Networks a good fit for home

BY LARRY MAGID
Special to the Mercury News

Back in the 1950s -- when many families were still using the radio as their source of news and entertainment -- some forward-thinking pundits speculated that the average American family would someday have two TVs.

Now it's safe to say many homes have two or more computers. And along with them, home networks are increasingly common, especially now that people are discovering the benefits of broadband -- using a cable modem or DSL to access the Internet.

Besides the additional speed, broadband gives you the ability to share Internet access among all the machines in your home as long as they're connected to a local area network (LAN) or, as I like to call it, a FAN: family area network.

A network at home means you can share resources such as a single high-speed Internet connection, printers or files. It means you can scan a photo on one PC or Mac and open the file on another. It even makes it easier for Mom or Dad to help kids with their homework. When my son or daughter wants me to look at a school paper (which isn't all that often now that they're in high school and a lot smarter than I am), I can call it up on my PC even though it's stored on their hard disk.

A network even lets you span operating systems. It's possible to use a network to access Mac or Linux files from a Windows machine or vice versa. Many file types work on multiple platforms so, for example, you can use a Windows copy of Word to open a Word file created on a Mac. The same is true with standard graphic files such as JPEG or TIFF, but with some types of files, you may need to convert the data.

Open access

There are some issues associated with networking. Depending on how you set up permissions and passwords, everyone on your network could have access to everyone else's hard drive. That can be good, but it can also make it easier for someone to accidentally or deliberately erase files on another drive. If you're concerned about that, study up on security issues. All networking systems -- including the free networking built into Windows and Macs -- allow you to set passwords to control access to various drives and resources. You should also be careful that your network isn't visible to people outside your house. It doesn't take a Ph.D. in computer science for a hacker to access files on a machine connected to the Internet.

Fortunately, it isn't that hard to set up a ``firewall'' around your home network using free software like Zone Alarm (www.zone
alarm.com) or by using a hardware product that blocks others from accessing your hard drives.

One of the best things about a network is the ability to share a single broadband connection such as a cable modem or DSL line. I have a DSL in my home office but my kids, whose PCs are in another room, have equal access to it. That means that anyone can sit at any machine in the house and have immediate and high-speed access to the Web, e-mail or instant messaging. That's good, but it also makes it harder to control when and how the kids use the Net. In the old days, we used to know when the kids were online because we'd either hear the modem dialing or see a light go on one of the phones connected to the same line.

I remember being in bed late one night and seeing the phone light blinking. Sure enough, my son was online, even though it was way past his bedtime. Now that we have broadband, the only way I know he's online is to pop my head into the room where he uses the PC. That's one of the reasons that our kids don't have PCs in their bedrooms. If they want to go online, they have to use a machine in a public area of the house.

Before you take the networking plunge, however, consider your alternatives. The traditional route -- used by most businesses -- is to string Ethernet cables between rooms. Aside from any labor costs, it's relatively cheap because the only equipment you need is an inexpensive network adapter card for each PC along with one hub that acts like a power strip to connect each computer.

If you're sharing a single Internet connection, you might also need a router or a residential gateway. These devices take the single Internet Protocol (IP) address from the service provider and create multiple IP addresses for each one of your PCs. Not all broadband services require the use of a router or gateway. Some offer what is called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) which automatically assigns an IP address to each machine without having to use special equipment.

In addition to Ethernet cables, there are other ways to network your home. Wireless networks using a protocol called 802.11b are catching on in both homes and businesses. For this you'll need one ``access point'' -- kind of a transmitter and receiver for your network -- as well as a wireless network adapter for each PC. Wireless networks are expensive. Expect to pay at least $150 for the adapter plus $90 to $100 for each PC or laptop. Another issue with wireless is that it's not reliable in all circumstances. 802.11b has trouble penetrating metal. Stucco walls are sometimes reinforced with chicken wire, which can interfere with your network.

There are, however, some big advantages, especially if you have a laptop. The same adapter that you use at home can also connect you to a wireless LAN at the office or a wireless Internet adapter that's showing up in an increasing number of public spaces such as Starbucks coffee shops and airports.

Just in case it doesn't work in your home, be sure to buy your networking equipment from a store that accepts returns and keep the receipts and packaging.

Using phone lines

Another option is to use your phone lines. HPNA or Home Phoneline Networking (www.hpna.com) is a protocol that lets regular home phone lines carry data within the house without interfering with your phones. Linksys and several other companies make adapters -- starting at about $40 per PC, which enable you to create a home network without having to string new wires.

San Jose-based 2Wire (www.2wire.com) makes a line of residential gateways that give you a choice of wiring/wireless schemes. Its $199 HomePortal 100 lets you connect PCs via both Ethernet or HPNA phone lines. Its $399 100W gives you Ethernet, phone lines and 802.11b wireless so you can mix and match all three technologies on the same network.