Type of network

The first thing that must be decided is what type of network is best for you. For most homeowners and homebased businesses the choices are between the conventional wired and the newer wireless networks. Niether one is for everyone as both have there advantages and disadvantages.

Wired

This is the most popular network setup, and with good reason—reliability. As long as you can get a wire from all of your computers to a central point then this is usually your best option.

• Transfer speeds of 100mbps and higher
• As transfer is over wires it is virtually interference free
• Less troubleprone then wireless as it is less complicated
• More secure as your data is transmitted over wires
• Less expensive than wireless

Wireless

If portability is a top priority then a wireless setup may be for you. Each computer has a wireless card that 'beams' data to a wireless router, the computers can be taken virtually anywhere in the house.

• Your laptop is now truly mobile, no more wires needed to access the internet or the other computers
• Computers in your house can be moved from room to room at will
• Buy another computer? Slap a wireless card in it, configure the card and you are on the network

You also have the option of going with a combo network, part wired and part wireless. This can give you the best of both worlds.

Setting up

Wired

Components needed to set up a standard network are:

• Router
• CAT5 computer cable
• Network interface card (NIC), one for each computer

To set up a wired network a length of CAT 5 computer cable must be run from a router to every computer that you wish to put on the network. The NICs are installed in the computers and the CAT5 is plugged into the NIC, the other end is plugged into a port on the router. The operating system is then configured for the network and (barring complications) you are set up.

Wireless

The setup is very similar to that of a wired network with some differences. The big difference is that there are no wires, the router and the NICs all send and recieve data through their own antenna. Setup can be a bit more complicated as channels must be set and other security issues must be considered.