By Erika D. Smith, Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jul. 28--Finding an office you like? That's easy. Decorating it? A piece of cake. But building a computer network to connect it? Now that's a bit more difficult.
There's jargon to understand -- 802.11 and LAN. And there's hardware to select -- servers and routers. But before you get started, there's one major decision you need to make: wired or wireless?
For years, most businesses took the wired route. Employees did their work tied to computers that, in turn, were tied to the wall. Cables were the only connection they had to the company's server and the Internet. But a revolution is brewing. Breakthroughs in wireless technology -- not to mention a significant drop in price -- are winning business owners over left and right. These days, it's all about Wi-Fi.
"Wi-Fi is taking off and we're not going to fight back," said Jim Nice, special projects coordinator for wireless service provider SkyLAN Ltd.
Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity and a euphemism for the 802.11 wireless standard, radiates an Internet or network connection that multiple computers can share at very fast speeds. Because
it uses unlicensed radio fre...uencies, a Wi-Fi network is easy and inexpensive to operate. With a $70 wireless router and an $50 wireless network card for a laptop computer, you can turn a wired broadband connection into a wireless cloud, or tiny hot spot, of Internet access. Or you could create a wireless local area network (LAN), allowing your employees to access what was a wired network from anywhere in your office.
Wi-Fi is particularly cost-effective for home offices and small businesses, although independent, carrier-class providers such as SkyLAN sell it to large companies, too.
"Wireless is a great option for new" businesses, Nice said. "The cost is initially the same." Once you choose to go wireless, the next task is to wade through the host companies that offer the service.
The price tag often depends on what you want. Will the wireless network cover two computers or 30? Is speed a big re...uirement? Is the office 20,000 or 50,000 s...uare feet?
Time Warner Cable's Bill Jasso said the company asks every business owner those ...uestions before installing Wireless Road Runner and setting a price. "It depends on if they want to use our e-mail client or their own, they want one facility or several, or if they want a VPN (virtual private network) or straight-up Internet access," the vice president of public affairs said.
For a business with about 10 computers, Wireless Road Runner would cost about $69.95 a month. That is the cheapest package Time Warner sells, Jasso said, and it basically is "residential speed with a few business extras."
Corporate-class wireless service has been around for a few years, but Time Warner just started selling the service to residential customers. That could work well for entrepreneurs who want to start a wireless network in their home office. Residential Wireless Road Runner costs $59.99 a month, with a $79.95 installation fee for as many as three computers. (Wired Road Runner is $44.95 a month with digital cable.)
The Wi-Fi service is basically something you can do yourself by buying a wireless router and hooking it up to a Road Runner cable modem. Time Warner's service contract doesn't forbid anyone from using his own router, but Jasso said the person will be charged for using additional bandwidth if Time Warner finds out.
"We would like them to notify us, but we are aware of the level of usage (or bandwidth)," he said.
The more computers being used on a home wireless network, the more bandwidth they take up. Jasso said that could tip off Time Warner that a customer is "no longer using Road Runner for residential purposes." But he is confident most residential customers will pick Time Warner's professional installation over do-it-yourself. "Most residential clients are scared to death to open up their computer and install anything but software," he said. Plus, he said, customers don't have to worry about hardware hang-ups. "It's not like if you go to Best Buy and you get it (router) home and it doesn't work. Then what do you do?"
For bigger businesses, or even smaller ones with more money, wireless providers like SkyLAN may be a better option.
The Canton company has a direct connection to the "Internet backbone," or nerve center of the Web. SkyLAN's wireless network is completely independent, and it has its own subscription service -- like AOL in the wired world -- that clients use.
SkyLAN also sets up VPNs, which let employees log onto a company's interoffice network via any Wi-Fi connection. This could come in handy if you have employees who are constantly on the move and rely on laptop computers to stay connected.
Unlike Road Runner, SkyLAN's Wi-Fi signals are synchronous, meaning download and upload speeds are the same. This is important for larger businesses that have a lot of simultaneous users, Nice said.
"We (SkyLAN) still perceive DSL and cable systems as primarily for entertainment," he said.
Still, Nice said, Wi-Fi of any type is a "great option" for new businesses.
"You don't even have to pull a cable," he said. "The cost is initially about the same." Although Nice said it's difficult to cite specific prices for SkyLAN's services, he said the company is competitive with the cost of wired networks. "If price is their only concern, then we're probably not for them," he said.
Amos Data Systems Inc. provides another option for wireless seekers.
The Akron company installs wired and wireless networks for businesses, but it does not have its own Internet service.
Gary L. Amos, the company's chief, said Wi-Fi is one of the best choices a mobile business can make because it's simple and inexpensive. In fact, it's so cheap that Amos Data Systems set up a wireless hot spot at Coco's Coffee Bar next door that anyone can access for free.
"For people who travel, this kind of thing is just fabulous," Amos said while checking his e-mail on a wireless laptop.
Entrepreneurs should know a wired network can be faster than a wireless one if a lot of computers must be used simultaneously. That's why many companies use a combination of both.
"It's probably not desirable for a very large network to have all wireless (access)," Amos said.
Security also can be a concern if fire walls and encryption programs aren't installed. "If you don't set up any security, anybody can come along and access it," he said. "But you can make it fairly secure. ...It's secure enough that it's generally accepted for business use."
To see more of the Akron Beacon Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ohio.com/bj
(c) 2003, Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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