Thinking of networking at home.

[MapleLeaf]

What do you suggest, wireless or wired?

I'm going to hook up my wife's computer to mine. Both will run Windows XP and we want to patch one printer into the system.

Any recommendations for hardware and things that we should watch out for in the execution of this home project.

 

[Avery]

If your computers are in different rooms, go wireless for sure. All you need is a router and a PCI card for the 2nd computer. The other can be hooked straight into your modem so you don't need one. You can get them for around $10 after rebate at places like CompUSA. In fact, CompUSA is having a sale on Motorola networking devices starting on Sunday and most items are $10. Make sure you get the 'G' kind and not the 'B' since G is five times as fast.

The Motorola items above are generally good. There's other companies too like Belkin, D-Link, Netgear, Linksys. Belkin is lower end but the other three are pretty good.

Also, make sure you put a WEP key on your router so your network will be secure. This is usually pretty easy to do and the CD that comes with your router will show you step by step how to do it. It's highly recommended that you do so.

Wireless networking is great, definitely a lot better than running Cat 5 cable everywhere.

 

[MapleLeaf]

If your computers are in different rooms, go wireless for sure. All you need is a router and a PCI card for the 2nd computer. The other can be hooked straight into your modem so you don't need one. You can get them for around $10 after rebate at places like CompUSA. In fact, CompUSA is having a sale on Motorola networking devices starting on Sunday and most items are $10. Make sure you get the 'G' kind and not the 'B' since G is five times as fast.

The Motorola items above are generally good. There's other companies too like Belkin, D-Link, Netgear, Linksys. Belkin is lower end but the other three are pretty good.

Also, make sure you put a WEP key on your router so your network will be secure. This is usually pretty easy to do and the CD that comes with your router will show you step by step how to do it. It's highly recommended that you do so.

Wireless networking is great, definitely a lot better than running Cat 5 cable everywhere.

...I've got everything ready to go the Cat 5 cable route. My fish tape, the cable splicer, etc. Is a wired network faster than wireless?

Is it easy to connect peripherals such as a printer onto a network?

Thanks for the help so far, I really aprreciate it.

 

[Yeagermeister]

...I've got everything ready to go the Cat 5 cable route. My fish tape, the cable splicer, etc. Is a wired network faster than wireless?

Is it easy to connect peripherals such as a printer onto a network?

Thanks for the help so far, I really aprreciate it.

Wireless can be just as fast. It just depends on if the signal has any interference. It's not as big of a problem as it used to be. As for the printer you just need to share it on the computer it's connected to. Then when you add the printer you'll want to choose network not local.

 

[DallasCowpoke111]

Trust me, go wireless. I have a Linksys set-up, one desktop "hardwired" into the wireless router, then I can run as many laptops (generally no more than 2 at 1 time), off the router.

You'll never notice/miss the diff in spead, plus being able to take the laptops anywhere is just a no brainer. It's almost made my desktop a lame-duck.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Trust me, go wireless. I have a Linksys set-up, one desktop "hardwired" into the wireless router, then I can run as many laptops (generally no more than 2 at 1 time), off the router.

You'll never notice/miss the diff in spead, plus being able to take the laptops anywhere is just a no brainer. It's almost made my desktop a lame-duck.

...some of my friends said don't go wireless because you'll get weirdos parked outside of your home surfing for free from their cars.

Also can you run a peripheral such as a printer when you are wireless? What will disrupt a wireless network?

 

[WoodysGirl]

...some of my friends said don't go wireless because you'll get weirdos parked outside of your home surfing for free from their cars.

Also can you run a peripheral such as a printer when you are wireless? What will disrupt a wireless network?

If you encrypt your router like Avery suggested in his post, then you won't have people stealing your signal. Actually, I'm trying to figure out how to encrypt my router key also. Well, I know how to do it, but I'm not sure how to access it via my laptop once I do it.

And, I'd be interested in doing the wireless printer settings. When I set up my wireless network originlly, the wizard said to load the flash drive into all the equipment that's gonna be in the network, but I couldn't find a place to install the network stuff into the printer.

 

[Avery]

If you encrypt your router like Avery suggested in his post, then you won't have people stealing your signal. Actually, I'm trying to figure out how to encrypt my router key also. Well, I know how to do it, but I'm not sure how to access it via my laptop once I do it.

And, I'd be interested in doing the wireless printer settings. When I set up my wireless network originlly, the wizard said to load the flash drive into all the equipment that's gonna be in the network, but I couldn't find a place to install the network stuff into the printer.

Most of your routers will have a CD install disk that will guide you through it. If not, you can put the IP address of your router into a regular explorer address bar just like a website and it should give you the option of doing it from there. If not, just google it and you'll be able to find out.

Here's a good site:

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/pro2100a/userguide/ENU/wepsetup.htm

The 'weirdos' david are referring to are probably just logging onto unsecured wireless networks and using their bandwidth. This can be avoided if people put WEP keys on their network that basically ask for a password to access it. As soon as one of those guys see those, they'll ignore it and go for someone else's connection. It's not technically illegal to do, more of just them being cheap.

As far as printers, you can buy a printer hub ($30 or so if you get one with a rebate) and plug it into your router via Cat 5. The advantage of doing that is that you can print something in another room and have it print to your printer in a totally seperate room. I don't have one myself but they work. With printer prices nowadays, you're almost better off just buying another printer.

If you have everything to do wired, you can do it if you don't mind the effort. Nothing wrong with running Cat 5 to another room as long as it's not hard for you to do. However, if it were me, I'd take the easy way and buy something like this:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=314064&pfp=cat3

All you do is install the CD, plug it into an available USB port and you're ready to go. No wires, no installing PCI cards. It just gets an IP from the router. However, like I said, if you have all the materials and time to do it, no harm in going the old fashioned route.

Let me know how it goes.