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So you’ve got broadband. Great! After a while, though, many people find that they’ve got so used to having broadband on one computer that they want to be able to use it from any other ones they own, too - including their laptop, and computers that are nowhere near the broadband line. Traditionally, the solution to this has been to run expensive network cables through your house, making holes in your walls and restricting the movement of your computers. Recently, however, another option has become available: wireless broadband.

Wireless broadband works by using short-range radio waves to create a small area where your computers can be networked without wires - most wireless networks are no bigger than a house, although larger ones are possible.

This is how it works. First, the broadband Internet connection is plugged into a wireless router - basically, a small, cheap computer that does nothing except acting as the hub of your network. You then fit wireless cards into each one of your computers, either by opening them up and putting it inside or by plugging it in using a cable (such as USB) or a port (like laptops’ PCMCIA).

Although WiMAX are networks are available in several major metropolitan areas in the US, base stations are very expensive to build, and aren’t cost effective in less densely populated areas. Because of this limitation, WiMAX technology is not yet available in most non-urban regions.

Wireless broadband can be either paid for monthly along with your standard tariff, or used on a pay-as-you-go basis for periods of up to an hour. It all depends on how much you travel, and how often you would use the service. Wireless broadband and wireless networking are slowly becoming more widely available as more providers catch onto the idea.