Expert: Ralph Becker - 11/3/2009

Question
In Our college Internet provided in a LAB,ALL PCs connected in LAN,& have WIFI access also,but then also It acess Internet through LAN cabling & not through WIFI..,why is it so?

Answer
Hi Megha, and thanks for your question.

It's actually very common to provide different ways to connect to a network.  The reason is security.  Unauthorized access to sensitive data must be prevented, and internet access is often protected to prevent theft of an internet connection.  

Companies and schools sometimes provide multiple ways to connect to the network.  Some will have full access, other restricted to internet access only, and others to private data only.  For example, my company has wireless access that can be freely connected to and provides access to the internet (for visitors), but to access corporate data users must have a user name and password.

I hope this helps,

Ralph