Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide, Second Edition [Paperback]

Jeff Duntemann (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1932111883 | ISBN-13: 978-1932111880 | Publication Date: April 2004 | Edition: 2nd

The first edition of this book has quickly become the best-selling guide for Wi-Fi users around the world. Master technical author, Jeff Duntemann, makes tangled Wi-Fi technological issues very comprehensible. Jeff explains the blizzard of Wi-Fi concepts and standards, including the new 802.11g, the complex and fluky security issues, and shows users how to protect themselves from both obvious and non-obvious threats. He also covers the human element in the Wi-Fi movement, including hacker threats and Wi-Fi communities. Jeff's coverage of wardriving has been highly praised by many Wi-Fi experts and the top Wi-Fi Web sites. Many technical drawings clarify difficult concepts, with abundant Web pointers to further information. The book features numerous hands-on projects that can dramatically increase the performance of home and small business Wi-Fi systems. Some of the important and new topics covered in the book include:

• Money-saving Wi-Fi network design and implementation techniques
• Wi-Fi communities
• Access points and gateways
• Security and privacy
• Wireless security auditing with WarLinux and Kismet
• The art of wardriving
• How to create powerful low-cost antennas
• How to protect yourself against clever hackers

Editorial Reviews

Review

I have more than 30 books on wireless/WLAN technology. This book has now moved to the top of my list. -- Michael J. Davis, wireless LAN and cellular uber geek, April 4, 2003

From the Publisher

The first edition of this book has quickly become the best-selling guide for Wi-Fi users around the world. Master technical author, Jeff Duntemann, makes tangled Wi-Fi technological issues very comprehensible. Jeff explains the blizzard of Wi-Fi concepts and standards, including the new 802.11g, the complex and fluky security issues, and shows users how to protect themselves from both obvious and non-obvious threats. He also covers the human element in the Wi-Fi movement, including hacker threats and Wi-Fi communities. Jeff’s coverage of wardriving has been highly praised by many Wi-Fi experts and the top Wi-Fi Web sites. Many technical drawings clarify difficult concepts, with abundant Web pointers to further information. The book features numerous hands-on projects that can dramatically increase the performance of home and small business Wi-Fi systems.

This second edition has been expanded with new chapters on security and setting up a public community hotspot. New technologies like 802.11g and Wireless Protected Access (WPA) are covered in depth. Included also in this edition is coverage of wireless networking setup from Linux, wireless repeaters for extending range, new innovative antennae projects, and a complete chapter for setting up public community hotspots with the new Sputnik AP-120 centrally managed access point.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 520 pages
• Publisher: Paraglyph Press; 2nd edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932111883
• ISBN-13: 978-1932111880
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a writer, editor, technologist and contrarian living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Although I have worked as a programmer, I've been in the publishing industry (both technical magazines and books) since 1985. I co-founded Coriolis Group Books in 1989, and since 2002 have been a partner in technology publisher Paraglyph Press. Most of my book-length work has been on computer technology. (See JEFF DUNTEMANN'S WI-FI GUIDE, ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE STEP BY STEP, and DEGUNKING EMAIL, SPAM, AND VIRUSES, as well as many more titles now out of print.)

In my loose moments I'm an amateur radio operator (now K7JPD), amateur astronomer, and SF writer. My first SF novel (THE CUNNING BLOOD) was published in November 2005, but I have been selling SF stories to magazines and anthologies for 30 years, and was on the final Hugo Awards ballot in 1981. As time allows I build and fly kites and gadget-hack with Meccano/Erector parts and radio tubes. I loathe sports, politics, and cruciferous vegetables, separately and in combination.

I am a relatively liberal Old Catholic (which means I belong to a non-Papal independent Catholic jurisdiction) and read a great deal on religion and spirituality. There's more to Catholicism than Rome, though we hide well. My wife Carol and I met in high school and have been married for 35 years. We live on the side of Cheyenne Mountain with four bichon frise dogs.

There's more about me on my Web sites: contrapositivediary.com (my blog) junkbox.com (tech projects) and duntemann.com, which is a quick index to all that I've published online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy successor to the original, May 24, 2004

By 

roamer (Odenton, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide, Second Edition (Paperback)

The first edition of the WiFi Guide was considered by many in the wireless world to be the "bible' of WiFi. As hard as it may be to believe, the second edition is even better! Jeff has truly outdone himself with this version. All of the important information from the first edition is back, but this time the book is expanded to include a wealth of information the first only hinted at.

If you are interested in how wireless networks actually work as well as how to secure them (at both the hardware and software level) this book is for you. Well done Jeff.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best Wi-Fi guides
One of the best Wi-Fi guides, September 25, 2004

By 

Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide, Second Edition (Paperback)

It's a toss-up for me between this book and O'Rielly's "Wi-Fi Hacks" book. Both books have up-to-date, well written content. The Hacks books is organized more aggressively into a set form that may or may not appeal to you. This book has a more traditional topic based organization.

Topics include antenna coverage and construction, operating system information and coverage of the different types of Wi-Fi security that are available.

I recommend this book for anyone serious about building their own Wi-Fi networks. I don't recommend this book, or O'Reilly Hacks, for someone just looking for how to get their computer on a wireless network. For that I would recommend a book specific to their operating system.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The latest WiFi scene, May 5, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jeff Duntemann's Wi-Fi Guide, Second Edition (Paperback)

In 2003, Duntemann came out with the first edition of this book and it was well received. Now, scarcely a year late, he has brought forth the second edition. One could be cynical and say that a second edition is in part to trigger users of the first edition to upgrade, much as some hardware and software vendors might so. But WiFi has been growing rapidly on several fronts. It is a measure of its vitality that in the space of a year, this new edition is indeed useful.

Here are the salient recent developments, as explained by Duntemann. For starters, the IEEE 802.11g is now well defined and a slew of products has become available that support it. So much so that Duntemann recommends that you consider 802.11a products obsoleted by these, in most circumstances. Related to this, he provides an updated assessment of many types of 802.11 hardware.

A common need by some WiFi users who travel is knowledge of public hotspots. A chapter is devoted to this topic, with summaries of major networks like Boingo and T-Mobile. A field in major flux.

Every text on WiFi talks about security. Because when you use wireless, anyone in the vicinity could evesdrop. But this book is slightly unusual in the amount of attention devoted to it. Fully 5 chapters (a quarter of the book) expound on security. The level of this discussion is necessarily technical. But not forbiddingly so. Hopefully, most of you can glean something from this, if you pay attention.