Home & Small Office Computer Guide

Without a doubt the best way to network computers at home or in the office is via cabling running from a router out to every machine. Of course the cabling really does need to be concealed because cabling left lying around the floor is going to become a hazard very quickly.

Wireless has proven to be a great solution for anyone who can’t run a cable network but it is not a foolproof solution. There are still many factors to be considered before and during the installation of a wireless network. Many of these factors will be influenced by the brand of wireless router that you buy because that router is the heart of the network.

One of the major problems to be considered is speed. Wireless is not as fast as cable and the transfer speed that many manufacturers claim is often completely unobtainable. In fact the reality can be as much as half of what the manufacturers claim and that speed can be further reduced by the distance that the data has to travel and by what stands between the computer and the network hub.

If you are going to be moving really big files around the network then you will notice the drop in speed but for normal home usage the transfer rate is usually quite acceptable.

Another factor that needs to be considered is security.

Unless access to the router is secure anyone within wireless range will be able to use your bandwidth. Fortunately most routers come with the ability to be secured and you should always use them in secure mode.

Unfortunately at least one popular router here in Australia will not operate in secure mode with anything but matching hardware from the same manufacturer.

The wireless environment where you will be using the wireless network also needs to be considered. Is your network the only one in the immediate vicinity or are there others close by.

One way to find out is by downloading Netstumbler 0.4.0 from http://www.netstumbler.com. Install it on the computer that controls your network, run it and it will give you a report on other wireless networks that might be conflicting with yours.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the various wireless routers that are available.