Wireless Internet Card

These days the word tech savvy has almost become omnipresent. I mean for a few of us being called just 'tech savvy' is an understatement with number of gadgets and mobile communication methods people own. iPod, Blackberry, iTouch, god knows what else. I need not mention netbooks, palm tops and the like. As a typical connection with wires will be cumbersome for laptops and netbooks, a wireless Internet card is used for Internet connection. It is also termed as Wireless Network Interface Controller (WNIC) and is used as a part of wireless Internet set up for desktops and laptops. These cards are similar to modems when it comes to the purpose they fulfill. The text to follow will elaborate explain all about wireless Internet card.

What and How of a Wireless Internet Card

These cards let the computers to access wireless routers on various channels having varying speeds depending on the type of the card. There are several types of wireless Internet cards available in the market these days for wireless Internet access.

Type #1
The most easiest and common type of Wireless Internet card is the external wireless card. It almost looks like a pen drive or any other USB and is as simple to use as that. When you are looking at wireless Internet cards for laptops, this rules the roost. What happens is that laptops since sometime now have built in wireless Internet card. But their capacity and coverage could be limited. Hence, instead of removing the already existing old card, you can always buy this external card. Not only will it extend the wireless coverage of your laptop or netbook, it will also spare you the hassle of getting rid of the old card. PCI cards express cards and USB cards fall in this category.

Type #2
There are wireless routers or access points used for wireless Internet connection as well. These get the Internet connection through wires which is translated in binary form and then into radio waves. Now these radio waves are transmitted in the areas where there is a wireless card and that card catches the signals and translates them for the computer. Then it sends the computer data back. There are Wi-Fi antennas for this purpose in a laptop.

Type #3
This type of a wireless Internet card though could have limited coverage, are quite useful. These are wireless Internet cards available with cell phone network providers. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and the like provide such cards on a pre-paid basis. These cards permit the computer or laptop user to access the network of the wireless mobile hotspots of the company. These hotspots are nothing but what are provided by these companies to their customers for wireless Internet access to the phones. Setting up wireless network is not that tough with these card for help.

Wireless wide area network is a new technology which has come up related to a wireless Internet card. Here, by buying a monthly plan, signing a contract and then buying the wireless Internet air card of the company, you can get Internet access wherever there is a phone service, provided by the company of course.

When it comes to a wireless Internet card for desktop, the Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI is the device for wireless Internet connectivity. PCI card is the channel through which the desktop gets the access to the Internet in conjunction with the PCI adapter which connects to the computer on the computer's bus. How does a Wi-Fi work needs to be researched well to understand the workings of a wireless Internet connection.

Finally, there are a number of wireless Internet card plans available for desktops as well as laptops. You can get spoiled for choice or confused. Get to know the home network frequency and your device capacity before you settle for a wireless Internet card. Lastly, never forget to check the frequency range the card operates in. For instance, a card working on multiple frequencies is a dual band card. That's it! This is where I end my treatise on wireless Internet card! Good Luck!