Not so long ago, the terrain of the wireless world seemed rough, wild, and desolate. The complexity of products and interoperability issues-not to mention high costs-kept consumers and businesses alike from embracing wireless networks. This despite their obvious lure: the freedom to roam untethered without losing a connection.

That lure has kept manufacturers and engineers returning repeatedly to their drawing boards to refine standards and hardware, and their efforts have paid off. By the end of this year, 1 million households in the United States will have wireless networks, according to research firm Gartner Dataquest. Among PC Magazine readers, 51 percent have home networks, and of those, 36 percent are wireless. With two official 802.11 standards and one on the way, the landscape
continues to grow.