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sequenced for transmission the network. The term “TCP/IP” is often
used generically to refer to the entire suite of related protocols.
Transmit / Receive
The wireless throughput in Bytes per second averaged over two seconds.
Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit international association formed in 1999
to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based
on IEEE 802.11 specification. The goal of the Wi-Fi Alliance’s members is
to enhance the user experience through product interoperability. The
organization is formerly known as WECA.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
The Wi-Fi Alliance put together WPA as a data encryption method for
802.11 wireless LANs. WPA is an industry-supported, pre-standard version
of 802.11i utilizing the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP),
which fixes the problems of WEP, including using dynamic keys.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A WAN consists of multiple LANs that are tied together via telephone
services and / or fiber optic cabling. WANs may span a city, a state, a
country, or even the world.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
Now widely recognized as flawed, WEP was a data encryption method
used to protect the transmission between 802.11 wireless clients and
APs. However, it used the same key among all communicating devices.
WEP’s problems are well-known, including an insufficient key length and
no automated method for distributing the keys. WEP can be easily
cracked in a couple of hours with off-the-shelf tools.
Wireless LAN (WLAN)
A wireless LAN does not use cable to transmit signals, but rather uses
radio or infrared to transmit packets through the air. Radio Frequency
(RF) are the commonly used types of wireless transmission.
Most wireless LANs use spread spectrum technology. It offers limited
bandwidth, usually under 54Mbps, and users share the bandwidth with
other devices in the spectrum; however, users can operate a spread
spectrum device without licensing from the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC).
