What's an easy, and inexpensive, way to network my home?

Paul Thurrott

February 13, 2002

1 Min Read
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A. The benefits of networking your home are pretty obvious, especially if you've recently purchased a new PC and want to keep the older model in service. But wiring a house with Category 5 (Cat 5) Ethernet cable canbe invasive and expensive. Instead, consider wireless networking based on the 802.11b (Wi-Fi) standard. Wireless network cards are relatively inexpensive, usually $100 or less, and you won't need an access point--the piece of hardware that connects your wireless network to a more traditional wired network--because Wi-Fi can work in ad-hoc mode (no access point). So for $200 you can wirelessly connect two PCs and move these PCs anywhere in the house without having to rewire or deal with cables. And with speeds of up to 11Mbps, you won't experience delays.

About the Author

Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott is senior technical analyst for Windows IT Pro. He writes the SuperSite for Windows, a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE, and a daily Windows news and information newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE.

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