Terminal emulation is the most common means of host connectivity, where emulation software, running on both the terminals and the network controller, makes the radio frequency terminals appear to be standard terminals acceptable to the host, resulting in a quick and easy host connection.

However, the latest generation of radio frequency devices uses a client/server approach, where each individual terminal uses a network driver, giving access to the network so it can communicate directly with the host or any other application. The client/server architecture provides extremely fast response rates, because the data collection program doesn't have to run on the host as it does with terminal emulation (with client/server RFDC, the host is only used for look-ups and updates, considerably reducing transaction traffic).