To Be Wireless or Not To Be (Wireless)...
by Roger Barnette
The chief question in setting up a new home
network is whether or not to go wireless.
While all home networks connect your various
PCs to one another, a wireless one removes
the largest barrier to most people; the wires.
Typically, computers would be spead in various
places in the home affording each user an
adequate amount of privacy. However, as running
wires to each location is expensive if done
properly, or messy if run along the halls
of the house. The result is that computers
to be connected are usually grouped closely
together to minimize wiring and often
productivity is compromised.
The key to success in network planning, is
knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each.
A typical hardwire network allows up to 100 mbps
(mega-bits-per-second) across the network.
This is roughly around 7 times faster from
PC to PC at your home than you can connect to
the Internet over DSL (assuming 144 kbps).
If you are planning on moving a large number
of files or backing up your system over the
network on a regular basis this is crucial.
A typical wireless network includes the ability
to hardwire PCs to the network, but also have the
option of using a wireless protocol called "Wi-Fi".
Wi-Fi and other similiar protocols run at slower
speeds than the hardwire network, and while these
speeds are roughly the same as the DSL connection
for Internet users, it makes large file transactions,
that would otherwise run quickly grind to a slow
crawl. Further, the wireless protocols are
based on signal strength, so should there be a
lot of interferance in your home, the transfer
rate could be even slower.
In short, wireless networks are perfect to extend
the reach of a system to the internet, but for
solid network sharing of files on a regular
basis, don't underestimate the value of the
hardwire capabilities to do the job.
If you could use some help with your home
network, please feel free to email or call us.
(2002-10-14) Return to Archives
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