My 1st experience with Wireless was at a grocery distribution facility in '98. I think there was an 802.11 spec, but I don't think it was used by the equipment yet (it might have been 900Mhz?). On fork lifts and power pallet jacks were ruggedized PC terminals that accessed a custom warehouse "picking" app that ran on an IBM 390 mainframe. The terminals, APs and network controllers were all Intermec and were connected to the host via Token Ring. This entire implementation was as tough as a tank! The operators would simple reboot their terminals when there was any problem. The APs scattered throughout 5 warehouses were never problematic and I never saw one. Once in a great while when the phone calls started pouring in, we would likely see a concentrator beaconing, so we would systematically restart the equipment at each warehouse to get the token moving again. Speed was not a priority nor needed due to terminal access to text-based apps, but reliability was there! ... View more