Tim Higgins thinks you can understand the basics of WLANs in a quarter of an hour. After his keynote, you believe him.

Tim Higgins knows networking and he's also a very concise speaker. While others tend to make their points with elaborate Powerpoint presentations and pretty graphics, Higgins is a nuts and bolts guy who makes an effort to tell it like it is. His session was an "in a nutshell" guide to networking. While you might want to take more than 15 minutes to research your networking needs and implementation, Tim provided an unparalleled overview. According to Higgins, the Wireless Networking Driving Forces are ubiquitous computing, deployment flexibility, wired LAN extension and the fact that it's just plain cool. However, many of the obstacles to wireless networking include things that scare the heck out of many thinking of installing such a system. These include security, range and power consumption. Here, he provides the Three Rules of Wireless Networking:

Rule #1: It never goes as fast as they say it does; Rule #2: It never goes as far as they say it does; Rule #3: It never sets up as easily as they say it does.

He also provides to appendices augment the first three:

Rule #1A: Take the manufacturer's Mbps number and divide by two; Rule #1B: Don't select equipment based on "Turbo" or "enhanced" mode specs.

Tim suggests that you look first at the importance of throughput. His first case is that sometimes throughput really doesn't matter. Here, you have a situation where you only have one to two wireless clients, occasional file and print sharing and the network used mostly for Internet web browsing, email and instant messaging.

Case two is where throughput is somewhat important. Here, you have three to four wireless clients, occasional large Internet downloads, light local network file and print sharing, one or two Internet audio streams and one video stream. The third case is where throughput is very important and you have more than four wireless clients, frequent large Internet file downloads, heavy local network file and print sharing activity, more than one video stream and more than two simultaneous audio streams.

The solutions to increasing throughput, Tim says are to add access points (segment the network) and use a higher speed standard. Range problems, on the other hand, can be caused by a number of factors, including poor access point location, building construction, RF Interference and inferior equipment. Increasing range, Higgins says, is not as hard as it sounds. Here are his suggestions:

Move Stuff Around; Upgrade Antennas; Use more Powerful APs and Clients; Add Aps; Repeating.

LAN extension (bridging) can also help speed your wireless network but presents some pros and cons. While it can be easier than running cable, long distances require line-of-sight and you may need high dollar equipment for high reliability. Here's Tim's wireless network purchasing checklist:

Upgradeable antennas; Power over Ethernet (802.3af complaint); Robust, flexible management; Dual-band, tri-mode capable; WDS-based bridging, repeating.

He also mentions that there are quality alternatives to Cisco products that can give you an opportunity to shop around. These include 3Com, NETGEAR and SonicWALL. It may take fifteen minutes to learn the basics, but your mileage may vary on installation time.