Wireless network interface controller: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:38, 14 September 2021

Revision as of 13:53, 17 September 2021

Line 4:

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

A '''wireless network interface controller''' ('''WNIC''') is a [[network interface controller]] which is used to connectconnects to a [[wireless network]], through a wireless connection such as [[Wi-Fi]] or [[Bluetooth]], rather than a wired network, such as a [[Token Ring]] or [[Ethernet]]. A WNIC, just like other NICs, works on the layers 1 and 2 of the [[OSI model]] and uses an [[antenna (radio)|antenna]] to communicate via [[radio wave]]s.

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]].