I was pleasantly surprised to find the author included the URL for NTIA to obtain a frequency allocation chart (I had been looking for something like this for years). Chapter two gets into Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) and the various 802.11 standards. I have seen a lot of Wi-Fi devices for sale but I was not aware of what the major differences were between 802.11a, b, and g. The chapter notes that the 2.4 GHz frequency used by 802.11b and g are also shared with some wireless telephones, microware ovens, and Bluetooth so there might be interfer-ence which will slow down the data rates (raw rates for b is 11 Mbps while g is 54 Mbps). Also there are differences in the range (distance) for the various 802.11 standards. By the way, the chapter notes that Intel's Centrino technology is 802.11b.

Chapter three, Wi-Fi on the Road, deals with wireless hotspots, providers and introduces new terms, at least to me. Wardriving, Warwalking, and Warflying are used to describe the process of locating WI-Fi zones. There are even special symbols to designate an open network, closed network, and a network protected by WEP (Wireless Equivalent Privacy).

Each chapter has many examples of actual setup screens with various hardware products such as Linksys and D-Link. The book does address the security issue, pointing out that WEP is not the best for protection where WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) provides a dynamic key versus WEP's static key.

Curious about infrared? See chapter 7. Want to know more abut GPS? See chapter 9. Don't know what piconet or scatternet means? Chapter 6 on Bluetooth provides the answers.

The book is authored by Wei-Meng Lee, published by O'Reilly August 2003 and lists for $24.95. It is curious that the book talks more about the design of the cover than it does about the author (go figure).

The punch line - is this book worth 25 bucks? My answer, even though my own network is the unglamorous wire kind, is a strong yes. It gets into a lot of technical stuff about all things wireless in the XP world but it is an excellent single reference source. Besides user group members can get the O'Reilly discount.

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