Pulling cable is a large fixed cost in setting up and deploying a new network installation. In the early 1990s, Category 5 UTP cable commanded a premium price and most companies didn't need it. However, many companies installed Cat 5 UTP cable because they didn't want to expend the time and expense of pulling cable later. An alternative to cable pulling is the wireless LAN (WLAN), which became available in the mid-1990s. But at that time, WLANs were slow, proprietary, and very expensive, which seriously limited their use outside vertical market environments.

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