Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks [Paperback]

Jim Aspinwall (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071410708 | ISBN-13: 978-0071410700 | Publication Date: March 24, 2003 | Edition: 1

Worldwide sales of Wi-Fi equipment shot up 120 per cent to $1.78 billion last year. An industry analyst estimates that sales will grow to $5.21 billion by 2005. While many people will experience wireless networking at home or at the office, someone will have to implement and maintain these systems. This book is for that person. In addition, the promise of "Internet everywhere" has become ubiquitous. Before that can really happen, the world needs knowledgeable people to build and support reliable infrastructures. Just how the Internet gets "everywhere" is what this book is all about. Consumers of the growing wireless market need to know as much about wireless as they did their PC hardware and software. This is the resource for them.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

CD-ROM packed with diagnostic and troubleshooting software!

PRACTICAL, AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE ON KEEPING A WIRELESS NETWORK WORKING HARD FOR YOUR BUSINESS!

With annual equipment sales projected to grow to more than $5 billion by mid-decade, wireless networking is clearly a technology whose time has come. But with many wireless networks expected to be created at both small offices and home offices, where can people charged with maintaining them get comprehensive information to help them do just that? The answer is McGraw-Hill’s Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks.

Written with insight by a noted IT expert and commentator, this book provides comprehensive coverage of this rapidly emerging technology, and in the process:

* Introduces all wireless components, both “off-the-shelf” and subscriber products
* Covers WiFi technologies as 802.11a and b
* Includes all scales of wireless networks, from home to office, cafes and campuses, airports and hotels, to MANs, and describes what’s best for different needs
* Shows how to integrate wired and wireless LANs
* Discusses the benefits and pitfalls of wireless technologies
* Advises how to set up and maintain security features
* And much, much more!

Basic enough for the hobbyist — and yet still detailed enough for the IT professional — Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks is the essential survival guide for keeping a wireless network up and running.

About the Author

Jim Aspinwall has been the Windows Helpdesk columnist and feature editor for CNET.COM and author of three books on PC maintenance. He has worked for a variety of computer software and support companies and is currently providing PC support and web consulting services. A resident of Campbell, California, Jim is also an amateur radio operator and an OSHA certified tower climber, maintaining radio transmission sites in Northern California. You may send him e-mail via [e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 1 edition (March 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071410708
• ISBN-13: 978-0071410700
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,279,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A lovely wife, 4 step-kids, 3 grandkids, two dogs, a cat, two donkeys.

Once called the "Jeff Foxworthy of tech..."

Nearly every power and electronics tool imaginable - of course no room in the garage for any of it. More PC chassis than an electronics store and enough parts to rebuild them all twice. Enough ham radio gear to support a hurricane or earthquake disaster, and license to use it all.

Just wait until you see what I'm writing next...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too introductory to be really useful, October 2, 2003

By 

Keith Tokash "twigles" (Laguna Niguel, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Installing, Troubleshooting, and Repairing Wireless Networks (Paperback)

I hate to give this book 2 stars because while reading it I really got the impression that the author was a good guy. Unfortunately I got that impression because he blabs a lot. This book is 300 pages long (not including index/appendices) and honestly could have been done in 90 pages. At first it was nice since I spend so much time reading really difficult books but after awhile I realized that I had read 30 pages and not really gotten anything out of it aside from some anecdotes and a couple tips.

The configuration chapters could almost be replaced with the vendors documentation and some common sense. I say almost because most vendors don't really explain how to set up WEP or the ramifications of SSID broadcasts etcetera.

The security chapter in this book is 9 pages long! Doing a little math...hmmm, 3% of the book. Considering the security implications of going wireless this is ... bad. To be fair he does throw security warnings all throughout the book, but repeating the same general warnings a bunch of times doesn't help.

He also manages to complain about the difficulties of Linux/Unix for about 2 straight pages at one point. He's a Windows guy, fine, I get it. But it's pretty unprofessional to trashtalk in a book. It's also a bit worriesome that the guy we are looking to for technical expertise is so obviously frustrated with something that 14 year olds routinely use.

So who would I recommend this book to? Someone who basically knows how to use Windows to check email but not much else. If you know anything about networking or *nix I wouldn't bother.