Key Issues that apply to Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) Technology from a Study of the Chinese Campuses and UK Equivalent

With wireless technology developing quickly, the wireless network service has become more popular on university campuses. More and more universities provide wireless Internet access to all users in academic buildings and students villages and throughout the entire campus. The availability of wireless APs (Access Points) throughout campus offers many educational opportunities and learning benefits for faculty, staff and students. Compared with the wired local area network, WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks) have many advantages, particularly in the area covered. However there are some issues with WLANs that are problematic for network managers such as usage, the signal stability and security. This investigation focuses on technical issues surrounding WLANs on the university campuses. Comparisons are made between the usage on campuses in the UK and China and a traffic model is created to enable simulations to be run on OPNET. This enables infrastructure comparisons to be made between different WLAN technologies such as WiFi and WiMAX and, following the analysis, conclusions to be drawn