Wireless network interface controller: Difference between revisions

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[[File:DELL TrueMobile 350 Bluetooth card.jpg|thumb|A Bluetooth interface card]]

A '''wireless network interface controller''' ('''WNIC''') is a [[network interface controller]] which connects to a [[wireless network]], such as [[Wi-Fi]], [[Bluetooth]], or [[LTE (telecommunication)|LTE]] (4G) or [[5G]] rather than a wired network, such as an [[Ethernet]] network. AIt WNICconsists of a [[modem]], justan likeautomated other[[radio NICs,transmitter]] worksand on[[radio receiver|receiver]] which operate in the layersbackground, 1exchanging anddigital 2data ofin the form of [[OSIdata modelpacket]]s andwith other wireless devices or [[wireless router]]s using [[radio wave]]s radiated usesby an [[antenna (radio)|antenna]], linking the devices together totransparently communicatein viaa [[radiocomputer wavenetwork]]s. A WNIC, just like other [[network interface controller]]s (NICs), works on the layers 1 and 2 of the [[OSI model]].

A wireless network interface controller may be implemented as an [[expansion card]] and connected using [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] bus or [[PCIe]] bus, or connected via [[USB]], [[PC Card]], [[ExpressCard]], [[Mini PCIe]] or [[M.2]].

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The low cost and ubiquity of the [[Wi-Fi]] standard means that many newer mobile computers have a wireless network interface built into the [[motherboard]].

The term is usually applied to adapters using the [[Wi-Fi]] ([[IEEE 802.11]]) adaptersnetwork protocol; it may also apply to a NIC using protocols other than 802.11, such as one implementing [[Bluetooth]] connections.

== Modes of operation ==

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Specifications commonly used in marketing materials for WNICs include:

*Wireless [[data transfer]] rates (measured in Mbit/s); these range from 2 to 9608&nbsp;Mbit/s.<ref name="Meyers">Meyers, Mike: Network+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill, 2004, p. 230.</ref>

*Wireless transmit power (measured in [[dBm]])

*Wireless network standards include standardssupported, such as [[802.11b]], [[IEEE 802.11a-1999|802.11a]], [[802.11g]], [[802.11n]], [[IEEE 802.11ac-2013|802.11ac]], [[Wi-Fi 6|802.11ax]].

Most WNICs includesupport one or more of 802.11, Bluetooth and 3GPP (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) network standards.

==Range==

Wireless range may be substantially affected by objects in the way of the signal and by the quality of the antenna. Large electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, fuse boxes, metal plumbing, and air conditioning units can impede a wireless network signal. The theoretical maximum range of IEEE 802.11 is only reached under ideal circumstances and true effective range is typically about half of the theoretical range.<ref name="Meyers">Meyers, Mike: Network+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, McGraw-Hill, 2004, p. 230.</ref> Specifically, the maximum throughput speed is only achieved at extremely close range (less than {{convert|25|ft|m}} or so); at the outer reaches of a device's effective range, speed may decrease to around 1&nbsp;Mbit/s before it drops out altogether. The reason is that wireless devices dynamically negotiate the top speed at which they can communicate without dropping too many data packets.

== {{Anchor|MAC80211|MLME|FULLMAC|SOFTMAC|HARDMAC}}FullMAC and SoftMAC devices ==