What is the best way to setup a home network?

I love my new high-speed cable modem and want to be able to get more than one computer connected to it. What is the best way to network my home computers so they can all use the cable modem?

- Dave

This question was answered on January 21, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Anyone that has gone from a dial-up connection to a ‘broadband’ connection can understand your enthusiasm Surfing the net at high-speeds tends to change your whole view of the Internet.

With the addition of a second or even third computer in many households, the need to safely share a broadband connection is becoming a very common dilemma According to International Data Corp (IDC), by the end of 2000 about half of all U.S households had a computer and more than 20 million of those had more than one computer

There are a number of different options available to securely share your cable modem (or DSL) depending upon what cabling is available in your home The most common are Phone-LANs (Local Area Network), structured wiring LANs and wireless LANs.

Option 1: Phone LAN - The simplest method for sharing two computers on a single connection is through what is known as a Phone-LAN, which uses the existing telephone wires in your home to establish the connection without disturbing the your phone usage A typical phone wire has 4 conductors, but only 2 of them are used by your phone, so the Phone-LAN devices can use the other 2 wires to network the computers.

The biggest advantage to this method is cost (no need to run wires) but there are several drawbacks Phone-LANs are essentially squeezing a 4-wire network onto 2 wires, which limits its performance It also relies on one of the machines to be the host, which means the other machine is at the mercy of the host If the host is turned off or has a problem, the other machine(s) won’t have Internet access.

Option 2: Hard-wired Ethernet - The standard home network relies on structured data cable known as CAT5 that runs from each computer to the location of your cable modem Each computer will need an Ethernet card installed and to securely connect the computers behind a ‘firewall’ you will want to purchase a ‘broadband router’ with a built in hub The firewall is what keeps the bad guys out of your network by acting as a ‘doorman’ to any traffic that attempts to access your machines from the outside world.

Option 3: Wireless - The method that is getting all of the press is known as ‘WiFi’ or 802.11b wireless networking, because most homes were not pre-wired during construction with proper data grade cables Since installing cable after the fact can be very expensive, the wireless approach is gaining popularity.

802.11b networks use the same frequency (2.4 GHz) as many of today’s powerful cordless phones and have a range of around 150 feet In addition to the broadband router/hub you will need a ‘wireless access point’ that acts as the transmitter/receiver for the network traffic Many manufactures such a Dlink, LinkSys, SMC and NetGear make combination units that have the broadband router, the hub and the wireless access point all in one unit.

For the most part, wired is better than wireless, so if running CAT5 in your home is feasible, do so.

I have posted a diagram, basic requirements and the pros and cons for each of the methods of home networking at <a href="http://datadoctors.com/hnet " target="_blank"><font color="#003399">datadoctors.com/hnet </font></a> so that you can get a visual overview

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