Home networking is never as simple as merely connecting device A to device B. This guide will walk you through the jargon of setting up a home network. I'm focusing on PC networking here, but I will talk about consumer electronics gear in the context of delivering material from your PC to the living room, as well as Internet connectivity.Home networking guideSome of the following advice may apply to renters as well as to homeowners, but if you rent rather than own, you have much less control over your physical environment. Your landlord may not appreciate your punching holes in the walls to string Cat 5e cabling, for example.
What Do You Need From Your Network?
Before whipping out your credit card and buying up gear, figure out what you're trying to accomplish with your home network.
* Are you just looking to connect a couple of laptops and maybe a Wi-Fi-equipped cell phone to the Internet for Web access? You might be able to get by with a single 802.11n access point.
* Do you work at home frequently, and require access to a corporate network through VPN (virtual private network) technology? You'll need a good router that can handle VPN passthrough.
* Are you a serious online gamer? Do you connect to massively multiplayer online games or through services like PlayStation Network or Xbox Live frequently? You'll need not only to buy a good router but also to steep yourself in key router capabilities such as port forwarding.
* Do you watch TV through the Internet, using services like Hulu or the networks' own Websites? If you're streaming video from the Internet to multiple locations in your home, you'll want a reliable networking infrastructure--probably a wired network.
Determining the answers to such questions will go a long way toward ensuring that you build a network suitable for your home without spending too much in the process.
Your Network Infrastructure Options
Most homeowners have three basic choices for moving data around their abode: wired ethernet, Wi-Fi, and HomePlug (powerline networking).
Wired Ethernet
Ethernet cable
Nothing today beats gigabit ethernet for moving data around the home. (While 10-gigabit ethernet is starting to make inroads in corporate environments, it's still too expensive for most homeowners.) Gigabit ethernet translates to a maximum throughput of 125 megabytes per second, but you'll rarely see that speed; this is about as fast as a midrange hard drive, although networking overhead will make gigabit seem slower.
The primary standard for gigabit today is 1000Base-T, or IEEE 802.3ab. 1000Base-T runs over twisted-pair copper wiring. If you plan on using gigabit ethernet, you'll need Cat 5e (Category 5e) wiring. (You can also use Cat 6 cabling, though that's overkill for gigabit ethernet.)
Be careful when buying Cat 5e, however--some cheaper cables labeled "Cat 5e" may not be solid copper, or may be smaller than the standard 24-gauge, and your throughput on such lower-cost cables may be reduced. Make sure you buy cabling from a reputable manufacturer, and take care to avoid the cheapest cables.
The weakness of gigabit ethernet lies within its strength: It requires physical wiring. So you'll need to string Cat 5e to any room where you want that level of connectivity.
Structured Wiring
Structured wiringIf you're running other kinds of wiring around the house (telephone, fiber-optic, coax, or the like), you might be able to kill two birds with one stone with structured wiring, which bundles all of them in a single sheath. The term "structured wiring" actually encompasses a range of products, including wiring panels, junction boxes, and other items, but I'm mainly discussing the actual wiring here.
While the structured bundle is thicker than individual cables, it makes running cable throughout a home easier, though you'll still have to punch holes in your walls.
A structured wiring drop
In my home office, which is a basement room, I have Cat 5e running on the floor, in gathered bundles. This approach is fine in a single room that isn't intended for lots of visitors, but it's a less-than-optimal solution for social-gathering locations, like living rooms--you'll want to run the wires behind the walls there. (Check out SWHowto.com for more structured-wiring tips.)
If you can't (or won't) run cables through your house, the next best setup is Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi
I'll say it up front: if you're planning on using Wi-Fi for whole-house networking, think again. While 802.11n sounds great--offering throughput up to 300 megabits per second, and no wiring hassles--it isn't ideal if you want to do lots of media streaming and moving big files around.
For example, in my home we have a Windows Home Server with several user accounts. We also use the server as a repository for applications. Installing large apps over wired gigabit ethernet takes only a little more time than installing from a CD. But installing software over an 802.11n link can take a very long time.
On the other hand, if you simply want to connect a small number of PCs, Wi-Fi may be the right way to go for you. Wi-Fi is a quick and easy way to connect several business laptops, Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones, and light-duty devices such as an Apple iPad or a netbook.
If you like the convenience of Wi-Fi for connecting laptops and phones, you might consider a mixed network, using a combination of Wi-Fi and gigabit ethernet. I'll discuss one possible scenario for a mixed-mode network on the next page.
What Kind of Wi-Fi Do You Need?
If Wi-Fi is your only alternative, definitely go with 802.11n. The prices of 802.11n routers and access points have dropped substantially, so there's no point in using older 802.11g gear unless your networking needs are minimal. (Check out PCWorld's wireless router and networking reviews, while you're at it.)
Before you start shopping for Wi-Fi equipment, make sure you know what kind of equipment you're looking for--you'll see both "wireless routers" and "wireless access points" out there.
Cisco M20 802.11n wireless routerRouters take incoming traffic from the Internet and route the traffic to the correct system inside the network. They handle the task through a built-in NAT (network address translation) capability. Routers also act as firewalls between the internal network and the outside Internet, but that's an additional function.
Traditionally, access points simply existed to connect Wi-Fi-equipped PCs, and didn't handle routing functions. Early access points needed to be connected to a router. These days that definition has become a little fuzzy, and most home-oriented access points have built-in routers but lack wired-ethernet switches.
Home routers include wired-ethernet switches. Note that you can still find routers that connect only via wired links and don't have built in access points.
For our purposes here, I'll use the term "router" to mean a wired router with a built-in Wi-Fi access point. An access point, for this article, is a Wi-Fi router without built-in wired-ethernet switching. Routers don't cost much more than most access points, though, so consider one anyway--you never know if you'll need the added flexibility at some point.
The key to good 802.11n performance is to pick the right router. Routers can vary widely in features and performance, though if you have a small living area and only one or two systems connected to the router, you might never notice.
Small Net Builder offers more-detailed performance reviews, if you're concerned about throughput or area coverage. Lower-cost routers may have only fast ethernet support, and only a single Wi-Fi radio. When you're shopping for equipment, here are several key features to look for.
* Simultaneous dual band: Such routers can support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz or 5.8GHz. Only a few routers fully support 5.8GHz; you'll get increased bandwidth, but you'll also sacrifice some range, particularly through walls. Some newer routers may include a pair of 5GHz radios.
* Multiple antennas: You'll want an 802.11n router with two antennas at a minimum. Some home routers may have no visible antennas, but carry multiple antennas embedded in the case. That's okay for moderately sized homes.
* Replaceable antennas: If you have longer range requirements, consider a router with external, replaceable antennas. These typically attach to a small, coax-style connector. Antennas are widely available from a number of sources, and come in a variety of sizes and configurations.
Depending on your needs, you might also want to look for routers with QoS (quality of service) support for better media streaming, gaming support (if you're an online gamer), and guest access (if you have a stream of friends dropping by who might want to connect).
One key issue to note with Wi-Fi networks is that your bandwidth splits among multiple client connections. Think about an 802.11n router with 300-mbps bandwidth. Now imagine connecting ten PCs to that router via Wi-Fi. All ten systems must share that 300 mbps. Fortunately, most modern routers are pretty smart about allocating bandwidth as needed, and some routers allow you to set up bandwidth allocation limits.
WISH settings on a D-Link routerAnother feature that some routers support is WISH (wireless intelligent stream handling), which allows you to prioritize certain types of traffic to specific clients or sets of clients. You might want to enable WISH if you're streaming video from one system (a home server) to another (a living-room PC or network-equipped HDTV). Similarly, WISH is useful for making sure that VoIP connections remain reliable.
Extending Wi-Fi
There may be times you'll want to extend your Wi-Fi network to wired-only devices, like the Xbox 360 game console or BD 2.0 network-equipped Blu-ray players.
A wireless bridge is just the thing you need. You can find bridges with a single ethernet port for connecting one device, as well as bridges with a built-in ethernet switch for setting up several devices at the same time in one area.
Alternatively, you could just increase the range of your network. Standard access points often have a bridge or extender mode, but you can also find dedicated range extenders that essentially act as relays for your Wi-Fi signal.
Powerline Networking (HomePlug)
Netgear's powerline offeringsIf you want reliable bandwidth to particular computers or devices, but aren't able to string Cat 5e wiring, consider a HomePlug powerline networking setup. HomePlug uses your home's existing power lines for carrying network signals. The HomePlug standard has been evolving over the years, and current products include QoS (quality of service) settings and offer maximum throughput of up to 200 mbps.
That's less total bandwidth than 802.11n, but HomePlug connections are for single clients. You can plug an ethernet switch into a HomePlug connection, of course, but at the cost of splitting that bandwidth.
The problem with HomePlug is that your total bandwidth is at the mercy of your electrical wiring. Actual speeds vary wildly--brand-new adapters might get over 100 mbps in an ideal home but only 10 to 15 mbps in an older building.
Newer construction often means better wiring, but how that wiring is laid out can also be a factor. In my home, we have discontinuous wiring--the only way to route a signal from the basement to the top-floor bedrooms is through the circuit-breaker panel. That's often a bottleneck, and it can sometimes even completely block a HomePlug signal.
Mixed-Mode Networks
In my home, we use a mixed-mode, wired and Wi-Fi network. As I noted earlier, my basement office has bundles of Cat 5e wiring running along the baseboards. We also paid to have professional electricians run structured wiring to several key rooms in the house, including the living room, the family room, and the kids' bedroom. Everything is tied together with structured wiring into a central panel in the basement, in the storage area adjacent to one of the two home offices.
This works well for us: We have wired networking where we need it, and Wi-Fi access throughout the house. Of course, your needs may be simpler--you might want wired networking in just one room, and Wi-Fi in the rest of the house.
I've seen other people install their cable modem connection in the living room, along with an 802.11n router. As a result, their networked entertainment devices can have wired connections, while various laptops connect via Wi-Fi.
Depending on your needs, just a single router with four ethernet ports and Wi-Fi access-point capability may get the job done. Or your requirements may be more complex, in which case you'll prefer to run wires to multiple rooms, as well as to include wireless repeaters or range extenders as necessary.
To be continued
