WLAN stands for Wireless LAN. LAN is Local Area Network. It gives us power to connect mobile devices and PCs wirelessly. WLAN is developed by many inventors over the world and patented as IEEE 802.11 protocol. WLAN is often known as Wi-Fi, saying Wireless Fidelity.

There are currently four technologies under WLAN, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and the latest one 802.11n. 802.11 a, b and g uses carrier frequency of 2.4GHz. 802.11a can offer 54 MBPS data transmission rate and 10 feet range. 802.11b offers 11MBPS speed but extended range. 802.11g is combined protocol of a and b which gives 54MBPS speed with extended range.

With development of Gigabit Ethernet, Wireless Amateurs demanded to have more speed and range. 802.11n has new protocol which allows above 300MBPS speeds and range above 1600 feet. The technology is still developing and improving.

Many of the mobile and portable devices like Laptop Computers, Handheld PDAs, Gamin Consoles, Mobile Phones are now equipped with WLAN. It allows us to browse high speed internet, stream multimedia content, share files, play online games and many more.

WLAN is implemented in Industry, Offices, Colleges, Schools and Homes. Networking vendors like Cisco, Netgear, DLink have WLAN equipments for networking. Using such equipments it’s just a game of seconds to setup WLAN network. WLAN network, in industry is also used for Surveillance and observations. In Medical field, it helps to keep record of patient’s data wirelessly.

WLAN has made possible to have whole World in our palm, without wireless !