Hone networking - where to start?

With more than one PC in the home and a move from dialup to broadband access sometime in the near future the black arts of home networking hove into view. This short note from the FT has given me and idea of what points to consider, possible problems and and idiots guide to doing the deed. So what further advice can others offer? - I'd love to hear from members who have done this for themselves - warts and all.

Thanks.

Auric


FEATURES - TECHNOLOGY: How to make better connections at home By Paul Taylor
Financial Times; May 12, 2004 [email protected]


A network for the home or small office can provide many benefits, including the ability to share resources such as a broadband internet connection, printers and files.
Unfortunately, setting one up is not as easy as it should be, even though technologies such as WiFi wireless networking and Microsoft's Windows XP operating system have made it easier. I decided to look at some of the networking options that are available, and ways to improve the performance, functionality and reach of a small network. At home I have a mixed network built using traditional hard-wired Ethernet cables, WiFi connections and, most recently, a couple of "Home Plug" networking devices that use ordinary home power wiring connections to transmit data.

The network connects desktop PCs, portables and peripherals, including printers, media servers, network cameras and external hard drives for back-up. The network is connected to the internet via a broadband cable modem secured with hardware and software firewalls.

The first choice when building a small network is to decide what networking technology to use. The traditional choice is Ethernet cabling. Ethernet cables provide the fastest, most reliable connections, but are the most difficult to install in a house or office that is already built, because it usually means drilling holes and dragging cables through floors and walls. A standard Ethernet cabled network can handle data at 10 or 100Mbps (megabits per second), much faster than even the fastest broadband internet connection. In recent years a wireless radio technology called WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) has become an alternative to hard-wiring a network.

WiFi comes in several varieties, most based on a radio standard called 802.11.
The main types of 802.11 WiFi are designated by the letters b, a and g. Each of these WiFi modes has a nominal speed, for example 802.11b, which was introduced in 1999, has a nominal speed of 11Mbps while the other main standard, 802.11g, was introduced last year and is rated at 54Mbps.

Most home networking equipment makers, including D-Link Systems (www.dlink.com), Linksys (www.linksys), SMC (www.smc.com) and Netgear (www.netgear.com), have proprietary "extreme" or "turbo" modes which are even faster, provided the network is based around their equipment. In practice, though, the real speed is much slower than the nominal speed because of walls, interference and other factors. In most cases this does not matter because even the slowest 802.11 connection is faster than a broadband connection. But if you plan to stream video around a home network, or expect to transfer very big files, then you should choose 802.11g-rated equipment. In fact, the price premium for such equipment is now so small that most of the time it makes sense to buy it.

The basic hardware components of a wireless home network include wireless cards for older portables, which cost from about $50 each, or external wireless adapters that plug into desktop PCs with USB (Universal Serial Bus) sockets, and a wireless router - a kind of data traffic cop that directs data "packets" around a network.

Wireless routers usually also have a single WAN (wide area network) socket that connects to a broadband modem using a short Ethernet cable, and four standard 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports. These are useful if you want to "hard wire" a PC or server and perhaps some other peripherals to the network using cables. Most routers also come with security elements such as a firewall and NAT (Network Address Translation) features which help protect network PCs from hackers. Wireless routers generally cost from $50 to $150 each depending on their features and most now come with easy to follow "wizard" guides which help even new users set up a home network with the minimum of fuss and invite them to use additional security features such as the largely discredited WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and the much more secure WPA (WiFi Protected Access). Astonishingly, most WiFi home networks are set up without even these basic security features enabled - Microsoft is one of the few companies that produces WiFi routers with security features enabled by default.

I have recently been using D-Link's top-rated and bargain-priced DL-624 AirPlus Xtreme G router, on sale for about $60. Like the similar Netgear WGT624 wireless router, D-Link's DL-624 supports the 802.11g standard but also uses clever proprietary technologies to double the nominal top speed of 54Mbps.
Of course, the real speed is more like 45Mbps, but that is still a lot faster than ordinary g products. I found the DL-624 very easy to set up and it has proved very reliable over the past few months, delivering consistent performance throughout most of my house. 802.11g products have a nominal range of about 300 feet in ideal - that is open - conditions but much less when used in real homes.

I did, however, want to extend the range of my wireless network to a troublesome distant bedroom over a garage. I also wanted to link it to an external network security camera outside the house. The solution to the second problem was easy. I installed a wireless access point or "bridge" - also from D-Link - inside my home near the camera's location and ran an Ethernet cable back to one of the four Ethernet ports on the router. I could also have used something called a wireless extender, sold by D-link and other vendors. Either way, it is now fairly straightforward to extend the range of a wireless network. The distant bedroom proved a tougher challenge. It was too far to run a cable there and, even with the second access point, I could only pick up a weak signal.

I decided it was time to test a third networking technology: "HomePlug" or "Power line" networking. This routes data over existing home or small office electrical circuits at speeds of up to 11Mbps. This sounds tricky, but it is not. I tested it out using equipment made by Iogear (www.iogear.com). I positioned one GHPB21 Ethernet bridge near the router, plugging it into a spare mains socket, then ran a short Ethernet cable from the router to the socket on the HomePlug unit. I plugged the second box into a mains socket in the bedroom and ran a short cable to the Ethernet card in my daughter's PC.

The problem was solved. Even though the two powerline boxes are on different circuits in the house, the data travelled easily between the router and the PC. I now have a hybrid Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi and powerline home network that can potentially reach every room in my house - and a little bit further.

[email protected]

 

Whatever you do, make sure you get an ADSL modem which has ethernet and not one of the cheap and cheerful USB ones.

Increasingly, you can get everything bundled into one box, so I believe it's now possible to get a single box that is all of the following:
- ADSL modem
- router
- Ethernet hub/switch
- WiFi access point

Personally, I would keep the boxes separate if possible. Usually makes trouble shooting quite a bit easier and if, for example, you want to reset the ADSL modem you then don't have to kill your network at the same time if you have a separate hub.

I have a standalone ADSL modem (Alcatel Speed Touch Home), a LinkSys BEFVP41 router and 4 port switch and an Asus 802.11g wireless access point. I have the router and switch combined, as it's almost impossible to get them separately these days and those are the two things it makes sense to combine IMO.

My main PC and my work laptop (which are in the same room) are connected via ethernet cable. A second laptop in the living room is also connected via cable as this was convenient to do. My wife's laptop has a LinkSys 802.11b PC-card adapter.

I've noticed that the claims made about the range of wireless adapters are extremely optimistic. With my wife's laptop in the living room, more than about 10m away from the "base station" the connection is really touch and go. The idea that you can walk around the house with a wireless laptop is utter rubbish IME - unless you live in a studio flat :MILD: .

I've thought about one of those wireless MP3 devices but I'd need a WiFi bridge in the living room to extend the range to where the hifi is and I can't really be arsed with that at the moment.

Personally, I've found WiFi to be a bit disappointing. It's quite slow (compared to ethernet) and connection quality and range is very hit and miss. The only reason I got it in the first place was because it was completely impractical to get an ethernet connection into my wife's office. I have set it up with WEP security allthough TBH the range is so poor that anyone who wasn't in the flat wouldn't be able to nick my bandwidth anyway.

Michael.

 

i have one of these:



NETGEAR DG834G Integrated ADSL Modem and 802.11g Wireless Firewall Router with 4 Port Switch

now £95 at ebuyer - sure i paid £140 6 months ago !

so that's an always-on adsl connection, can take 4 pc's via ethernet into the back of it, plus sends out a wireless signal that can be picked up by (for example) one of these:


NETGEAR WG311 54mbps 802.11g Wireless PCI Card

or


NETGEAR WG121 802.11g 54mbps Wireless USB Adapter

the USB is a good idea, you can then connect that to any laptop or pc that's in your house.

i'll 2nd michael's comments about the quality / distance of wifi connections, though. laptop on the kitchen table (the room next to the study with the netgear wireless router) works perfectly, upstairs is very dodgy. they recommend putting the wireless router high in the house. if i put the router on a high shelf in the study, and the usb adapter above it on the landing upstairs, it works ok. (so the only thing between is the landing floor / study ceiling structure). the walls in my house attentuate the signal very well.

the other option would be to run some ethernet from one of the four sockets on the router to upstairs (neatly if possible) or another room, and plug in there.

i think also it's possible to use a wireless access point to pick up the signal from the wireless router (downstairs, for example), and effectively provide a better signal for upstairs.

Netgear WG602 54mbps Wireless Access Point 128bit

 

The link here is quite a good intro to home networking.

 

If you can stand the extra hassle and initial inconvenience of a wired network, I'd definitely do that instead. Far superior to a wireless network in terms of performance, security and reliability, without any doubt at all.

 

I'd agree with Paul regarding wired networks. The limited experience I have had with consumer-level wireless networking gear has been frustrating at best. Problems I've found have been poor performance in terms of speed and range, as well as problems getting the network card drivers to work (Windows XP's wizards try to be too helpful for their own good here). This was all with Belkin kit and using NTL on both occasions as the broadband provider.

However, I've had a positive experience when using a wireless network card with a laptop whilst transitting through Singapore airport a few times.

I run a wired network myself, simply in order to shuffle files to/from my laptop and desktop PCs. No fancy cards, just the integrated chipset inbedded into the motherboards on both systems. Cheap and effective - my crossover cable cost me £5.

I've also got a Toshiba e400 Pocket PC (with no wireless support built-in). Judging by the problems I've heard about with the SD wireless cards, I'll eventually go for a Bluetooth SD card for the e400 and a USB Bluetooth dongle for the PC. However, as I mainly use it in conjuction with Outlook 2003 on my desktop PC, I've found no real reason to invest in any Bluetooth kit yet.

 

Real world ideas from real people.

Thanks one and all for your ideas and suggestions.

I am tending towards a wired network as I feel this will best meet the needs of connecting three rooms spread across two floors of a sturdy brick built home. I do so love the idea of a wi-fi connected New York style pristine loft space where I could spend the day collabrating with many trendy artistic friends creating wonderful top notch digital content - such is the power of Intel advertising and the mighty Centreno.

Thanks again =- keep the ideas flowing.

Auric

 

IMO the only place where wireless is really cool is the access points in airports and cafes so you can surf broadband from your laptop whilst you're in the departure lounge etc.

For the home, wired is much better if you can arrange the cables properly. When we get the wooden floors redone in the flat I'm going to wire the whole flat with a couple of ethernet sockets in each room :MILD: - and that wouldn't be a geeky thing to do at all

Michael.

 

Here's another site which has some more info/guides on home networking. Their section on ICS is pretty useful if you don't have a router, like myself, and want to connect several computers to the internet.

http://www.homenethelp.com/

 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to this sort of thing, but I managed to set up a broadband connection and home network a couple of weeks ago. Connecting the XP machines were pretty easy but the 98SE model was a struggle. Possibly because it had previously been networked at work and had all the old setting for this hidden somewhere.

I've got one of these. It works pretty well, the one bug is that the box occasionally needs to be switched off and on before I can get an internet connection (any bright ideas why this should be?). Once it's connected I've had no problems.

I chose an all-in-one box solution as I felt this would avoid compatability problems. I have a mix of ethernet cable for the old 98 machine and wi-fi. I think wi-fi is absolutely great: the speed of the wi-fi part of the chain doesn't seem to be a limiting factor with a 500kbps connection and the range covers four stories of a solid victorian house and most importantly the balcony. I can sit outside in the evening sun (?) and do the surfing thing, glass of Merlot in hand, then carry on anywhere inside the house when the temperature drops. This seems like liberating technology to me.

 

Tried doing a search on the manufacturers site to see if they have had any firmware upgrades?

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Have done (sounds so easy - do you think they deliberately make this difficult?!). Early days, but this seems to have cured the problem.