A wireless LAN or WLAN is a wireless local area network, which is the linking of two or more computers without using wires. It uses radio communication to accomplish the same functionality that a wired LAN has. WLAN utilizes spread-spectrum technology based on radio waves to enable communication between devices in a limited area, also known as the basic service set. This gives users the mobility to move around within a broad coverage area and still be connected to the network.

This technology is becoming more and more popular, especially with the rapid emergence of small portable devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants).

Wireless networking was first developed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), who as of 2006 is engaged in a controversial battle with software and hardware giants looking to undermine the royalties of the patents held by CSIRO on these technologies.*

This type of network allows wireless devices to directly communicate with each other. Wireless devices within range of each other can discover and communicate directly without involving central access points. This method is typically used by two computers so that they can connect to each other to form a network.

If you have a strength meter for the signal coming from all the other ad-hoc devices the meter will not read the strength accurately, and can be misleading, because it is registering the strength of the strongest signal, such as the closest computer.