Wireless 101

Before we dig into the wonders and fun of AirPort, let's get acquainted with the general cast of characters in the current wireless scene. This includes Bluetooth, which you've probably encountered, even if you weren't aware of it.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless specification common in PDAs, cell phones, keyboards, mice, MP3 players, and computers. Bluetooth is intended as an IrDA (short for Infrared Data Association, a trade group that codifies the infrared standards) replacement for using wireless peripherals, rather than an AirPort competitor for creating wireless networks of computers.

Bluetooth operates over the same 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) radio band as AirPort; though they use different modulation schemes to communicate, there ...

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