Ethernet is the oldest network technology suitable for home use; although its earliest form was developed more than 30 years ago for business, Ethernet continues to be the most common wired network in both home and business environments, and it also can be used alongside wireless networks.

Many recent desktop and notebook computers incorporate a 10/100 Ethernet adapter. Depending on the devices it is connected to, this type of Ethernet adapter runs at either 10Mbps (also known as 10BASE-T) or 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) speeds. If your computer doesn’t include an Ethernet adapter, you can add one for less than $50 in most cases.

Ethernet network adapters communicate with each other through a centralized device known as a hub or a switch. Most network hardware—including broadband Internet access devices, home media players, and network-compatible video games—supports Ethernet.

HomePNA network adapters connect to your home telephone wiring, so you don’t need to run additional cables through your home. That feature makes HomePNA attractive, as does HomePNA’s capability of working without interfering with normal telephone use (you can plug your phone into the adapter; a separate cable runs from the adapter to the telephone jack in the wall).

Note: Understanding HomePNA, DSL, and Dial-Up Modems

HomePNA, DSL Internet access, and dial-up modem Internet access all use telephone lines, but they’re otherwise very different. HomePNA connects computers within your home to each other via the telephone lines in the walls of your home, and it can be used to share various types of Internet access. DSL Internet access piggybacks on the telephone line coming into your home, enabling you to connect to the Internet and talk on the telephone at the same time. Dial-up modems also connect to the Internet, but prevent you from using your telephone while the connection is active.

However, there are two major drawbacks to using HomePNA as your only network:

Consequently, I suggest you look at HomePNA primarily as a means of extending the reach of an Ethernet or wireless Ethernet network. Most HomePNA products on the market today support HomePNA 2.0, which runs at 10Mbps; avoid HomePNA 1.0 network adapters, which run at just 1Mbps. Although HomePNA 2.0 runs at only a tenth of the speed of Fast Ethernet, it is fast enough for accessing shared folders and shared printers and for Internet access.

HomePlug uses the power lines in your home to connect your computers. A HomePlug adapter plugs into an electrical outlet and uses a USB cable to connect to your computer.

Note: “Bridging” the Differences Between HomePNA and Ethernet

You can interconnect HomePNA and Ethernet networks together with a device known as a bridge. A bridge also enables you to add Ethernet-compatible devices to a HomePNA network.

HomePlug networks run at a top speed of 14Mbps, slower than Fast Ethernet, but fast enough for accessing shared folders and shared printers and for Internet access.

Like HomePNA, HomePlug can be connected to Ethernet networks through a bridge, so it can be used where Ethernet wiring is not feasible.

Wireless Ethernet (officially known as the IEEE-802.11 family of standards) is the hottest network technology right now, and no wonder. Radio waves carry network traffic hundreds of feet indoors and out, so you don’t have the mess or expense of network cable. The same hardware works in home and office wireless networks, so you can use your notebook computer, PDA, or smart phone with wireless Ethernet in both places to connect to the Internet. Wireless Ethernet home networking works with game consoles and home entertainment hardware, too, so you can create a 100% wireless home network that covers all your information, entertainment, and education needs.

Caution: Say Goodbye to HomeRF

The HomeRF network was a popular choice for wireless networking before the rise of Wireless Ethernet, but the HomeRF standard and products have been discontinued. HomeRF networks were sold by Proxim and other vendors. If you have a HomeRF network, it’s time to consider other options such as Wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi).

Because wireless Ethernet is based on Ethernet, it’s easy to connect these networks to each other. In fact, most wireless access points (which transmit signals between wireless Ethernet stations) include an Ethernet network switch. My home network includes both wired and wireless connections.

There are a couple of complicating factors to keep in mind when you consider wireless Ethernet:

Tip: Taking Wireless Ethernet Everywhere

When you travel, you can find wireless Ethernet access (often referred to as hot spots) available in an increasing number of public places, such as libraries, airports, hotels, and restaurants. So, take your notebook or PDA with you and keep an eye on your home network.

Wireless Ethernet and Wi-Fi are often considered the same thing. That’s not exactly correct. Wi-Fi hardware is wireless Ethernet hardware that has passed the Wi-Fi Alliance (http://www.wi-fi.org) certification tests for interoperability with other brands of hardware. In other words, all Wi-Fi Certified hardware is wireless Ethernet, but not all wireless Ethernet hardware is Wi-Fi Certified. If you want to mix-and-match wireless Ethernet hardware in your home network, or to help assure that you can use the same wireless Ethernet adapter at home and at the office or while traveling, be sure to look for Wi-Fi Certified hardware. Wi-Fi Certified hardware is marked with one of the labels shown in Figure 2.1. The simpler labels in the middle and right of Figure 2.1 have recently been introduced to help users more easily determine which 802.11 standard is supported by a particular Wi-Fi product. The check marks on the label at left indicate which Wi-Fi certifications and frequencies the device supports. The product in the figure supports IEEE 802.11b (11Mbps) speeds and WPA security, but can also connect with IEEE 802.11g (54Mbps) devices because both use the 2.4GHz frequency.

Figure 2.1. Typical product box labels indicating Wi-Fi certification.

Although there are three different flavors of Wi-Fi, the best one to build your home network around is IEEE 802.11g (Wireless-G). There are several reasons to make this your choice:

What about Wireless-B? You should consider Wireless-B hardware when Wireless-G hardware is not available for a particular task. For example, although Wireless-G network adapters and wireless access points are widely available, media adapters and other specialized equipment are often available only in Wireless-B speeds. Also, many notebooks with integrated Wi-Fi adapters, such as those equipped with the original version of Intel’s Centrino technology, support Wireless-B.

What about Wireless-A? Wireless-A was originally developed to provide better performance and longer range in a corporate environment than Wireless-B. Wireless-A uses a different radio frequency (5GHz) than a Wireless-G or Wireless-B network (2.4GHz), so it can’t connect to these networks unless dual-band (A+B or A+G) hardware is used. Dual-mode A+G network adapters enable a computer to connect to home and corporate wireless networks and public hotspots with a single adapter. Linksys has developed dual-band A+G hardware for home networks that routes streaming video and other high-bandwidth traffic over the 5GHz frequency while web surfing and other traffic is routed over the 2.4GHz frequency.

Wi-Fi and wireless Ethernet networks can be configured in a peer-to-peer mode for direct connection between computers or devices. However, this mode won’t work for Internet sharing or for connections to other networks. Instead, use the infrastructure mode, which uses a wireless access point to transfer signals between computers.

Tip: B & G—Happy Together, but at a Price

Many Wireless-G wireless access points and routers provide slower performance in networks that have both Wireless-B and Wireless-G hardware. If you’re looking for maximum performance in a mixed B/G network, be sure to look at product reviews at sources such as PC World (http://www.pcworld.com), PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com), PracticallyNetworked (http://www.practicallynetworked.com), and others to see which devices provide the best performance in a mixed network.

Many PC peripherals—such as printers, mice, and keyboards—and non-PC electronics products—from digicams to cell phones—have built-in Bluetooth capability. Bluetooth capability can be added to other devices.

However, Bluetooth is not a full-blown home network. Bluetooth is used between pairs of devices for data exchange, rather than as a full-blown network with the capability of sharing Internet access, printers, folders, or media files. Its speed is only 500Kbps.

The leading broadband Internet service types include cable (brought to you by your friendly cable TV company) and DSL (brought to you in cooperation with your local phone company). However, they’re not the only choices. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs, or out in the country, you can get satellite Internet if you have an unobstructed view of the sky toward the equator. Other emerging broadband technologies include wireless and powerline.

Regardless of the type of broadband service you choose, almost all use some type of external device (often called an XXX modem—fill in the X’s with the service type) to make the connection. Figure 2.2 shows a typical cable modem, which connects your computer to the cable TV network.

Figure 2.2. A typical cable modem, which can connect to Ethernet or USB ports. Photo courtesy of D-Link Systems, Inc.

Sharing an Internet connection may be the number one reason to build a home network. It’s been possible for several years, but as long as the Internet connection was being made with a slow dial-up modem that used the telephone line, it wasn’t all that useful to most users.

Dial-up Internet access prevents you from making telephone calls while you use the Internet, and you need special software or updated modems to be able to take telephone calls while you’re online. A dial-up connection is painfully slow for a single user, and even slower when two or more users are connecting at the same time.

However, when you combine broadband Internet access with a home network, everybody on the network and every device on the network can connect with the world’s largest network without tying up your telephone line.

There are a couple of ways to make the connection between your home network and the Internet:

The first method requires you to install Internet-sharing software on the PC connected to the Internet. Windows 98 Second Edition and later versions, including Windows XP, offer Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). One major drawback of ICS is that when the ICS host PC is turned off or locks up, Internet access fails for everybody on the network.

The second method helps protect all your PCs against intruders and doesn’t care which PCs are running at any time. Most routers made for wired Ethernet networks include a switch, so you can replace your switch with a router and use one device for both jobs. Similarly, wireless routers also act as access points, so one device connects the wireless stations to each other and to the Internet. Most wireless routers, such as the one shown in Figure 2.3, also include a switch, so you can network wired and wireless computers together.

Figure 2.3. The rear of a typical router incorporating a four-port Ethernet switch.

Tip: Router or Switch? Here’s How to Tell the Difference

Routers have a WAN (wide area network) port (Figure 2.3). The WAN port connects the router to the broadband Internet device. It’s often located next to the switch ports for each computer (they’re usually numbered starting with 1). If you don’t see a WAN port, you don’t have a router.

Routers are available for all the home networks covered in this book, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, HomePNA, and HomePlug.

In this configuration, you use Wi-Fi strictly for local networking between PCs and add a media adapter so you can play media through your home theater system. Figure 2.7 shows you how this network might look.

Figure 2.7. A Wi-Fi home network used to share files between PCs and a home theater system.

Optional components are available. In configuration 1, you can add any other Wi-Fi adapters that can run in ad hoc (peer-to-peer) mode, such as print servers, but you cannot share an Internet connection.

This configuration is great for working and learning at home. By sharing broadband Internet access with the network, everyone can use the Internet for learning, research, and fun. A print server enables you to put the printer where it’s convenient for all users. Figure 2.8 shows you how this configuration might look.

Figure 2.8. A Wi-Fi home network used to share broadband Internet access and a printer.

Optional components also are available with configuration 2. You can add any other Wi-Fi adapters that can run in infrastructure mode, such as media adapters, game adapters, wireless video cameras, and practically all other Wi-Fi devices.

In this configuration, you use a crossover RJ-45 cable to make a direct connection between two PCs’ Ethernet ports. You can’t share Internet access or add additional PCs with this configuration, but for simple folder and printer sharing between two computers, it works very nicely.

Note: Crossover and Standard CAT5/5e/6 Cables

A normal CAT5/5e/6 cable has matching wire pairs at each end. A crossover cable reverses some of the wire pairs. If you build a two-station network similar to the one shown in Figure 2.12 and later decide to expand it with a router or switch, you need to replace the crossover cable with standard cables that run from each PC to the switch. Be sure to mark the crossover cable so you don’t mix it up with standard cables.

Figure 2.12. A two-station Ethernet home network used to share files and printers between PCs.

This configuration has no optional components. You can share additional printers, drives, or similar devices connected to either PC in a two-station network, but you cannot add other computers or network devices. If either computer has an Internet connection (dial-up or broadband), it cannot be shared using this configuration.

In this configuration, you have a great setup for working and learning at home. By sharing broadband Internet access with the network, everyone can use the Internet for learning, research, and fun. A print server enables you to put the printer where it’s convenient for all users, and a media adapter allows you to play audio and other types of media through your home theater system. Figure 2.13 shows you how this configuration might look.

Figure 2.13. An Ethernet home network with shared broadband Internet access, a print server, and a media adapter.

Optional components are available in configuration 2. You can add as many computers or other devices as you want—including game systems, projectors, and others—by connecting them to the appropriate Ethernet adapter. If you need additional ports for new devices, you can add a switch to the uplink port on the router’s integrated switch.

In this configuration, your HomePNA network is used for file and printer sharing. Figure 2.15 shows you how this configuration might look.

Figure 2.15. A three-station HomePNA home network used to share files and printers between PCs.

Optional components include other HomePNA adapters, including media adapters.

In this configuration, everyone can use the Internet for learning, research, and fun. Figure 2.16 shows you how this configuration might look.

Figure 2.16. A HomePNA home network with shared broadband Internet access.

Optional components include other HomePNA adapters, including media adapters.