You can connect your PCs using any of several different kinds of gear. Many of the world’s offices are wired with Ethernet cable, but wireless networks are very popular for small offices and homes. Here and there, a few renegades are even installing networking systems that rely on the phone or power lines already in the walls. Here’s an overview of the most popular networking systems.
Be sure that whatever networking gear you buy is compatible with Windows Vista, either by checking logos on the package or checking the maker’s Web site. Networking is complicated enough without having to troubleshoot some gadget that’s not designed for Vista.
Ethernet
Ethernet is the world’s most popular networking protocol. It gives you fast, reliable, trouble-free communication that costs very little and imposes few limitations on where you can place the PCs in a home or small office.
In addition to the computers themselves, an Ethernet network requires three components:
Network adapters. A network adapter is the little chunk of circuitry that provides the Ethernet jack, where you can plug in a network wire. Your PC almost certainly came with one built in; Vista-compatible PCs without built-in Ethernet are rarer than Bigfoot sightings. (You may also hear a network adapter called a network interface card or NIC ["nick"].)
In the freakish event that your desktop PC doesn’t have an Ethernet jack, you can buy a network adapter either in the form of a PCI card (which you must open up your computer to install) or a USB box (which connects to the back of the computer and dangles off of it).
If you have a laptop, you can use one of these USB adapters or a card that slips into your card slot.
A router. If you have a cable modem or DSL connection to the Internet, a router (about $60) distributes that Internet signal to all the computers on your network. (The dialog boxes in Windows call these devices gateways, although almost no one else does.)
Routers with five or eight ports (that is, Ethernet jacks where you can plug in computers) are popular in homes and small offices.
It’s worth noting that you can inexpensively expand your network by plugging a hub or switch into one of the router’s jacks. Hubs and switches are similar-looking little boxes that offer another five or eight Ethernet jacks, connecting all of your computers together. (A switch is more intelligent than a hub. It’s more selective when sending data to the right PCs on your network; as a result, the bits and bytes move a little faster.)
Tip: There’s also such a thing as a wireless router, which offers both physical Ethernet jacks and wireless antennas that broadcast the signal throughout your place.
To set up a router, plug it into your cable or DSL modem using an Ethernet cable. Restart the cable modem. Now use whatever software came with the router to set up its security features. Often, the software is actually built into the router; you’re supposed to view it by opening up a special page in your Web browser, of all things.
The router then logs onto your Internet service and stands ready to transmit Internet data to and from all the computers on your network.
As a bonus, the router provides excellent security, serving as a firewall that isolates your network computers from the Internet and keeps out hackers.
Ethernet cables. The cables used for most Ethernet networks look something like telephone cables, but they’re not the same thingand they’re definitely not interchangeable! Both the cable itself (called 10BaseT, 100BaseT cable, or Cat 5 cable) and the little clips at each end (called RJ-45 connectors) are slightly fatter than those on a phone cable. You can buy Ethernet cables in a variety of lengths and colors. Each computer must be connected to the hub, switch, or router with a cable that’s no longer than about 100 yards long.
Tip: If you’ve got a computer that sits in one place, like a desktop PC, you should use an Ethernet cable even if you have a wireless network.One reason is security (page 359). Another is speed. Yes, wireless technologies like 802.11g promise speeds of 54 megabits per second, which is very fast. But first of all, the real-world speed is about half of that; second, that speed is shared among all computers on the network. As a result, if you’re copying a big file across the network, it will probably go twice as fast if it’s going between one wireless and one wired PC than between two wireless PCs.
Ethernet gear can be shockingly inexpensive; a search at www.buy.com, for example, reveals five-port Ethernet hubs for $30 from no-name companies. If you’re willing to pay slightly more$20 for the card, $50 for the hub, for exampleyou can get brand-name gear (like D-Link, Netgear, 3Com, or LinkSys) whose support with installation, phone help, and driver updates through the years may reward you many times over. Setting up an Ethernet network generally goes very smoothly, but in the few cases where trouble arises, cheapo equipment is often the problem.
Network hookups
On paper, the hardware part of setting up the network is simple: Just connect each computer to the router or hub using an Ethernet cable.
It’s that “using an Ethernet cable” part that sometimes gets sticky. Depending on where your PCs are and how concerned you are about the network’s appearance, this wiring process may involve drilling holes in floors or walls, stapling cables to baseboard trim, or calling in an electrician to do the job.
When all of your computers are in the same room, you can run the cables along the walls and behind the furniture. (Buying cables that are the same color as your walls or floors can help hide the installation.) If you have to run cables between rooms, you can secure the cables to the floor or baseboards using staplesuse the round kind that won’t crush the cablesor plastic “raceways” with adhesive backing.
Of course, you might not be thrilled about having any exposed cables in your home or office. In that case, the installation process can be much more complicated. You should probably hire a professional cable installer to do the jobor don’t use cables at all. Read on.
Wireless Networks (WiFi or 802.11)
So far, this discussion has focused on using wired Ethernet to hook up your computers. Millions of people, however, have embraced the flexibility of a networking system that involves no wires at alla cordless networking technology called WiFi or 802.11 (“eight-oh-two dot eleven”). (Your Macintosh friends probably call the same thing AirPort, because that’s what Apple calls it.)
To get onto a wireless network, your PC needs a WiFi transmitter. Almost every laptop sold today has WiFi built in. You can also add it to a desktop in the form of a wireless card or USB adapter; either way, you gain a little antenna. Once all of your equipment is wireless, that’s it: your PCs can now communicate with one another.
The real point of all this, of course, is to get onto the Internet wirelessly, so you can join the ranks of people who casually move around from the TV couch to the desk with their WiFi laptops, in wireless touch with their cable modem or DSL connection the whole time.
In that case, you also need an access point (about $50)a box that connects to your router or hub and broadcasts the Internet signal to the whole house or office. The usual suspectsLinkSys, Netgear, D-Link, and otherssell these access points (also called base stations).
Now, 802.11 equipment has a range of about 150 feet, even through walls. In concept, this setup works much like a cordless phone, where the base station is plugged into the wall phone jack and a wireless handset can talk to it from anywhere in the house.
Wireless networking is not without its downsides, however. You may get intermittent service interruptions from 2.4-gigahertz cordless phones and other machinery, or even the weather. Furthermore, big metal things, or walls containing big metal things (like pipes) can interfere with communication among the PCs, much to the disappointment of people who work in subways and meat lockers.
Wireless networking isn’t as secure as a cabled network, either. If you drive around a typical middle-class American neighborhood these days with your wireless-equipped laptop turned on, you’ll be surprised at how many home wireless networks you can get onto, piggybacking onto other people’s cable modems because they failed to turn on the optional password feature of their wireless systems.
Still, nothing beats the freedom of wireless networking, particularly if you’re a laptop lover; you can set up shop almost anywhere in the house or in the yard, slumped into any kind of rubbery posture. No matter where you go within your home, you’re online at full speed, without hooking up a single wire.
Other Kinds of Networks
There are a couple of other network types that are worth looking into. Both of them are wired networks, but they use wires that you already have.
Phone line networks
Instead of going to the trouble of wiring your home with Ethernet cables, you might consider using the wiring that’s already in your housetelephone wiring. That’s the idea behind a kind of networking gear called HomePNA. With this system, you can use the network even when using the modem or talking on the phone, although you can’t make a modem and voice call simultaneously.
Unfortunately, the average American household has only two or three phone jacks in the entire house, meaning that you don’t have much flexibility in positioning your PCs. If you’re trying to avoid the plaster-dust experience of installing additional wiring, consider WiFi or Powerline networking.
Power outlet networks
Here’s another way to connect your computers without rewiring the building: use the electrical wiring that’s already in your walls. Unlike phone jacks, electrical outlets are usually available in every room in the house.
If you buy Powerline adapters (also called HomePlug adapters), you get very fast speeds (from 14 up to 100 Mbps), very good range (1,000 feet, although that includes the twists and turns your wiring takes within the walls), and the ultimate in installation simplicity. You just plug the Powerline adapter from your PC’s Ethernet or USB jack into any wall power outlet. Prestoall of the PCs are connected.
Powerline adapters are inexpensive (about $40 apiece) and extremely convenient.