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Assembling a wired home for your family
PICTURE this scenario: Your dad’s typing out his presentation for tomorrow on his PC upstairs; your bro’s crunching spreadsheet numbers on his machine downstairs, and you are browsing the internet in your room. But what happens if dad wants to use the colour printer that’s attached to your PC or if your bro wants to get on the net? The answer is: your family needs a home network.
With a home network installed, everyone in the house can share printers and files without having the urge to spend money getting a new telephone line, purchasing costly removable storage devices or shuffling floppies from one PC to another. The most attractive feature: the entire family can share a single internet connection and surf simultaneously on their own PCs.
Sounds awesome, but installing a network can be a pain sometimes. You first need to systematically plan out your network, taking into account the number of PCs, the rooms they’re in, and how far apart the rooms are. Then you need to choose which network would be best suited for the job, after which you have to decipher arcane network settings in Windows.
Shopping for networking products can be perplexing too since there are so many alternatives available. A chart on the right can help yourself make the correct decision (and avoid costly mistakes).
There are four types of home-networks:
1. Wired ethernet
2. Phone-line
3. Power-line
4. Wireless
Before proceeding, it is imperative for you to become familiar with the acronyms relating to the speeds of different networking kits, which vary from network to network.
Megabits per second (or Mbps) means millions of bits per second, and gigabits per second (or Gbps) mean billions of bits per second. In theory, a 100Mbps connection will be 2000 times faster than the best dial-up connection (50 kilobits per second or 0.05-mbps); a 1-gbps one (1000-mbps) 20,000 times faster. You can also compare network speeds to the performance of a local broadband connection, which can typically transfer data between 64kbps and 512Mbps. In that case, a 100-Mbps one would be about 1500 and 200 times faster, respectively.
It requires adding a network adapter or a network interface card (if not already built-in) to your PC and then connecting that to the means (a wire or radio waves) for data transmission.
After installing the drivers for the adapter, you must perform the following tasks in Windows:
Assigning names: Each PC in the network has to have a name and workgroup, which is distinct for each, but all PCs need to be part of the same workgroup.
Setting up file, printer and Internet sharing: The PC with the modem and phone-line connection becomes a “server” for Internet sharing, while the other networked PCs become “clients”. As a “client,” a PC can communicate and share information with other clients of the same network. Consequently, the server PC must be turned on and connected to the internet if you want to enable all clients to surf and print as they please.
With file sharing enabled, you can easily access “shared folders” through the “Network Neighbourhood,” which shows all PCs in your network. Using “Internet Connection Sharing” you can connect one PC to the Internet and share that connection with any other networked PC. You might have to add sharing from the “Add/Remove Windows Components” in Control panel.
For printer sharing, you have to configure a printer first for sharing and type in a name and password for it. As this won’t be local to another PC on the network, you would have to install a “Network Printer” (the printer you configured) on that PC.
There are several types of networks that can be feasibly developed for your home. Some of them are mentioned below:
Traditional Wired ethernet Networks: Ethernet is the least expensive and fastest type of network technology used today. It is also the most prevalent and most new PCs come with 10/100-mbps Ethernet adapters pre-installed. Moreover, you can easily expand the network, as the number of devices that can be connected is unrestricted.
Ethernet cards are very cheap, usually ranging from Rs1000-2500. You may also need a device called a “hub,” about Rs800-4500, that transmits the signal from one PC to others.
Hubs come in different sizes and therefore, do not have the same number of ports. For instance, a 4-port hub can connect four PCs, while an 8-port one can hook-up 8 PCs. If you don’t want to connect more than two PCs, a hub isn’t necessary as you can directly connect one PC to another with special crossover cable.
The most common type of Ethernet wiring used these days is “Cat 5” UTP Copper cable. The cable connectors resemble the ones on phone cords, except that they’re bigger.
As mentioned earlier, ethernet is very expandable. That’s why most hubs are “stackable” and can be inter-linked. For instance, if you initially have four PCs on a network, which grows to five or more overtime, you can connect another hub to the existing one, thereby increasing your network’s capacity.
Ethernet is not without its disadvantages though. Additional equipment, such as hubs and switches, is expensive. Moreover, running cables in plain sight will create an ugly mess. You’ll have to do a really good job hiding the cables behind the furniture, or fishing them through walls or even draping them across the floor. Besides this, the software can be a pain to configure.
If speed is what you crave and you don’t mind the wires, Ethernet is the cheapest, fastest and the most secure way to go.
Phone-line networks: Also known as home PNA is another popular technology that uses existing phone wiring to connect multiple computers. Besides, it lets you connect up to 25 PCs, transfer data (and talk on the phone) using the wires already snaking through the walls of your home. Using a special technique, computer data is made to travel on discrete frequencies from the voice signals being carried out by the phone line, so that the two never mix.
You don’t have to buy or install much to get started with Home PNA; all you need to do is install the network adapters and configure the software. Version 2.0 of Home PNA (10-mbps) replaced the original one (1-mbps) some time back. Products supporting the latest Home PNA version, 3.0, are expected to sustain speeds up to 128-mbps.
Home PNA adapters are relatively pricey, costing about Rs. 3000-4000. A separate card is required for each PC you want on the network. Also, each PC needs to be near a phone jack.
But Home PNA does have its shortcomings. If you have extensive wiring done around the house, signals may not travel from one PC to another. What’s more, facsimiles and cordless phones may create signal noise that hinders data flow. So, ensure you’re not using these contraptions while connected, or better still, invest in a noise-blocking filter.
If you are not looking for the fastest speeds possible, a Home PNA network could be a quick, convenient and reasonably priced solution for your home or office.
Power-line networks: Data is transmitted over regular wiring carrying electricity, effectively transforming every electrical outlet in the vicinity into a network connection. While this may seem great, it isn’t glamorous or popular.
That’s because typical power-line networks are the slowest compared to other systems. Besides, power lines are not designed to transmit data and are extremely susceptible to surges. These disruptions make the lines noisy, slowing down the data flow considerably.
For now, power-line networks are most likely to be used for low bandwidth applications like small office networks. But if you routinely transfer files and print while playing MP3s stored on another PC on the network, a Power-line network will be too slow for you.
Wireless networks: Although still evolving, these have gained tremendous popularity in recent times. Data transmission using radio waves makes networking simple and effortless. Moreover, if you have a laptop with a wireless adapter, it makes you completely mobile around your home or office. On a larger scale, it allows you to connect to a budding number of wireless-network “hot-spots” (or access points) in hotels, hospitals and airport lounges.
To build a wireless network, you need a network adapter inside each PC. The most popular ones cost between Rs. 4500-6000. Laptops need PCMCIA cards, costing Rs. 4500 or more. You’ll also need wireless access points (just as you need a Hub for Ethernet), starting at Rs. 8000. Despite some claims of an indoor range up to 300ft, you’ll have limited roaming capability of about 70 to 125ft around the access point. “Limited” in the sense that your distance from the access point, and the objects between you and it (such as doors, walls or even metallic objects), can affect speed.
If range is what you desire, you can go for Wireless range extenders, costing about Rs. 8500 or more. These basically increase the strength of a signal from an access point, thereby, increasing the range and coverage area of the network.
Wi-Fi (For “Wireless fidelity”) refers to any standard that uses 802.11 technology. The most prevalent wireless specification, 802.11b, transmits data at a maximum of 11 mbps. Even though it cannot compete with standard 100-mbps Ethernet, newer Wi-Fi equipment is much faster than other networks. The fastest standards, rated at 54-mbps, are 802.11g and 802.11a. 802.11g products are cheaper than 802.11a ones. That’s because they operate at a lower frequency compared to their counterparts, which cruise at an interference-free 5.4GHz. In fact, both 802.11b and g share the same frequencies of 2.4GHz.
However, 802.11a and 802.11b equipment can’t talk with each other, though 802.11b and 802.11g can. So installing 802.11g in your home or office won’t limit your ability to take advantage of public hotspots that use 802.11b.
But all wireless standards available today are less secure, in some cases, than wired networks. The majority of wireless products are based on an encryption scheme called Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which is vulnerable to attack. 802.11a and b products are particularly susceptible, though upgrades are under development for them. 802.11g devices are more secure, since they undergo WPA certification, a more secure standard. Wireless Protected Access (WPA) support is also available on Windows XP for compliant devices (check Windows Update for details).
The 802.11b or 802.11g standards are best for most uses. Prices for 802.11b devices have nose-dived since the introduction of equipment based on newer standards. If you are looking for convenience but are on a budget, 802.11b is the way to go. But a skilled hacker can easily breach 802.11b networks, so if security is your prime concern, you should opt for 802.11g or a wired network instead. Moreover, you can take additional precautions, such as setting up a firewall or using a virtual private network, thereby enhancing your security.
Sure, Wi-Fi is the future and Ethernet is the most secure, but you don’t really have to select just one type of network. If elements of different networks appeal to you, go for a hybrid approach. Combined wireless-wired networks are an example, provided that you want the speed and security of wired Ethernet but would also like to wander freely with a notebook. Using such a network, you can connect desktop PCs that require a faster connection (for large file transfers, gaming etc.) by Ethernet, while still providing wireless convenience for notebooks.
Today, 100-mbps Ethernet networks are the fastest in general use, but gigabit Ethernet is becoming more common, promising speeds above 1000-mbps. Trailing behind are 802.11a and g wireless standards (54-mbps maximum), followed by power-line networks (14-mbps maximum), 802.11b (11-mbps maximum), and Home PNA 2.0 (10-mbps maximum).
Listed below are the theoretical maximum speeds for each network under ideal conditions.
** 0.4-mbps is for the older technology, called “Passport”. Its replacement, known as “PowerPacket”, is rated at 14-mbps, but isn’t standardized as yet.
Acquiring and installing one of these gizmos won’t require the budget of a multinational conglomerate. But once you have a network in place, you will no longer feel the need to cart files you want to print from one PC to another on a floppy. Neither will you ever have to squabble with anyone over getting on the Internet. You’ll have a smart, “wired” home.
The writer
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