Computers love to talk to each other!

More and more families have more than one computer these days. A home network is the most efficient way to share printers, scanners, CD/DVD drives, file folders, and your Internet broadband connection. A network will also let you back up your data onto another computer effortlessly and automatically. Networking is here and is here to stay.

There are two ways to network the computers and they can be used independently or in conjunctions to suit your needs.

Wired network:

In a wired network, all PCs and laptops are connected to the router by physical cables. This kind of network is typically called LAN or Ethernet. The network protocol used here is called 802.3 or Ethernet. The wired network is faster, more reliable, and more secure. Wired network can achieve speed of 10Mbps (mega bits per second), 100Mbps, or 1,000Mbps (also called gigabits). The speed of network is also referred to as bandwidth. Bandwidth on a wired network is not shared among computers, so each individual computer has the full bandwidth to the router. Wired networking protocol has been around for more then three decades and are very reliable. Many unhealthy PCs that are unable to connect to a wireless network more often than not are still capable to connect to a wired network. Wired network is also very secure. The only way to tap into the network is to physically connect to the network with a wire inside your house, which is impossible unless they break into the house first. The disadvantage of wired network is the initial setup complexity. Wires can snake along the wall but most people prefer to run wires inside the wall for appearance. Running wires inside wall is timing consuming and costly.

Wireless network:

In a wireless network, PCs and laptops are connected to the router over radio signals. Wireless network is also called Wi-Fi or Wireless LAN. The network protocols used in a wireless network are 802.11B and 802.11G. The B version's theoretical maximum speed is 11Mbps but realistically can achieve around 5Mbps. The G version's theoretical maximum speed is 54Mbps but achieve around 13Mbps in the real world. The big difference between theoretical bandwidth and real world bandwidth is due to the sheer amount of radio interference around us, and signal strength degration from distance or obstacles. The big advantage of a wireless network is the lack of wires. Not having to install wires in the wall can save significant amount of time and cost. Wireless network also allow users to roam within the reach of the radio signal. For example you can surf the web, chat with friends on Instant Messaging systems, receive emails, download songs from iTune, participate in a video conference on your laptop all while sitting on the couch or even in bed. Let your imagination go wild. The possibilities are endless!

The disadvantages of a wireless network are slower speed, less reliable, and less secure. A 100Mbps wired network can transfer large files 16 times faster than the B wireless network or about 6 times faster than the G version. Remember bandwidth in a wired network is not shared, well, bandwidth is shared in a wireless network. For example, if there are six PCs on a 802.11B network, and they're all downloading large files from each other, then each PC only gets one sixth of the 5Mbps bandwidth. However, if the network is only used to share the broadband internet connection, you will never notice the speed difference between wired network and wireless network. That is because even the slowest wireless network, 802.11B, is twice as fast as most cable modem or DSL modem connections. Therefore the bottleneck lays in the Internet connection, not in the wireless network. Wireless network is also not as reliable as wired network. Many different kind of radio signals can interfere with the network. 2.4GHz cordless phones are proven wireless network killers. Even microwave ovens can produce enough radio interferences to drop your network connection. Walls and other obstacles, especially metal objects can reduce the range of the wireless signal. Lastly, wireless network is not as secure as a wired network. There are many ways to protect the wireless network, such as SSID hiding, Wireless Encryption Protocol(WEP), and Wireless Protected Access (WPA), and MAC address filtering. But if a determined hacker or National Security Agency wants access to your wireless network, they'll get in. It is only matter of time.

Which network is best for you?

If you're running a business where security and reliability are more important than the initial setup cost, or you're a serious speed freak, wired network is for you. You never have to deal with interferences with wires, and you enjoy speed of up to 1 billion bits per second on each computer.

If your location is difficult to run wires in the wall, or you want to enjoy the flexibility of able to roam around with your laptop and ability to add more computers to the network down the road without having to run additional wires, then wireless network is for you. It's inexpensive to setup, and you can watch a documentary on the Discovery channel and log on to discovery.com to find out more about the subject all while sitting on the couch.

Many people choose to run a combined wired and wireless network. If most of your PCs are centrally located in one room but you have one or two laptops that you use in other rooms, a combined wired and wireless network is for you.

Give us a call so we can discuss this further. Check out our network installation rates.