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COPYRIGHT 2002 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.
If your household is among the 23 million nationwide that have more than one personal computer, it may be time to consider networking them. If the phrase "networking your home" brings up images of goofy home-automation concepts like the Internet-enabled refrigerator, you may need to shake off the aftereffects of the late, great dot-com marketing blitz. The networking this report is about has nothing to do with computerizing your kitchen. Networking your home means creating communication links among your computers so that they share a high-speed Internet connection, printers, and data files.
Two-thirds of homes with broadband that have more than one computer are already networked, according to a national survey of 1,500 online users that we recently conducted. It's easy to see why. A broadband connection is fast enough to accommodate several users simultaneously, usually with no noticeable decline in speed.
When computers can't share that connection, family members can't all access the Internet at the same time. Either they take turns or the family pays for an additional Internet connection. Networking means that everyone can surf the web when they want via a single $40- to $50-per-month connection.
A network also lets you share a printer--though you'll need a model identified as "networkable" by its manufacturer. Getting by with one printer may save enough to justify making it a more costly model, say, a laser that prints much more quickly than most. Or, if you own a laser printer and color inkjet, everyone can have access to both.
If you often need to move files from one computer to another, a network will do that--in seconds. But file-sharing alone isn't reason enough to set up a network. You can share files without a network--a bit less conveniently--by e-mailing them to family members or by carrying them on a diskette or CD, the networking approach that computer people call "sneakernet."
A home network isn't for everyone. But if it appeals to you, this guide can help you decide which of the four technologies--wired Ethernet, Phoneline, Powerline, or wireless--best meets your needs. The main report, table, and sidebars explain the benefits of each technology, its costs, and what we learned about it from our engineers, other staff members who installed networks in their homes, and visitors to ConsumerReports.org who told us about their own experience with home networks.
WIRED OR NO STRINGS: YOUR OPTIONS
There are four main technologies that allow you to connect home computers, both desktops and laptops, to one another. The chart on page 18 summarizes their respective costs, advantages, and drawbacks. Although you can build an entire home network using just one approach, consider the different types we describe here as building blocks you can combine to create a single network that suits your needs....
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
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