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COPYRIGHT 2005 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.
If you have broadband Internet service and more than one computer in your home, there's growing reason to link them to create a home network.
A network allows a single broadband account to be shared throughout the home. (Alas, such networking is impractical with dial-up Internet service--one of several reasons to consider broadband. See our report on Internet service providers, page 19.)
Home networking is also getting a boost from improvements in the range, speed, and cost of wireless networks. If you own a laptop computer that has wireless capability, a wireless network now allows you to surf the Web at broadband speeds from most places in your house, yard, or apartment.
Wired networking is far from obsolete, however, since it still provides the most secure and reliable connections. Indeed, for many households the best solution for sharing a broadband connection-or a printer, music files, or digital photos--among multiple computers might be a network that includes both wired and wireless.
Such hybrids are easier and cheaper to assemble than they used to be. Routers, the boxes that connect computers and other equipment to the Internet, increasingly support both Ethernet, the primary technology used in wired networks, and
Wi-Fi, its wireless counterpart. They typically cost under $100, and are even offered free by some Internet providers when you sign up for broadband service.
HOW TO CHOOSE
Plan your network. You'll probably want to locate the router near the source of your broadband service--usually a cable or DSL modem. The router and the modem will be connected by an Ethernet cable. But the connections between the router and the computers in the network might be either wired or wireless. See First Things First, below, for guidance on deciding which connection to choose for each computer.
Choose a wireless router. That is the official term for the models that support both Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Leading brands include D-Link, Netgear, and Linksys. Even if you don't need wireless capability now, acquiring it costs little extra (perhaps $10 or so) compared with a wired model, and might spare your having to replace the router if you want to add a wireless device to it in the future.
Stick with the 802.11g wireless standard. Wi-Fi is continually evolving, with new standards designed to increase broadcast range and speed, thus increasing the network's ability to handle new types of information.
The name of the standard is usually listed on the router's package, as a...
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