It is amazing how simple it is to establish a wireless home network in your home or office. I actually believe it is easier to set up a wireless network than it is to get the components out of those hard plastic cases.

However, you need to do some planning up front. The time spent in assessing your networking needs, do a little research about what is available to meet those needs and shop for the best values for the components you need will save you time and aggravation as you set it up.

Here is a list of items you may want to consider before you head off to the ‘gadget’ store:

What kind of computers will you be connecting to the network? Do you have PC’s or Macs…or both?

Will the network be a hybrid mixed users of wireless and hard wired computers?

What wireless standard will you be installing? (See my article. “What Do I Need to Know about Choosing the Right Wireless Network?” for more about standards)

Computer Adapters – How will you be connecting each computer to the wireless network? Internal PC adapter? USB device? PC or PCMCIA Card?

Are you going to want to access a printer on the network? How many? How is the printer connected today? Does the printer need to be attached to a computer to be accessed or will you provide direct network access through a print server for your users?

What will be your Internet access point? Do you have a broadband (DSL/Cable modem) connection? Are you using dial-up? Is the Internet connection shared from a single computer or do you incorporate the use of a router?

How much money do you have budgeted for building the network?

Think about the future use of your network for a couple of minutes. Do you plan on running an entertainment media server for accessing MP3 music files, streaming video, downloading movies or television shows? What about moving to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services to replace land-line services?

How will you secure your network? What steps do you need to take to make sure that your network prevents unauthorized access from your Internet connection, your file systems and keeping snoops (or worse!) out of your computers?

By taking a few minutes to write down these questions into categories, you can quickly organize your thoughts into question and answers. This will help you determine the type of components you will need to build what I call a ‘Three-S’ wireless network from the very start: Secure, Stable and Safe

By: Jeff Runyon

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