combo wireless and wired home network

[Harry Putnam]

Mike Burger <mburger at bubbanfriends.org> writes:

> All you need is a WAP (I'm using a Linksys unit, myself) and a PCMCIA 
> wireless NIC that is compatible with Linux.  I'm using an Orinoco Gold 
> card, but it's an "older" one, before chipsets were changed.  Check the 
> hardware compatibility list for recommendations, first, and get one from 
> the list.

A WAP eh?  Googling that turns up lots of confusing stuff.  Are we
talking involving a wireless phone here:

Can you spell this out a little more please?