A + Fundamentals : Networking Unlocked: From LANs to Wi-Fi 7 Chapter 5

What if your “all-in-one” router is doing too much—and your Wi‑Fi “speed” isn’t the real bottleneck? We pull back the rack door and trace the digital bloodstream from SOHO setups to enterprise backbones, translating jargon into choices you can actually make. Starting with LANs, WANs, WLANs, and SANs, we map how scope changes design, cost, and risk, then contrast the convenience of a home gateway with the clarity of dedicated roles—routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers—working like a well-tuned orchestra.

We get tactile with the gear: NICs and their 48‑bit MAC addresses, patch panels that keep closets sane, and switches that forward with CAM tables instead of shouting like hubs. You’ll hear where managed switches earn their IP address (management only), why VLANs and QoS matter, and how Power over Ethernet (802.3af/at/bt) cuts clutter while powering VoIP phones, APs, and cameras with fewer failure points. From copper categories (Cat6/6A) and clean terminations to testers, toners, and taps, we highlight the unglamorous steps that prevent the worst outages.

Then we cut the cord. We chart Wi‑Fi’s arc—802.11a/b/g to n, ac, and 6/6E—clarifying bands, channels, MIMO, and OFDMA so your network stops fighting itself. We talk survey tools, interference traps, and when to steer clients to the right lanes. Fiber gets its due as the distance champion—single‑mode for long haul, multi‑mode for shorter runs—with connector gotchas that can burn hours. And because connectivity is more than Wi‑Fi, we touch Bluetooth peripherals, RFID access, NFC payments, and long‑range links that fill gaps where cables can’t go.

To anchor the learning, we run quick cert‑style questions—switches and MACs, routers and IPs, PoE’s true advantage, and Wi‑Fi 5’s 5 GHz focus—so you can test yourself in real time. Whether you’re building a home lab, prepping for CompTIA, or planning an upgrade at work, you’ll leave with practical mental models and checklists you can use today. If this helped you think a layer deeper, follow, share with a friend who’s studying, and drop a review with your biggest networking win or question—what should we unpack next?

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Chapters

• 0:27 Welcome and Episode Setup
• 1:09 Network Types: LAN to WAN
• 2:43 SOHO vs Enterprise vs Data Center
• 3:51 Core Hardware: NICs to Switches
• 6:30 PoE Standards and Use Cases
• 7:34 Copper Cabling, Tools, and Testing
• 8:19 [Ad] Inspiring Tech Leaders - The Technology Podcast
• 8:53 (Cont.) Copper Cabling, Tools, and Testing
• 10:39 Fiber, Coax, and Real‑World Installs
• 11:59 Wireless: Wi‑Fi Generations and Planning
• 14:26 Beyond Wi‑Fi: Bluetooth, RFID, NFC
• 16:06 Certification Quiz: Networking Basics
• 20:29 CompTIA Exam Updates and Cert Paths
• 24:55 Closing Thoughts and Credits

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:27

Welcome to Technology Channel. I'm Professor J Wild. In this episode, Networking Unlocked. From Lions to Life Live. Let's happen. Welcome back, Tech Enthusiasts. You tune in to Technology Tap, where we keep tapping into technology one bite at a time. I'm your host, Professor J-Ron. Today we're diving into the digital bloodstream of your connected world. Network hardware. Now, before I start, I just want to say if you notice that I have a little bit of a cold, I actually do. It's the weather here in the East Coast. It changes a lot from being very hot to being very cold from one day to the next. Plus, if you've had a couple of days of rain. So if I sound a little congested, that's what it is. But the show must go on. And I have to be cranking this out for you guys to be listening to. All right, so we'll start with the basics, understanding network types. When you connect your laptop, your phone, and your printer at home, you've created a LAN, a local area network. It's the small local bubble where your devices share resources. Expand that concept to connect to offices across cities or continents, and you just entered WAN territory, a wide area network. You might also encounter a wireless LAN or W LAN, which brings Wi-Fi connectivity via IEEE 802.11 standard, MANS or Metropolitan Area Networks that serves campuses or city grids, PANS, personal area networks like Bluetooth. So the example of a PAN that I like to give is when you go to your car and you connect from your phone to your Bluetooth radio, that's a PAN network. And it seems like Camtea merge man and Cam used to have campus area network, but it looks like in the in the new version, the 1201 and 1202, they've they've gotten rid of CAN, campus area network, and merged it to Metropolitan Area Network. And SAN, storage area network for high-speed storage access and data center. So now let's picture the SOHO setup, small office, home office. It's the one-stop shop router. It's a one-stop shop with the routers handling everything. DHCP, DNS, Wi-Fi, maybe even a little firewire, firewall. Contrast that with an enterprise network, everything is separate. You got separate routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, all communicating like a digital orchestra. Finally, think of a data center, the modern temples of computation. Roles of servers hum under climate-controlled air, the LED lights flickering like city lights, security redundancy, and consistent uptime defines them. Let's move over to the physical components, the hardware that makes the network real. Start off with the NIC, the network interface card, where Ethernet, fiber, or wireless, every single where whatever it is, Ethernet, fiber, or wireless. And every NIC carries a unique 48-bit MAC address. It's 48 bits, guys. There's some students of mine who keep thinking it's 64. It is 48. So if you're one of my students who's listening, it's a 48-bit. Well, next time I put that on the quiz, get it right. Half identifying the manufacturer of the OUI and the half unique to the card. It's your device digital fingerprint on the network. So basically, when they come looking for you, they know they're looking for a laptop that's a Dell. And when I mean they looking for you, I mean the cops. Next, patch panel. Imagine them as the organized heart of your network closet. Walljacks lead here. Technician uses a punch down tool to terminate cables neatly on the rear and connected switches ports on the front via RJ45 connectors. Then switches where data meets directions. Switches maintain a cam table mapping MAC address to ports. They isolate collision domains but share a broadcast domain unless segmented by VLANs or routers. So what cam, a cam table is a content addressable module table where it lists all your MAC addresses of your devices. So when a message when a packet comes in, it knows, oh yeah, this needs to go to computer A. It's not like a hub, right? A hub would say, hey, are you A, hey are you A, hey I U A. With the CAM table, when the packet comes in, it knows, oh yeah, I gotta send this to A based on the MAC address. So switches work with MAC address. You'll find unmanaged switches, simple plug and play units, perfect for home use, and managed switches offering configuration interface, VLAN support, quality of service, and security monitoring. Modular models let you scale up by adding cards. Manage switch required an IP address, but it's only for management purposes. Normally a switch, you know, an unmanned switch doesn't need an IP address. If you're using an IP address for a switch, it's a managed switch. To manage switch. And you only need it to manage it. You only need the IP to get into the interface to manage it. Next, and then there's power over Ethernet, a life-saving device like VoIP phones and security cameras. They have the 802.3AF standard, the 802.3AT, and the 802.3BT standards. They deliver up to 90 watts through Ethernet cables. No extra power bricks, just elegant efficiency. So imagine security cameras, right? You have them in the building, and you don't want the electricity, the electrical outlet exposed, right? Because somebody just comes in and unplugged it. With a power over Ethernet, you can power it via the Ethernet card. Via the switch with an Ethernet cable. Not the Ethernet card, Ethernet cable. You could power it. Real world example: a university is making is installing hundreds of IP cameras, which can power them directly from the PoE. Simplifying installation, improving reliability, and cutting cost. Next, a network is only as good as its cabling. Let's start with unshielded twisted pair. Four pairs of copper wire twists to reduce interference, reliable up to 100 meters of 360 feet. Then shielded twisted pair, each pair wrapped in foil, sometimes with an extra branded shield. Ideal for industrial environments with EMI. Cabling catalogs, categories or CAT standards defined bandwidth and frequency. Cat 5, Cat 6, 6A, and 7. They have a CAT 8, is the newest one. And beyond, they are backward compatible, but performance climbs with each revision. Connectors, RJ45 for Ethernet, RJ11 for phones. Tools of the trade include wire strippers, crimpers, crimpers, and punch down tools for clean professional terminations. And we actually, I had my students over the weekend do their RJ45 cable for the first time. So they usually, one of the schools that I teach, they they love that that I come in and I have the students make the cables. It's a nice, it's you know, it's a nice exercise, it's a nice lab. Those of you who are teachers out there, try to get your students to at least make an RJ45 cable on their own. You never know when you might need it in the industry if you get a job. You know, first time it's gonna take them like 45 minutes to an hour, so make sure you you leave a lot of time in your lab. Don't make it for 15 minutes because they'll they will not get it done. But a good 45 an hour the first time, it's a good, it's a good lab time for you. You uh for any teachers out there looking, listening to this and thinking of a lab idea. Testing gears matters too. Cable testers verify continuity, toner probes, traces cables through walls, and loop back plug test nick and switchboards. Need to inspect traffic, use a network tap. Passive models copy traffic while active ones regenerate signals. Always use plenum rated cable and air dust for safety and direct burrow cables outdoors. New to optical fiber, the champion of bandwidth and signal, single mode for long haul links using laser light, multi-mode for shorter runs with LEDs. Connectors use ST, SC, and LC as their standard connectors at the end. And this is one thing that I never thought that they would do, Verizon. I didn't think Verizon would ever have fiber inside your home. Because if you ever see a fiber cable, it's very delicate. It's made of glass. And I upgraded to the 2GB Verizon and they installed fiber. So you gotta be careful, you're gonna get the two gig. Is it do I see much of a difference in it? Not really. When you download stuff, you download faster. I don't really see any delays, but the Verizon Tech explained it to me. He says you just get more lanes. With two gigs, you just get more lanes. So it seems like it, you know, it'll download stuff faster. I don't know if it's really two gig. I mean, I do a speed test, it says it's two gig, but I don't know. It kind of feels the same. Uh and don't forget coax cables, still used for modern cables, labeled by the RG ratings, and using F type connectors. These are the, you know, if you still have cable boxes, right? It's it's Coaxial. You know, the the way it connects to the back of your modem, it's is coaxal or some modems. The new ones I don't think do coaxo anymore. All right, next, wireless networking. Let's cut the cord literally. At the center is the access points defined by SSID, which simply is the MAC address of the access points. I'm sorry, BSSID, which is simply the MAC address of the access point. Wi-Fi operates at 2.4 gigahertz, 5 gigahertz, and now, and this is new for the new Comp T exam, 6 GHz BAN. Early standards like 802.11A, 5 GHz, 54 MB per second, and 802.11b and G 2.4 GHz between 11 and 54 megabits per second, gave us early home Wi-Fi. Then came 802.11N, which introduced MIMO, multiple in, multiple output, and channel bonding up to 600 megabytes per second, branded Wi-Fi 4. Next, Wi-Fi 5 802.11 AC, faster, more efficient, leveraging Move MIMO and delivering over 2 GB on the 5 GHz band. Then 8 and then Wi-Fi 6 802.11 X and 6E adding OFDMA triple band flexibility and theoretically speeds exceeding 4 gigs. In the future, Wi-Fi 7 802.11 BE promises an eye watering 46 gigabytes across the 2.4, 5, and 6 gigahertz band. That's VR ready wireless. When is that gonna happen? Who knows? I'm still waiting for IPv6. When installing wireless networks, considered SSID naming, channel selection, and frequency planning to avoid interference. Use Wi-Fi analyzers to measure signal strength, detect overlapping channels, and spot dead on dead zones. Beyond Wi-Fi, we have Bluetooth, RFID, and NFC. Bluetooth connects headsets and peripherals. RFID tracks inventory and grants badge access. And NFC powers contactless payments. Finally, long-range wireless solutions use licensed and unlicensed spectrum to connect remote areas, showing that connectivity truly has no boundaries. Alright, on to our four questions. Here are the rules. I will ask for, I would read the question, read the choices, go back, reread the question and the choices, give you five seconds to answer, and hopefully you can get it right. Alright, question one. Which device maintains a table that maps maps MAC address to switch port? A router, B bridge, C switch, D hub. I'll read it again. Which device maintains a table that maps MAC address to switch ports? A router, B bridge, C switch, D hub. I'll give you five seconds to think of the answer. Five, four, three, two, one. Alright, the answer is C. A switch uses a CAM table to associate MAC address with physical ports. Switches reduce collisions by directing traffic only to intended destination ports. Hub doesn't do that, bridge doesn't do that. Router does IP addresses. So switches go with MAC address, routers go with IP address. If you know that for the Compte exam, you would get at least four or five questions. But you have to stick with that in your head, right? You see a question that has the word switches in it, and one of the answers is MAC address, that's probably the answer. Just like if you see the word router in the question and one of the choices is IP address, that is probably the answer. And hubs is bits.

unknown: 15:57

Right?

SPEAKER_00: 15:57

If you see bits and one of the choices is hubs, that's part of the answer. Alright. Question two. What is the primary advantage of power over Ethernet? A higher data rates? B power and data through one cable. C reduce interference. D greater range. I'll read it again. What is the primary advantage of power over Ethernet? A. Higher data rates. B. Power and data through one cable. C reduce interference. D through greater range. I'll give you five seconds to think about it. Five. Four three two one. The answer is B. Power over Ethernet delivers electrical power and network data over the same internet cable. PoE simplifies device installation, especially for VoIP phones and IP cameras. Makes it a lot easier. And VoIP phones are the phones that you have in your house. If you still have a home phone through your cable company, that's a VoIP phone. That's a voiceover IP phone. How do you know? Because you can call anywhere in the country and they don't charge your long distance. For those of you who remember, we actually had long distance companies in this country where you had your regular phone bill and then you had your long distance bill, which was separate. Right? And you paid more for the long distance, and you paid a lot of money for long distance. I remember if you call from New York to New Jersey, you know, they told you to wait until 9 o'clock. It was like 75 cents a minute. 75 cents a minute. And they always told you to call after nine that it was cheaper. And during the before that, it was really expensive to call long distance. So VoIP actually took the long distance company out of business. Most of them ended up becoming wireless carriers. If you look at the history of the long distance phone companies, they ended up becoming wireless carriers. MCI, Sprint, ATT, right? They all became mobile. They all paid it to mobile. So all right, question three. Which fiber type supports the longest transmission distance? A multi-mode fiber, B single mold fiber, C coax cable, D cat unshielded twisted pair. I read it again. Which fiber type supports the longest transmission distance? A cat multi-mode fiber, B single mold fiber, C coax cable, D cat six untwisted, unshielded twisted pair. I'll give you five seconds. Think about it. Five, four, three, two, one. And the answer is B single mode. Single mode fiber uses a laser light source for long distance link. It offers minimal minimal attenuation, ideal for enterprise backbones and internet service providers. Alright, hopefully you're three for three. And if you are, let's let's go four for four. Which what frequency band does 802.11 AC Wi-Fi 5 primarily use? A 2.4 gigahertz only. B 5 gigahertz only. C 2.4 and 5 gigahertz. Or D 6 GHz only. I'll read it again. Which frequency band does 802.11 AC Wi-Fi 5 primarily use? A 2.4 gigahertz. B 5 gigahertz only. C 2.4 and 5 gigahertz. Or D 6 GHz only? I'll give you five seconds to think about it. 5. 4 3 2 1. And the answer is B 5 GHz. 802.11 AC operate on the 5 GHz band only. Wi-Fi 5 improved throughput and reduced interference through the Mu, MIMO, and wider channels. So if you got them all right, I'll give it up to you. Alright. Got them all right. Congratulations. You did really, really you did an outstanding job. Actually, before I leave, uh you know, I want to find out if anybody has taken the the new 1201 and 1202 exam. Just if you have, please email me Professor Jrod, that's J R O D at Gmail.com. And let me know what did you think, especially if you took the 1201 and maybe you took one prior to that, you know, the 9 or the 10 or the 11. Just let me know how different it is. And I know they they've added a bunch of stuff. I'm looking at the domains, and it's pretty much the same. Like some of them are more, some of them are less, but not maybe by a percentage of two from the other exam. But I know they added a lot more stuff, and a lot of stuff that they had before, they still have it, but they they they lump it together as legacy. You know, they because they they feel like you might encounter it as a as a tech later on, like the PC PCI port, right? That you might encounter that, you know, the white one. Then you might still encounter that. I mean, who would have that in this age? I don't think anybody would have that at this time. But you know, if you take in the 1201 or the 1202, yeah, let me know. Hit me up. Let well, first of all, let me know how you did. Hopefully you passed. I'm sure you did. But yeah, uh, especially if you take in one previously, like, let me know like what's the difference. Is it you know, you don't have to give me any answers or anything. I'm not looking for that. I just want to know if you take in two of them, how different it was. I know a lot of people, a lot of my students rushed to get the 1101 and the 1102 prior to expiring last month. Uh, there was a lot of them under the deadline who were really, really gunning to get it done. And I saw a lot of postings by my students, and then some, you know, text me telling me that they took it in their past, but I saw a lot of them taking it at the last minute because of the looming deadline. But now we're all in on 1201 and 1202. You know, I want to see how different the exam is if you take in any of the previous ones. You know, I'm teaching an A plus class and going over this the new stuff, but it's just I just want to see if this they're probably, you know, Camtia doesn't make earth-shattering, earth-shattering changes on their exams. But I, you know, I'm I'm very, very curious to find out if anybody's taken one. I took the 901. That's how far back I took it, and I just keep renewing it, you know, by taking another exam. So I, you know, I I took it in 2015. So I've had it for 10 years. I've renewed it, you know, by just taking other exams. Network Plus and then Security Plus, you know, so I've renewed it, I guess, a bunch of times. Now it doesn't expire to 2028, but I gotta do my cloud resertification. And I'm gonna do it through Surpmaster. And then that, I think that will renew it again. I'm not sure. I got Pen Plus a couple of weeks ago, and it renewed some of them. I don't think it renewed the A plus one. So I think with the cloud, it'll renew it again, and it'll expire in 2031, I think. So I don't know. I don't know. At one point they had my certs all expiring on different dates, and I always thought that it would always expire with the highest one. You know, I had different years. I don't know if they fixed that. I don't know, I don't know. But they all expired in 2028. I got three more years. I got three years to study for another one. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know what exam I'm gonna study for next. I got a little bit of time. We'll see what happens. But anyway, if anybody's taking, and then there's a whole bunch of other ones. There's Data X, there's Security Something, a new one. There's a whole bunch of them that they're doing, which is good to see. You know, they're doing like a data analytics one. I think that's Data Plus. It's good to see, but you know, I don't think anybody has any classes on those yet. They're fairly new. We'll see, we'll see. It's changing, guys. The landscape is changing, and then I'm a little concerned that Camtia got bought out by an equity firm. We'll see what happens. You know, equity firms usually mean I want my money. They like the mob. I don't care what happens, I want my money. So we'll we'll we'll see what happens with the changes. But that's gonna do it. So when you're wiring a patch panel, configuring a switch, or securing a wireless link, remember networks are the nervous systems of our digital world. Keep learning, keep building, and above all, keep tapping into technology. This has been a presentation of Little Touch of Productions, art by Sabra, music by Joe Kim. We're now part of the Pod Mac Network. You can follow me at TikTok at Professor Jrod at J R O B, or you can email me at Professor Jrod at J R O D at Gmail.