Wireless Home Networking - Index of

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Part II: Making Plans
satellites, which orbit over the equator.) Where it’s available, however, growing
numbers of families are experiencing the benefits of always-on and very
fast Internet connectivity.
In some areas of the country, wireless systems are beginning to become available
as a means of connecting to the Internet. Most of these systems use special
radio systems that are proprietary to their manufacturers. That is, you
buy a transceiver and an antenna and hook it up on your roof or in a window.
But a few are using modified versions of Wi-Fi to provide Internet access to
people’s homes. In either case, you have some sort of modem device that
connects to your AP via a standard Ethernet cable, just like you would use for
a DSL, fiber-optic, cable modem, or satellite connection.
For the purpose of this discussion of wireless home networks, DSL, fiberoptic,
and cable Internet are equivalent. If you can get more than one of
these connections at your house, shop around for the best price and talk to
your neighbors about their experiences. You might also want to check out
www.broadbandreports.com, which is a Web site where customers of a variety
of broadband services discuss and compare their experiences. As soon as
you splurge for a broadband Internet connection, the PC that happens to be
situated nearest the spot where the installer places the DSL, fiber-optic, or
cable modem is at a distinct advantage because it is the easiest computer to
connect to the modem — and therefore to the Internet. Most DSL and cable
modems connect to the PC through a wired network adapter card. FiOS uses
a device called a router to connect to the PC via the same wired network
adapter card. The best way, therefore, to connect any computer in the home
to the Internet is through a home network.
You have two ways to share an Internet connection over a home network:
� Software-based Internet connection sharing: Windows XP, Windows
Vista, and Mac OS X enable sharing of an Internet connection. Each
computer in the network must be set up to connect to the Internet
through the computer connected to the broadband modem. The disadvantage
with this system is that you can’t turn off or remove the
computer connected to the modem without disconnecting all computers
from the Internet. In other words, the computer connected to the modem
must be on for other networked computers to access the Internet through
it. This connected computer also needs to have two network cards
installed — one card to connect to the cable/DSL modem or FiOS router
and one to connect to the rest of the computer on your network via an
AP or switch.
� Cable, DSL, or FiOS router: When you connect to one of these services,
the router used between the broadband modem and your home network
allows all the computers on the network to access the Internet without
going through another computer. The Internet connection no longer
depends on any computer on the network. These routers are also