Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

Figure 9-7. A PPPoE connection works very much like a dial-up connection; however, it creates a much
faster connection when active.
Making an AirPort Internet Connection
Today every computer Apple sells comes equipped with what Apple calls AirPort technology.
What Apple calls AirPort, most everybody else refers to as Wi-Fi, or more properly 802.11.
NOTE 802.11 or IEEE 802.11 is the proper name of the WLAN technology we are talking
about here. Apple calls its implementation of this standard AirPort, and an industry group has
formed outside the IEEE called the Wi-Fi Alliance that was created to help certify new incarnations
of 802.11 before the IEEE officially approves them. Either way, in the big picture,
whatever it’s called, it usually refers to the same technology.
802.11 is a point-to-point networking technology that is used to create LANs that work like
a traditional wired network without the wires. These are commonly referred to as wireless LANs
(WLANs).
802.11 networks handle the network configuration in the same manner as wired networks;
in fact, almost all 802.11 networks use DHCP to make this configuration automatic. The tricky
part comes during the process of joining or connecting to the WLAN to begin with. This is
because there are a number of different types of 802.11 networks; also, there are a number of
types of security schemes available to limit who can join an 802.11 network and to encrypt the
network data once the connection is made.
Types of Wi-Fi Networks
Currently, four common variations of 802.11 networks are in use today:
CHAPTER 9 CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET 167
802.11b: This was what the original AirPort technology was based on and also what most
people associate with Wi-Fi. It provides reasonably fast transfer speeds over a reasonably
large area. It operates in the 2.4 to 2.5 GHz radio frequency range.