Practise Wired and wireless connectivity and performance. 12 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
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Give one type of cable used in wired networks.
Fibre-optic cable
State two disadvantages of wireless networks compared with wired networks.
Any two from: slower; interference; less secure; limited range; less reliable.
A family's smart TV is in a room at the far end of the house from the Wi-Fi router. Films often stop to buffer. Give one way the family could solve the problem.
Connect the TV to the router with an Ethernet cable.
Define the term 'bandwidth'.
The maximum amount of data that a connection can transmit each second.
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of Edexcel exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) Give one type of cable used in wired networks.[1]
(b) Identify what is used to transmit data in a Wi-Fi network.[1]
Pulses of light
Radio waves
Electrical signals in copper cables
Sound waves
(c) State one advantage of wireless connectivity.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Fibre-optic cable
copper cable, e.g. twisted pair (Ethernet) or coaxial cable / fibre-optic cable
(b)Answer: Radio waves
(c)Answer: Users can move around while staying connected.
devices can be used anywhere within range, so users can move around / no cables are needed, so it is easier and cheaper to install and to add devices
Question 2Medium4 marks
A hospital needs to connect the networks in two buildings that are 800 metres apart. It is choosing between copper cable and fibre-optic cable.
Explain two reasons why the hospital should choose fibre-optic cable.[4]
Show the answer and mark scheme
Answer: Signals travel 800 m without weakening (copper is limited to about 100 m), and it gives much higher speeds for large scans (also: immune to interference, harder to tap).
fibre-optic signals can travel much further without losing strength
copper Ethernet cable is limited to about 100 m without extra equipment, so it is unsuitable for 800 m
fibre-optic cable has a much higher bandwidth / transmission rate
so large files, such as medical scans, can be sent quickly
fibre-optic cable is not affected by electromagnetic interference
which matters in a hospital with a lot of electrical equipment
fibre-optic cable is much harder to tap into
so patient data is more secure
Question 3Hard4 marks
A café offers free Wi-Fi to its customers. The network does not need a password.
(a) Explain one risk to customers who use the café's Wi-Fi.[2]
(b) Explain one risk to the café.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: With no encryption, others nearby could capture customers' data, e.g. passwords sent to sites that do not use HTTPS.
identifies a risk: other people could intercept the data that customers send / a criminal could set up a fake hotspot with a similar name
expansion: because the network is not encrypted, data such as passwords sent to sites that do not use HTTPS could be read and used to access customers' accounts
(b)Answer: Customers on the same network could attack the café's tills, so a separate guest network is needed.
identifies a risk: customers could reach the café's own devices (e.g. tills or booking system) on the same network / customers could use the connection for illegal activity
expansion: they could steal data or spread malware, so the café should keep its own devices on a separate network / illegal activity could be traced back to the café's connection