By Cheryl Currid

If you dread the thought of installing a network in your home because of FOC (fear of cabling), then I've got good news for you.

There's no need to take a jackhammer to your walls, ceilings and floors when you can easily get connected with a wireless network.

Over the last two years, a new standard for wireless networks called Wi-Fi (or 802.11b) has gained in popularity, and equipment prices have dropped. In fact, some new notebook computers come with a Wi-Fi card built in. And if you take your Wi-Fi-equipped notebook with you, chances are there's a public place for you to get Internet access.

But let's begin at the home office. You can start out small with two Wi-Fi adapters to make a peer-to-peer network. And when you're ready to expand, you can find Wi-Fi adapters that go inside your desktop computer as a PCI card, into a notebook through the PCMCIA slot, and still others that connect externally via USB cable.

If you have an Ethernet local area network installed in your home office, you can connect the two networks with a device called an access point. Likewise, you can share modems, an Internet connection or printers.

When purchasing equipment, just make sure that it is Wi-Fi certified. So, if you want to purchase an access point from Orinoco, at www.orinocowireless.com, a PCMCIA card from Compaq, a USB desktop adapter from Intel, and then add a Gateway Solo 450 with built-in Wi-Fi, you can. And it works.

I tested just such a configuration in my house and then for fun added in eight cordless telephones that operate on the same frequency, 2.4 GHz. Happily, it worked just fine.

And Wi-Fi is gaining ground in public places, too. In fact, I can even access the Internet at certain hotels and coffee shops. For example, as I previously reported, most Starbucks are equipped with a wireless network.

Formerly known as MobileStar, a subscription to the T-mobile wireless broadband network, at www.tmobilebroadband.com, will enable you to just open the lid of your notebook computer and instantly access the Internet -- all while sipping a cappuccino. It's a great experience. As far as the fine print goes, Wi-Fi isn't the fastest network in town. Data on the wireless network travels at 10 to 11 million bits per second. And while that's five to 10 times faster than a broadband cable or DSL Internet connection, it's about 10 times slower than a high-speed, wired 100 Mbps network.

If all that sounds confusing, let me put it this way. Wi-Fi networks are fast enough for just about everything except heavy-duty video and multimedia work. But even under these bandwidth-intensive conditions, Wi-Fi does work -- just not as fast as I'd prefer.

Security around the Wi-Fi standard is not automatic. So, if you want to keep your neighbors from scamming on your connection, you will need to implement the security that is contained in the included software.

Most devices come with WEP and 128-bit RC4 encryption, which most believe is adequate to prevent prying eyes.

So if cabling and complexity are keeping you from putting a network in your home office, check out Wi-Fi. You can get lots of freedom, with a lot less hassle, when you cut the cords.