When the idea was first presented, it seemed too good to be true. And, as it turns out, it definitely was.

Hooking up to the Internet through satellite connections or other point-to-point transmissions was subject to all sorts of things that would cause a lost connection. Even a breezy day, cloud cover or gentle rain meant an interruption in service.

On top of that, it turned out that many wireless options were one-way only. In other words, you could download all you want, but in order to upload information, you needed a second connection, usually over a phone line.

This doesn\\\'t sound so bad until you realize that every time you browse from one Web page to another, it requires a bit of information to be uploaded so whatever site it is you are trying to view knows what information to deliver to your computer.

Today, things have gotten a lot better. Satellite connections can transmit in both directions and are often packaged with your satellite TV subscriptions.

While there is a substantial equipment investment up front, the main advantage is the ability to get broadband connection speeds and pricing outside of the area that traditional broadband, such as cable and DSL, is normally available.

In addition to satellite, point-to-point radio transmission of data is also becoming more reliable. The downside is the requirement to install a radio antenna on top of your building, the necessity of maintaining a direct line of sight from your antenna to your provider\\\'s antenna and you still are at the whims of Mother Nature. One good dust storm is still enough to interfere with the line of site and hinder your transmission.

In addition to these methods of connecting to the Internet, wireless has also opened possibilities for home and office networking. Simply put, networking refers to connecting multiple computers in order to share common resources, including files, Internet connections or other peripherals like a network printer that could be used by many different machines.

In the past, this kind of set up would require wiring all the machines and peripherals together using specific network cables. This can be very difficult to do, especially if you are concerned with the aesthetics of having exposed wires running all over your home or office.

But today, with technology growing faster and faster and prices dropping lower and lower, wireless networking has become a realistic, affordable option.

It starts with your Internet connection. For example, if you have a cable modem you would connect that directly to your wireless router using one simple connection. After that, all you need is a wireless card for each computer you would like to connect to your network.

These are available for laptop and desktop computers and allow you to move these machines anywhere you like free of network cables.