How do wireless networks work?
In general, Networking will install a wired connection from the campus network to a “wireless bridge”. This bridge does just what the name implies in that it bridges the wired network with the wireless one. Each bridge has an antenna that is used to communicate with “wireless network interface cards” or “wireless cards” for short. These cards will be able to communicate with the bridge within a varying radius of the bridge. How fast and how far away from the bridge the wireless card will operate is dependent upon many factors including the physical construction of the building, antenna placement, and outside interferences. The wireless cards compete with the other wireless cards for the bandwidth back to the wireless bridge. If too many cards are present, the system degrades significantly and poor service is delivered to the laptop. To avoid this problem, we plan on each wireless bridge being able to support around 24 wireless cards. If there are more cards than 24, another bridge must
