Getting started with home networking

A few years ago the home PC was a novelty; now it’s commonplace, with most of us having more than one in our homes.

As a result, home networking is growing in popularity as an increasing number of households want to link desktop and laptop PCs together to share internet access, files, printers and a whole lot more.

The good news is that it’s not expensive or difficult to set up a home network (technically, a local area network or Lan). The bad news is that, as simplicity was way down on the priority list when networking was being invented, it’s easy to get it wrong, even if you’ve been using PCs for years.

That’s why we’ve produced this guide, to take you through the basics of planning, building and running a home network, as well as pointing out the more common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Why a network?
The first thing to do is sit down and work out what you want a network for, as that will affect a lot of your decisions. If you just want to share a broadband internet connection, for example, you won’t need much in the way of network hardware ­ just a broadband router with a built-in network switch. Nor will you need to plan for a huge amount of bandwidth, as the limiting factor will be the speed of your broadband connection, so Wifi will be fine.

However, if you want to share large documents or stream music and video around your network, you could find wireless too slow, even with the latest high-speed wireless Draft-N equipment.

Another tip is not to jump in and assume you’ll need a server. Peer-to-peer networks, where shared network data is stored on ordinary PCs and notebooks, are more than adequate for most home needs, even where large amounts of data are involved.

On the other hand, using a server does make it easier to organise and manage your data, because it’s all located in one place. You’ll also need one if you want to host your own web or email server, or run other centrally shared applications.

Making plans
Having thought about what you want a network for, you need to set yourself a budget. Networks don’t have to cost much, but it’s easy to get carried away and end up spending hundreds of pounds unnecessarily.

A major part of your budget will be spent on the hardware needed to connect everything together ­ the so-called network infrastructure. Here you need to start by deciding whether to run cables from room to room, use Wifi or go for a mixture of the two. Alternatively you may choose to route network data over the mains wiring, using Homeplug networking products, which we’ll explain more about later.

When deciding which to use, bear in mind that a cabled network will always deliver the best results, in terms of both performance and reliability. However, unless you’re planning a very small network or are prepared to have cables snaking across the floor, a lot of installation work will be involved, which can be expensive. A cabled network may also involve drilling holes in walls and wiring up sockets which, if you’re not confident at DIY, can be daunting.

If DIY isn’t a problem, sit down and plan the cable runs to minimise the amount of wire you’ll need. For ease of installation try to route cables through the loft, through an attached garage if you have one, or down the outside of the house. And buy quality cable and fittings from a supplier you can go back to ­ not second-hand from a vendor on Ebay.