One of the wireless networking stories at this year’s Las Vegas CES – aside from the scads of networkable DVD players and “media adapters” – was the battle for bragging rights to the highest throughput “starburst” number. (The “starburst” is the number prominently displayed on the front of a product’s box).

There are times when having two separate networks – both sharing the same Internet connection – can come in handy. For example, I recently helped a community center with its network setup. They needed to provide Internet connection to tenants who were renting space, in addition to their own shared Internet. They also shared a number of folders on the network, but weren’t too careful about password protecting the shares.