Many wireless LAN equipment vendors aren't household names, but there are plenty of big players. WLANs are made up of radio receivers and transmitters attached to computers and points along a conventional Ethernet or token-ring network. Because data can move over the radio signals, mobile computer users can move about freely and wirelessly within a building. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers selected the 2.4-GHz spectrum for the new IEEE 802.11 standard governing WLAN products. The main components of WLANs are wireless adapters and wireless access points.
Wireless adapters are small radio transceivers and antennae.
They replace standard network interface cards in client computers. Wireless access points are specialized radio transmitters and receivers used to connect mobile users with the wired LAN infrastructure. Models for Ethernet, token-ring and LocalTalk backbones are available. Wireless adapters and wireless access points are typically used to establish a WLAN within a building and provide a communications range between 100 and 800 feet, depending on the frequency used, building configuration, and electrical or magnetic interference. Wireless bridges operating on the same radio frequency spectrum as most WLANs are used to connect LANs together, often in different buildings.