wireless USB Dongles These little adapters plug into a spare USB port on your PC and add wi-fi functionality, at a reasonable price. Pictured here is a USB wi-fi adapter from BT, the BT Voyager 1055, that supports 802.11g USB2.0 with 128bit WEP. If you're not up on the acronyms - this means it supports high-security, and is fast. It's also only around £25. If you're looking for a USB wi-fi dongle, try: BT Shop - See their Home Networking section PC World - Take a look in "Upgrades", "Network" to see what's on offer Dabs.com - Good for network accessories. Amazon - Always a good choice for reliable delivery at good prices
	Laptop Wi-fi cards These are PCMCIA cards that slide into a special slot on many laptops, adding wi-fi connectivity to laptops. If looking for a card, try: Argos online - At the time of writing, they're offering a Belkin Wi-fi PCMCIA card for £20 (Cat 676/6623) PC World - Take a look in their wireless networking section BT Shop - See their Home Networking section Dabs.com - Good for network accessories. T-Mobile Web 'n' Walk - For the ultimate in flexibility - these support 3G and GPRS, so you're not restricted to wi-fi
	Wireless PCI Network Card Network card that plugs into a PCI slot on your computer's motherboard. Also available as PCMCIA cards for use in laptops. Pictured here is a Belkin 802.11g Wireless Desktop Network Card, for a little over £40 from PC World. Ideal for connecting a PC to an existing wireless network, or to allow a PDA or laptop to connect to your PC to share files or an Internet connection. If looking for a card, try: PC World - Take a look in "Upgrades", "Network" to see what's on offer eBay.co.uk - bid for new cards at low prices! Amazon - Always a good choice for reliable delivery at good prices
	Connectivity cards If you have a laptop or a Pocket PC, look for an 802.11 wireless cards for your device. This could be a CF card (pictured) or an SD card, or a PCMCIA card for a laptop. If looking for a card, try: PC World - Take a look in "Upgrades", "Network" to see what's on offer Dabs.com- Good for network accessories. eBay.co.uk - bid for new cards at low prices!
	The BT Home Hub It's part of BT's long-term plan to get one of these boxes into every home. It's essentially a wi-fi router that is used for your broadband, home phone, voice-over-Internet, and soon, TV and wireless home security. Supplied free with all Broadband packages from BT, except the basic Option 1 plan. Pictured here with the optional BT Hub DECT phone. More details: bt.com/btbroadband Review: FrequencyCast Home Hub Help & Advice: Hub Help
	Mobiles & Handheld computers There are a number of Mobile Phones and PDAs that have built-in Wi-fi. Three of our favourites are the Nokia N95, the o2 XDA Orbit and the Apple iPhone. You can get Windows Mobile devices from: Dixons - High street favourites Dabs.com- Online store
	Wi-fi phones Get cheaper voice calls by using a wi-fi phone to route your phone calls over the Internet. Pictured here is the Vonage Wi-fi phone More details at www.vonage.co.uk or on our Vonage page

We recommend Dabs.com as suppliers of wi-fi and Bluetooth hardware

We featured Wi-fi in Show 5 of our Frequencycast podcast. Details.

Case study: Enabling your house for broadband wi-fi

Example: A household has a PC, laptop and a Pocket PC. The house has a broadband connection, and all three devices want to connect wirelessly.

There are several different ways of enabling a house or small office for wi-fi, but we'll concentrate on one of the more common options. Also, as they're such a range of wireless devices out there, we can't hope to offer a walkthrough for every situation, so we're keeping it general:

In a basic 'wired' setup, a PC is connected to broadband via a USB modem. For the setup we're going to cover in this example, you'll need a wireless router combined with a broadband ADSL modem. You'll need to replace the existing broadband modem with a wireless network access router. Most wireless routers have one or more ethernet connectors, allowing a direct cable connection to the PC. If you're looking for a wireless router, take a look at one of the BT Voyager range, or if you're with www.bt.com/btbroadband/, consider a Home Hub, which is a wireless broadband router.
You will need to connect the router to your phone socket (for broadband), and then establish a connection between the router and the PC - you will need a PCI or USB ethernet adapter for this (available from the likes of PC World and Dabs.com).
Once connected, you can then use your PC to connect to the router and set up access to the Internet and the other wireless devices
If the laptop or PDA have built-in wi-fi, then setup should be straightforward, otherwise you may need to get a connectivity card. Once the mobile device is wi-fi enabled, it's a case of setting up the device to connect to the Internet via the router

If you're looking for more guidance, ask in our Wi-fi forum - it'll help us to get this page updated too...

Update Aug 2006: BT offering free wi-fi router, in the form of the BT Home Hub on selected broadband packages - see www.bt.com/btbroadband/

Connecting to a Pocket PC (Windows 2002 software)

The following section details how to connect a Pocket PC to a PC, and use the connection to surf the Internet from the Pocket PC via the PC's modem. In this case, we're using a Pocket Loox 600 (With Pocket PC 2002 software), a Netgear MA701 wireless CF card, connected to a PC that's using a Belkin 54g Wireless Desktop Network Card. Onward connection to the Internet is via a broadband USB modem

Install the Wi-fi card drivers on the Pocket PC
Insert the Wi-fi CF card
Go to Start | Settings | Connections | Network adapters. Select your wifi card, and press Properties
For most cases, it should be OK to work with "Use server-assigned IP address", unless you have set your PC use specific IP addresses, or have a more complex setup (in which as you'll have to enter the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway that your PC network card is using). To find out information about your PC's IP configuration, go to Start, Run, type in "cmd" and press Enter. You'll be at a DOS prompt (black background). Type in "ipconfig" and press Enter.

Press OK, and OK again to close the Network Adapters dialog
Now go to Start | Settings | Connections | Connections and change the "My network connects to:" option to "The Internet".

Press OK, and OK again to close the Network Adapters dialog

The remaining steps require you to use the application that is installed on the Pocket PC when you installed the software supplied with your wireless network card. We're using a Netgear MA701 802.11b Wireless CF card, and the MA701 Config Utility (version 2.1.0). Steps may differ depending on your card and config application

Open the WiFi utility. For the MA701, this is in Start | Settings | System
Move to the "AP Browser" tab, and scan for wireless networks in your area. When you find the one you want, select "Join"

Scanning for Wifi

Using a secure connection is always recommended, and assuming the PC you're talking to is also secure, then you'll need to enter an Encryption key. If joining, you'll be taken to the Security screen, otherwise, scroll to the Security tab.
You'll need to select a WEP encryption method. Select the method that is being used by the PC. Note that standard security uses a 64-bit encryption key. You'll need to enter the WEP key that's being used on the PC (the keys must match, so if you don't know the key, you can't get in. For more on WEP keys, see the FAQ below. Assuming a 64-bit key, select a "Key type" of HEX, and for "Key ID: Key 1", in the Key box, type this in (e.g. "4C72F08AE2"). When complete, press "Apply"

Entering a WEP key

That should be enough to get you going. The status tab should provide a confirmation that you're connected, as should the light on the top of the CF card. Now try going to Internet Explorer on the Pocket PC, and try surfing!

Connecting to a Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 2003 software)

Things get considerably easier if your Pocket PC is running the Windows Mobile operating system. In 2003, Microsoft introduced "Zero Configuration Wi-Fi", which makes setup a doddle. You don't need to do much in the way of setting up the Wi-Fi hardware, as when you're in range of an 802.11 network, a box pops up and asks you if you want to connect. You may then be prompted for the WEP key.

Zero-config Wi-fi
Pocket PC 2003 WEP key

Problems connecting

If you're having problems, try the following:

Some general things to check
Disable Security	Try disabling security (WEP) at both ends, at least until you can establish an unsecure connection. As soon as you get the connection working, remember to re-enable WEP, for security purposes. On the PC, this can be set from Control panel \| Network connection \| <wifi card icon> \| Wireless Network tab \| Properties. Remember to re-enable WEP for a secure connection.
Check your Firewall	Temporarily turn off any firewalls you may have to see if that solves things. On our test network, we had a copy of Norton Security's firewall, and although we'd configured the firewall to allow our PC to connect to the Internet, the firewall saw the attempt by the Pocket PC to connect to the PC as an intrusion and blocked it. The workaround for Norton Personal Firewall is to allow the IP address of the Pocket PC through (Personal Firewall \| Configure button \| Networking tab \| Add trusted \| IP address). Remember that turning off your firewall presents a risk of others accessing your system.
Check your mode	Check that both ends are using the same mode: Ad-hoc (two computers) or Infrastructure (larger network, or access point)
Some specific PC things to try
Workgroup name	If connecting between PC and PC: Make sure both computers have the same network name (See 'My Computer \| Properties \| Computer name \| Workgroup)
SSID	Make sure that both ends of a connection have the same SSID (network name). On the PC, this can be set from Control panel \| Network connection \| <wifi card icon> \| Wireless Network tab \| Properties.
IP address problem	If you've tried all of the above, chances are, there's a problem with the IP address, subnet mask or default gateway addresses at one end of the other. Check these settings carefully. On the PC, this can be set from Control panel \| Network connection \| <wifi card icon> \| Properties \| TCP/IP \| Properties.
Some specific Pocket PC / Windows Mobile things to try
Unable to surf?	Seeing the message "The page you are looking for cannot be found"? If you find that you're able to establish a connection to your PC or router, but can't surf, then there are a couple of things to try: Firstly, try disabling the firewall and WEP security (see above) on the PC, then disabling WEP on your Pocket PC. To disable WEP on a Pocket PC, go to Start > Settings > Connection > Network Card > [yourwifidevice] > Network Key > Data encryption. If not, then it could well be that there's a problem with your IP address, gateway or DNS addresses. These are controlled from the Start > Settings > Connection > Network Card > [yourwifidevice]. If your network router uses a service called DHCP, an IP address and subnet mask can be automatically assigned to your device. If not (or if in doubt), then you need to enter an IP address (in the range supported by your router), the subnet mask used by your router, and the IP address of the router itself (the router software should display that information. You also may need to check the DNS address - Websites have an IP address and web browsers use a DNS (Domain Name Server) to convert from a web address to the IP address. It could be that your Pocket PC can't find a DNS server, so is failing to look up pages correctly. On the 'Name Servers' tab, enter the primary and secondary DNS server addresses of your Internet Service Provider (see their support website). The iPAQ rx3715 has a useful diagnostic tool that can help ... Start > Settings > System > Self test > Wi-fi . You can use this to test whether you have connectivity to the Internet, and let you "ping" a website, to see if you can make a connection.

If you need more help, try asking in our forum

Frequently-asked questions:

I don't know my WEP key!	Both ends of a secure WiFi connection need to use exactly the same WEP key. If connecting via work, ask your administrator. In a home setup, go to the PC wifi utility and the Pocket PC wifi utility, and enter the same key
What's a WEP key?	The standard security used for wireless networking involves having a 64-bit WEP key. In fact this is only 40-bits, and is normally expressed as a ten digit hexadecimal key. (Hexadecimal is the number range 0-9 and A-F). An example of a suitable WEP key would be: 4C72F08AE1
What's an SSID?	Standing for Service Set Identification, this is a string that a wi-fi network identifies the network as - a name that can use used to identify which network you're logged on to. For machines to connect, they must have the same SSID
What's the difference between Ad-hoc and Infrastructure?	Two computers talking to each other can form an Ad-hoc network (also known as Peer-to-Peer networking). This doesn't need anything complicated like a router, gateway or network access point. Where using a more formal network connecting to multiple machines, it's likely to be Infrastructure.
Wi-fi Webcams	You already know what a webcam can do for you... but what about a wi-fi camera? Having a camera without wires allows you to position a webcam in a load more places, and means that you're not required to keep your PC powered. This opens up a range of options, such as: wireless security camera, the ability to keep an eye on your pet while you're at work, a door-entry camera, time-lapse photography, or covert monitoring. These are now available for under £100 More details on our Wi-fi Webcam page
Wi-fi radio	If you're looking for a wider choice of radio, consider a wi-fi radio - these can pick up stations from around the world... stations that have made their services available as a stream over the Internet. There's thousands of stations available. If the idea of a huge radio choice appeals, you may wish to take a look at the BT Internet Radio, priced around £120. It uses Wi-fi to access streaming radio stations from around the world, and supports Real Audio and Windows Media formats. This makes use of an existing Wi-fi network to access the world's Internet stations without relying on a USB dongle connected to a PC. You also don't need to have your PC switched on. BT's Internet Radio is available from BT Shop. As an alternative, there's also the Acoustic Energy Wi-Fi Internet Radio, which is available from Play for £150.
Nabaztag Wi-fi Bunny	Here's something that you're about to hear LOTS about - the wi-fi enabled Nabaztag desktop bunny - Uses wifi to get new messages, download news and weather, play MP3 and waggle it's little ears at you. They're available from Firebox and Pixmania.co.uk. More on our Nabaztag page
Control and watch TV over wi-fi	Something wifi-related for TV addicts - In June 2006, the Slingbox became available in the UK - this connects into your TV system and your wi-fi network, so that you can watch TV from elsewhere over the Internet (at work, while travelling, etc). If you have a PVR (such as Sky+), you can take remote control and set your recorder while you're out. Clever stuff. Available from Dixons and AdvancedMP3players. More on Radioandtelly's Slingbox page
Wi-fi range	Wi-fi 802.11 has a typical range of around 140 meters (outdoors, with clear line of site). Indoors, you can expect around 38 meters with 802.11b/g - this will be less with each wall/floor the signal passes through. This will increase with the 802.11n protocol. Wi-fi devices with a decent, directional aerial can obviously get a better distance than PDAs and USB sticks that don't have a decent aerial. If you can't get the range you need, get a wi-fi range extender. We've found two at Maplin, the Network Range extender and the Wireless G extender. These can be placed around your home or office to fill in dead spots or to extend range. You can also try Dabs.com for wireless network extenders.
Are WiFi and Bluetooth compatible?	Bluetooth and WiFi are both radio technologies, but they differ in the frequencies and protocols that they use. They don't interfere with each other, but the two don't talk to each other either - in other words you can't get a device with Bluetooth to communicate to a device that only supports WiFi.

Featured product: The Tritium Flatenna

If you're looking to extend the range of your wireless network, you could splash out on some booster hardware or powered aerials, but you may find a simpler and cheaper solution - the Flatenna. This rather novel product is a reflector that slots over the top of your wireless access point aerial, and allows you to focus the wi-fi signal to target another piece of wi-fi equipment.
Tritium's site boasts that the product offers a 7db increase, and in our tests using a Belkin wireless router connecting to a Pocket PC with a Netgear wi-fi card, we did indeed see a signal increase (between 12% and 34% depending on the location we moved to). We also saw an increase of range as long as we stayed within the target direction. Line-of-sight with no objects

The Flatenna is supplied 'flatpacked' with instructions, and it was easy to put together. The Flatenna, from UK firm Tritium, is 280 x 90mm when constructed, and is available for £6.99 from www.tritium.co.uk