Building a home network: Get everyone talking
By DWIGHT SILVERMAN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
WIFI has become the technology of choice for home users who want to link PCs to each other and the Internet.
Being able to put a device anywhere and have it talk to others of its kind is the ideal — when it works.
As I wrote in the first installment of this series on choosing, designing and troubleshooting a home network, I reworked my setup after a move from a house pre-wired with Ethernet cable to an unwired townhome (See www.chron.com/network1). Going from two to three stories presented challenges.
After examining the most common types of home networks — wired Ethernet, phone line, power line and wireless — I opted for wireless. Despite significant drawbacks, convenience and cost won out.
I have several computers I need to connect to each other and to the Internet and had to consider that our home office — where the cable modem and router live — is on the third story. The signal would have to reach a first-floor bedroom.
This requires a wireless router, which functions like a traffic cop on the network, directing the flow of information to the appropriate device. The other computers each need a wireless adapter, allowing them to talk to the router.
The flavor of WiFi I chose was 802.11g. This allows for theoretical speeds of 54 megabits a second, although the real rate is always less than that, for a variety of reasons.
While 802.11g is an accepted standard, vendors tweak it in different ways. While you should be able to mix hardware, it doesn't always work out.
I decided to stick with one brand, D-Link. I'd tested that company's 802.11g router, the DI-624 ($75), a while back and liked its ease of use and the reach of its signal.
I wanted at least one computer hard-wired to the router, so I could troubleshoot if something happened to the wireless signal. I also have an older computer used solely to store family music, video and data files. It also needed to be connected via Ethernet. That was the easy part — almost all routers have hard-wire connections.
My wife's computer is in the same room as mine, but the configuration there requires it be connected wirelessly. For that one, I chose an adapter that plugs into a USB port, D-Link's DWL-G120 ($59).
My older daughter's desktop is on the floor below the home office. That one called for a WiFi adapter that plugs into a PCI slot on the motherboard, D-Link's DWL-G520 ($59).
Far from the router
My younger daughter uses whatever notebook computer I'm reviewing at the time, which she'll often take to a ground-floor room that's the farthest point in the house from the router. Most modern notebooks have built-in WiFi, but to keep everything from the same manufacturer, I added a D-Link DWL-G650 ($50) that slides into the PC Card slot on most notebooks.
Finally, I have a TiVo digital video recorder that connects to the Internet for its program information. Tivo will only connect via certain types of older, 802.11b WiFi adapters. I couldn't use a D-Link model on it, so went with a USB-based Linksys WUSB-11 ($40).
Step by step
Now to set it all up, striving for maximum performance and tight security.
• Beginning with the router, I renamed the default password that provides access to its browser-based configuration screens. Not doing so could allow a tech-savvy evildoer to change it for you, locking you out of your own network.
• The nice thing about consumer WiFi routers is that they allow you to connect a network right out of the box, with minimal fuss. Security-wise, though, that's also the bad thing about them. Key security features are usually off by default, and turning them on should be a priority.
Wireless security involves encrypting — a scrambling system — data that moves between devices. The same key or password is used on both the sending and receiving end. There are different kinds of WiFi encryption techniques, the two most common being WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (WiFi Protected Access). While WPA is considered tougher, I opted for WEP because not all wireless adapters support WPA.
One drawback to encryption — it can slow performance and reduce range. But the alternative is to leave your wireless network wide open.
• Setting up a WiFi network includes giving it a name, known as an SSID (Service Set Identifier). This lets you see the network in a computer with a WiFi adapter, making it easier to connect. But most routers let you hide the SSID by not broadcasting it. While a techie with the right wireless-sniffing software could see a hidden network name, the average user will never know your network is there if you turn off SSID broadcasting.
• Most of the computers on my network had D-Link adapters that are capable of faster speeds, up to 108 Mbps, with a feature D-Link calls AirPlus Xtreme G. I set up the router to recognize these devices but still allow the slower adapters to talk to it.
• Finally, I wanted to minimize interference from other wireless networks. As mentioned last week, 802.11g works on 11 different channels. All but three (1, 5 and 11) overlap radio frequencies. I wanted to make sure mine didn't use the same channels used by my neighbors.
I employed a nifty little device made by Canary Wireless called the Digital Hotspotter ($50) to pick an unused channel. About the size of a fat Zippo lighter, it scans for wireless networks and, when it finds one, shows the network name, whether encryption is turned on and the channel it's using.
How'd it all come together?
Nothing ever works perfectly — after all, we are talking about computers. I had some ... issues.
Next week, I'll tell you how everything worked — or didn't — and what I did to fix the problems.
HoustonChronicle.com - Computing
By DWIGHT SILVERMAN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
WIFI has become the technology of choice for home users who want to link PCs to each other and the Internet.
Being able to put a device anywhere and have it talk to others of its kind is the ideal — when it works.
As I wrote in the first installment of this series on choosing, designing and troubleshooting a home network, I reworked my setup after a move from a house pre-wired with Ethernet cable to an unwired townhome (See www.chron.com/network1). Going from two to three stories presented challenges.
After examining the most common types of home networks — wired Ethernet, phone line, power line and wireless — I opted for wireless. Despite significant drawbacks, convenience and cost won out.
I have several computers I need to connect to each other and to the Internet and had to consider that our home office — where the cable modem and router live — is on the third story. The signal would have to reach a first-floor bedroom.
This requires a wireless router, which functions like a traffic cop on the network, directing the flow of information to the appropriate device. The other computers each need a wireless adapter, allowing them to talk to the router.
The flavor of WiFi I chose was 802.11g. This allows for theoretical speeds of 54 megabits a second, although the real rate is always less than that, for a variety of reasons.
While 802.11g is an accepted standard, vendors tweak it in different ways. While you should be able to mix hardware, it doesn't always work out.
I decided to stick with one brand, D-Link. I'd tested that company's 802.11g router, the DI-624 ($75), a while back and liked its ease of use and the reach of its signal.
I wanted at least one computer hard-wired to the router, so I could troubleshoot if something happened to the wireless signal. I also have an older computer used solely to store family music, video and data files. It also needed to be connected via Ethernet. That was the easy part — almost all routers have hard-wire connections.
My wife's computer is in the same room as mine, but the configuration there requires it be connected wirelessly. For that one, I chose an adapter that plugs into a USB port, D-Link's DWL-G120 ($59).
My older daughter's desktop is on the floor below the home office. That one called for a WiFi adapter that plugs into a PCI slot on the motherboard, D-Link's DWL-G520 ($59).
Far from the router
My younger daughter uses whatever notebook computer I'm reviewing at the time, which she'll often take to a ground-floor room that's the farthest point in the house from the router. Most modern notebooks have built-in WiFi, but to keep everything from the same manufacturer, I added a D-Link DWL-G650 ($50) that slides into the PC Card slot on most notebooks.
Finally, I have a TiVo digital video recorder that connects to the Internet for its program information. Tivo will only connect via certain types of older, 802.11b WiFi adapters. I couldn't use a D-Link model on it, so went with a USB-based Linksys WUSB-11 ($40).
Step by step
Now to set it all up, striving for maximum performance and tight security.
• Beginning with the router, I renamed the default password that provides access to its browser-based configuration screens. Not doing so could allow a tech-savvy evildoer to change it for you, locking you out of your own network.
• The nice thing about consumer WiFi routers is that they allow you to connect a network right out of the box, with minimal fuss. Security-wise, though, that's also the bad thing about them. Key security features are usually off by default, and turning them on should be a priority.
Wireless security involves encrypting — a scrambling system — data that moves between devices. The same key or password is used on both the sending and receiving end. There are different kinds of WiFi encryption techniques, the two most common being WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (WiFi Protected Access). While WPA is considered tougher, I opted for WEP because not all wireless adapters support WPA.
One drawback to encryption — it can slow performance and reduce range. But the alternative is to leave your wireless network wide open.
• Setting up a WiFi network includes giving it a name, known as an SSID (Service Set Identifier). This lets you see the network in a computer with a WiFi adapter, making it easier to connect. But most routers let you hide the SSID by not broadcasting it. While a techie with the right wireless-sniffing software could see a hidden network name, the average user will never know your network is there if you turn off SSID broadcasting.
• Most of the computers on my network had D-Link adapters that are capable of faster speeds, up to 108 Mbps, with a feature D-Link calls AirPlus Xtreme G. I set up the router to recognize these devices but still allow the slower adapters to talk to it.
• Finally, I wanted to minimize interference from other wireless networks. As mentioned last week, 802.11g works on 11 different channels. All but three (1, 5 and 11) overlap radio frequencies. I wanted to make sure mine didn't use the same channels used by my neighbors.
I employed a nifty little device made by Canary Wireless called the Digital Hotspotter ($50) to pick an unused channel. About the size of a fat Zippo lighter, it scans for wireless networks and, when it finds one, shows the network name, whether encryption is turned on and the channel it's using.
How'd it all come together?
Nothing ever works perfectly — after all, we are talking about computers. I had some ... issues.
Next week, I'll tell you how everything worked — or didn't — and what I did to fix the problems.
HoustonChronicle.com - Computing
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