A Home network system come in two basic types. These are cabled (or wired) or wireless. Whichever type home network system you opt for, you basically find out that they both will have some of the same types of equipment, although the specifics will differ between the two.
For any two parts of the network to talk to each other, there has to be a route between them. In a wired network, this is done by physical means – the cables (generally cat 5 or Ethernet cables). These cables come in lengths varying from a few feet to hundreds of yards long. There is a limit to how long a cable can be before a router or a switch must be put in between cables; however, this is a lot longer than most people setting up a home network will need to be concerned with.
With a wireless network, you can’t see the path between components, but they are no less real. Instead of cables, radio waves carry data. Though they may be affected by interference, just as a radio or TV signal, this is almost never an issue in a home network, almost never. Be aware though that metal inside your walls, microwaves, solar flares and the like can interfere with a wireless signal. Even walls can reduce the strength of a wireless signal.
When setting up our home network, you’ll need some equipment to send and receive the signals that will be carried, whether by radio or cables. A network interface card (or NIC), typically an Ethernet card is one component that you will need. These are common and very inexpensive and come in different range of speeds, anywhere between 10MB and 1 GB. The speeds depend on the card you use – a 802.11g wireless network works at 54MB per second, while a 802.11b network runs at 11MB per second. As prices keep dropping, the lower speeds are becoming less commonly seen.
A network interface card can be either cabled or wireless. The cards in two different devices on a network are hardly ever connected directly by cables, but rather are connected to a switch or a router.A switch is a simple device; it’s like a box with ports for the Ethernet cables to connect to. They are extremely inexpensive and work well for networks which don’t need an internet connection. Routers are more commonly used these days though; sometimes multiple routers will be used by home network builders.
A router does exactly as the name implies; it directs network traffic. It performs this function by means of IP addresses and software created for sending and receiving data between devices. Routers can be either wireless or cabled. Each can be found in many different models from different manufacturers. There are different built in software’s with different functionality; some feature antivirus software built in. These routers differ in their number of ports (which decides how many devices can be plugged in to the router). There is also a difference in the speeds at which they operate; they may not run at the speed they are rated at. For instance, a router rated at 54MB may actually run at 6MB.
There are other components which will be part of your home network, such as a cable, DSL or satellite modem for internet connection. The devices listed above are what you’ll need to get started though with the basic set up of your home networks system..
By: Joseph Nyamache
Posts Tagged ‘Setting Up A Home Network’
Setting a Home Network System
February 10th, 2010How to Setup a Home Network – Choosing Your Network Equipment
February 4th, 2010
If you want to build a personal network, planning ahead can save both money and time especially if you ever know you will grow your local area network in the distant future.
The whole point of coming up with a plan is to realize what you actually need to put in your network, after all there are many more things available than just having computers that connect to the internet.
This includes WiFi, cables, or even both
Although you might be only using wired connections, will you be able to use WiFi in the future?
Almost everyone at some point, and the difference in prices between a wired router and wireless router is small, and just about every wireless router still have a wired ethernet hub built into them meaning we can still connect both wired and wireless devices.
The whole point most people want a home network setup is to share an internet connection, in this case it’s imperative the security and the router has the latest firmware, this includes Wireless Security, Router Security & each computer must have a firewall, anti-spyware and a firewall.
Long gone are the days of having to share your hard drive or have a special computer, network attached hard drives are easy to setup and they typically have space from 500gb to 2tb. Some even have a wireless option.
The speed of a network can be a major factor if you send big files, truth be told a cabled network will always be faster than wireless, as a rule of thumb use cabled where possible and wifi where you have to, i.e laptops.
One of the big mistakes made when many of us are setting up a home network in the house is thinking about future expansions to the network, spending a little less today will only mean you spend more down the road, work within your budget but be realistic, setup the network that suits your needs and and budget.
By: Alex D Smith
How to Set Up and Install Your Own Home Network
October 22nd, 2009
Setting up a home network doesn’t have to be difficult. It also depends on what time of home network you want to install. Maybe you want to install a wired network or maybe you want to install a wireless network. It depends on the capabilities of the computers within your home as to what route you’re going to take.
The wireless network
The wireless network is probably your easiest network to install. That’s because you don’t have to hide a cord all the way around your home. As a matter of fact, you just need to have a computer that is wireless capable and a router. Seems easy enough, right? Well, it can still be a bit tricky because you have to program that router so that all of your computers can talk to it.
So let’s say that your computer is not wireless capable. What do you do now? Well, you need to get a wireless adapter to plug into the computer or you need to plug it directly into the router with an Ethernet cable. In homes with multiple computers, there is sometimes that one computer that is not wireless capable. If the others are, they can simply talk to the router from wherever they are. If they are not wireless, then Ethernet cables need to be run from those computers to the router. The router is the hub for your network.
Furthermore, you have to set up your Domain Name System so that the router knows what’s going on. You also have to set IPs and your Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. If you don’t do these things, then your computers are not going to be talking to each other the way you want them to. They have to know who and what they are talking to in order to ensure that permission is granted. You don’t want someone to sit outside of your home on a laptop and pull off of your network. They could gain access to very personal and very sensitive information if you don’t set everything up the way that it needs to be set up. If you’re not sure how to do this, then it is time to seek professional help.
The wired network
This can be a bit more difficult than the wireless network for the simple fact that you have wires you have to hide everywhere. Everything else as far as DNS, IPs, and DHCP applies because someone on the outside could still compromise your network. Again, you don’t want that to happen. What if you have financial information on your computer? Someone could very easily get a hold of credit card and bank account numbers. So again, if you have difficulty with setting up your network, it is a good idea to look into having a professional take care of the job for you.
Once you have your network set up, you’ll be able to share files with the other computers in your home. You can share video files, music files, and so much more. It is a lot of fun to be able to share all of that information. It is almost like having external hard drives all over your home. You’re able to access information beyond your own hard drive and beyond the Internet. Those are the reasons why more and more homes are installing home networks. When something is stored into the “shared” folder on the computer, other computers are able to access it. Permissions can also be set to allow other folders to be accessed from another computer in the home. This is a good way to keep an eye on the kids and see what it is they’re downloading while on the Internet.
By: Anthony Williams Sr.
