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Running multiple computers at one location connected to
the Internet is becoming the standard,
even in the home.
I know lots of people who are trying to figure out what
to do, how to do it and
what to do when it doesn't work.
- To
help you understand your options, and see where the
future might be, I decided to show you what
most
homes would have. I'm not endorsing any specific
vendor - I haven't done an exhaustive search,
there
are always newer devices available, etc., but I
think being specific about one configuration
that a
person actually is using helps the most.
Overview
Here is a
diagram of a typical setup. A cable modem connected me to
the Internet and a router with 4 ports.
There's usually one
or more PC's connected to the router by 10BaseT wire and a
laptop and/or an awkwardly
located wireless desktop
connected to the router either by a wire and a standard
10BaseT LAN card or to
the wireless access point via a
pc-card and a USB networking device ...
Let me walk
through this in detail.
Cable Modem
Most have a
cable or DSL modem from a local provider. Your provider
claims 1.5Mbit per second maximum
300Kb maximum (you can get
higher bursts at off-peak hours, half that when it's busy).
They charge around $40 a month.
The cable
modem gives you a place to plug in a LAN cable with an RJ-45
connector just like any 10BaseT
Ethernet port on a LAN. The
cable modem expects a single network interface adapter with
a particular (MAC)
address on the other end of the LAN cable
you plug into it. The cable modem makes that single LAN
connection appear to the Internet as a single IP address.
Normally that adapter is in a single PC.
Router/Switch
The router has such an adapter to connect to the cable
modem, but it also has one or more other places to plug in
other LAN connections (it is a network switch with respect
to those other cables). The router gives devices connected
into its LAN connections their own individual IP addresses
(local ones) and translates them in a way so as to share the
single external IP address that is available through the
cable modem. This is called Network Address Translation
(NAT). In the process of doing this, most home/SOHO routers
like the one I have also act as firewalls controlling access
from the Internet outside to the network inside.
There are many different makes, but illustrated here is a
Linksys 4-Port Cable/DSL Router. Here's what it looks
like on the floor under a PC with the power and other cables
coming out of it:
You can configure this router by connecting a PC to it with a
10BaseT connector and using a browser displaying a particular
URL. You can set all sorts of parameters. The instructions tell
you how to set it up. (The defaults are fine for most
everything.)
When you configure your router you may find out that you can
specify that it pretend to your cable modem that it's any
MAC address you want. This lets you add the router to your
computer setup without needing to tell your cable company
you have a new adapter address - you just make the router
pretend it's your PC's address. (The router uses a
different, unique address to your inside network.)
The router/switch can control a LAN in your home/office. You
just plug computers into it using 10BaseT cables and they are
connected to the Internet for browsing, email, etc. Some bring
their laptops home from work or a trip and plug it in and things
seem to just work with no new settings.
Since the computers connected to it are on a common LAN, you
can share printers, hard-drives, zip drives, etc., just like
any other LAN.
Until now most folks had used Windows' Internet Connection
Sharing for networking and it was a nightmare to configure.
That's something implemented in software built into Windows
starting with Windows 98.
(You can add it by going to the Control Panel's Add/Remove
Programs section, clicking on the Windows Setup tab, and looking
at the Details of Internet Tools to make sure that Internet
Connection Sharing is installed.) Windows Internet Connection
Sharing requires you to have two network cards in your computer
(or a dial-up connection and a LAN card). It connects to the
Internet on one and to a LAN on the other. It only works when
the connected computer is running, and most people found that it
slowed overall connections some with its overhead. The router is
a much cleaner solution, and usually has a built-in hardware
firewall for added protection and eliminating the need for a
software firewall.
Until now most folks had used Windows' Internet Connection
Sharing for networking and it was a nightmare to configure.
That's something implemented in software that started with Windows
98 and today it just keeps getting better and easier.
(You can add it by going to the Control Panel's Add/Remove
Programs section, clicking on the Windows Setup tab, and looking
at the Details of Internet Tools to make sure that Internet
Connection Sharing is installed.) Windows Internet Connection
Sharing requires you to have two network cards in your computer
(or a dial-up connection and a LAN card). It connects to the
Internet on one and to a LAN on the other. It only works when
the connected computer is running, and most people found that it
slowed overall connections some with its overhead. The router is
a much cleaner solution, and usually has a built-in hardware
firewall for added protection and eliminating the need for a
software firewall.
Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
While many offices are fully wired, most homes are not. Rather
than mess up your walls and spend hours pulling cables or pay an
electrician lots of money, you may decide to use wireless.
A type of wireless system that is extremely popular is
called 802.11n or Wi-Fi. It runs up to 154 Mb/second, about
as fast as a normal 10BaseT LAN and much faster than a
1.5Mb/second (maximum) cable modem.
You got to try using that type of system at the PC Forum
and Agenda conferences, and at Fall Comdex 2006 that it is
becoming a standard of choice all over the place in
business, education, and the home. Walt Mossberg recommended
it in one of his columns. Microsoft and Mobilestar are
putting it in Starbucks.
Wayport is putting it in airport lounges and hotels around
the USA. You should decide to buy equipment that conforms to
that standard. The current standard is 802.11n, which is 15
times faster than that. They have lots of specifications with numbers for names.
"647" is the Standard Specification Format Guide and Test
Procedure for Single-Axis Laser Gyros. "802" is the Local Area
and Metropolitan Area Networks standards (LAN/WAN). Within that,
"802.3" is Ethernet, "802.5" is Token Ring, etc., and "802.11"
is Wireless LAN. "802.11b/g/n" is a particular version referring
to 2.4GHz radio using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum and CSMA/CA
that runs at up to 154 Mb/second. To learn more about 802.11b/g/n,
you can read a 3Com whitepaper about 802.11b or take a look at
the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance web site
(especially their whitepapers and glossary). That Alliance is
trying to get the name Wi-Fi accepted as a common term for
802.11b (and a trademark
Wireless Access Adapters
After buying your wireless 802.11g router, to make any part
of your LAN wireless you need what's called a Wireless
Adapter for each of your computers. Most common are the
pccard for laptops, wireless NIC's for desktop and wireless
USB adapter in awkward areas. The wireless adapter connects
to your LAN like any other device and then lets any computer
connected to it wirelessly act as if it were on the same
LAN.
Here's a picture of a typical unit (a Linksys WAP11):
You configure the settings in
the unit by either connecting a computer to it with a USB
connector (some other vendors use serial) or on the local
LAN with a utility they give you. The default configuration
worked fine, though you can end up making some modifications
to make the system more secure. You need to set the name of
your ESSID (your logical wireless LAN). This can be most any
name or you can keep the default (usually that default
"Linksys" or whatever router you have -- surprise!). You
should enable encryption (Wire Equivalent Privacy, or WEP)
by setting a series of keys. In some units you type in a
phrase and it uses that to give you a series of hex digits
that make up the key. It takes a couple of minutes to
configure.
Wireless Adapter Types
To connect wirelessly, your PC or laptop needs a wireless
adapter. Typical is a 3Com Wireless AirConnect PC card. It
is a normal PCMCIA Type-II card that goes into the slot in
you laptop just like a LAN card. It may have an antenna that
sticks out:
You install the PC card like any other PC card. It needs a
driver. In this case after after getting the LAN set up you
should download the latest drivers and firmware for the card
from the Manufacturers web site and upgraded your system.
When you configure the driver you type in the ESSID
(Wireless LAN Service Area name) and the encryption key
information. That's it. Everything else seems to just work -
mostly!
Your PC card may come with some utilities, such as one that
displays the signal strength in real time. Here is a picture of
that utility at one point when the signal wasn't so good and it
automatically slowed down to 5.5Mb/second. Next to it is a
picture taken outside of a laptop over 150 feet away from the
house (the wireless access point is next to an outside wall,
inside the house). You can see a website on the screen (this
wireless stuff really does work!):
There are adapters for desktop PCs that let you use the
wireless PC cards. You plug the adapter boards into a PCI
slot and then plug the same type of card you use on a laptop
into that board. There's also USB devices available as well.
Realities of wireless
While it all generally works, you have to remember that this
is wireless, just like cell phones, walkie talkies, etc...
Line-of-sight outdoors can work quite a distance, but
indoors, with walls and electrical devices, you get more
interference and much less obvious coverage patterns. (For
example, the area on the other side of a wall behind bricks
can be a dead zone, just 10 feet from away reception can be
just fine.) Also, other 2.4GHz devices, like some cordless
phones and the upcoming Bluetooth devices, can cause
temporary gaps in operation. Periodically you may have to
click on a link a second time. You can also optimize the
location of your router and/or wireless access point. Higher
is better I hear. Still, it is pretty useful. It's great
checking email along with the newspaper at breakfast without
any wires. If you see something you need to print out, just
click on "Print" and soon you'll hear the faint sounds of
the printer in the other room on another PC doing its thing.
Some hints:
Folks who have their Internet access coming into the
basement and therefore put their wireless
access point in
the basement report poor reception in other parts of the
house. Some vendors' access points
are more effective than
others (I don't know which), so ask around. Within a house,
if you don't have great
placement, think of it like
shouting: voices don't carry through too many walls, and
local wireless is like
shouting. Remember what cell phone
service is like in many buildings: Some rooms are dead
zones, other
places are OK. Building materials and antenna
placement matter. As an example, read about David
Coursey's
struggles with 802.11b in his home in his
AnchorDesk essay.
Setting it all up
Setting this
all up is not very hard - no more so than most any other
multi-part PC accessory setup,
like a PDA with
synchronization or a peripheral with special software. Just
don't forget to buy the cables
and have enough places to
plug things in...
Approximate
cost today: Wireless 4 port 802.11n Router - $30 to $150, Wireless
Access Point - $100 to
several hundred, Wireless PC card/s
for your laptop/s - $25 to $100 each (most new laptops come
with
built-in Wi-Fi these days), desktop PC PCI wireless
adapter/s - $25 to $90 (you need to add one of the
cards to
each desktop computer or use a USB adapter). There are various combination
devices (router/wireless access points)
and bundles
(including some cards) available so shop around for
bargains. Several companies are making
these, with new ones
announced all the time. Prices have really dropped in the
past year. Don't buy
802.11a/g at this point.
802.11n is very cheap today and much faster & more reliable.
I hope this
information helps you decide what to do for your home
network setup.
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