Abstract
The Internet has influenced our lives greatly. The way we communicate evolved
with the arrival of the Internet and has continued to evolve along with the
Internet. While initially being used by Academia and large organizations such as
the American Department of Defense, the Internet soon became a buzzword in
the average home. E-mail has changed the way companies and individuals
communicate, and the World Wide Web has changed the way all Internet users
access information.
Lately the ability to communicate globally and instantly via text services such as
MSN, audio services such as Skype, or audio and video services such as
Microsoft NetMeeting has become popular.
These new services consume ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth; in turn
these high quality services have driven the need for high-speed always-on
Internet connections to businesses and homes.
The development of 802.11b and later on 802.11g wireless local area network
(LAN) standards have brought wireless networking to the home user. Cheap Wi-
Fi-certified hardware has enabled many people to access their high-speed
Internet connections from anywhere within their home, or even on the move.
The convenience that Wi-Fi has brought has resulted in the increased use of the
broadband services mentioned above.
The end result is that the Internet changed the way we communicate, and
continues to do so with the help of Wi-Fi.
Dr. E. Marais