The No-Hassle Networking Guide
Ready to connect your PCs quickly and securely, with no new wires? The time is right--and we've got answers to all your questions.Networking computers used to be a job for IT pros or obsessed hobbyists who didn't mind wriggling into a crawl space to run cable. These days, you can connect PCs in your office or home with an afternoon of work--no new wires needed.
Wireless networking technology is maturing and speeding up. And newer, faster phone-line and power-line network technologies provide inexpensive alternatives for sharing Internet access, files, printers, and multimedia. We tested the latest network technologies, surmounted the most common setup hurdles, addressed network security concerns, and assembled several networking setups to create this guide to no-hassle networking.
Networking Answers: New Technologies
The first step in connecting your PCs is to choose a network technology. And these days you have plenty of options, even if you don't want to run new wires. Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, from networks that use existing phone or power wires to different types of wireless networks. To get a feel for which ones work best, we plugged in and tested power-line (HomePlug) and phone-line (HomePNA) networking hardware in a typical home office. We also set up two kinds of wireless networks: 802.11b (also known as Wi-Fi) and the fast, new 802.11a (or Wi-Fi5), checking out their performance at opposite ends of a 20-foot room, 40 feet apart in adjacent rooms, and (when the weather allowed) while working outside on the patio. (See the features chart for more details on performance and pricing.)
Wi-Fi networks may be the best choice for most small networks. Though the Wi-Fi networking hardware we tested did not ace our speed tests, it offered the best combination of reasonable prices and quick setup. The more expensive Wi-Fi5 equipment performed about twice as fast (averaging 13 mbps). Power-line products turned in impressive results too, cruising to the second-best times in our tests. Phone-line products, the budget choice in the networking lineup, were among the easiest to set up--Windows XP recognized the adapters and installed the drivers without our having to insert a CD. Simple but sluggish: Phone-line products also provided the slowest file transfers.
Any of these no-new-wires networking technologies has more than enough bandwidth for basic file, printer, and Internet sharing. In some cases, though, you might want to consider mixing the products to create a hybrid network (see Scenario 4) that gives you the roaming ability of wireless products with the reliability of wired network hardware.
Q: What's the fastest wireless networking technology now available?
A: Wi-Fi5
Wireless hardware offers some obvious benefits (such as surfing on the porch) and some not-so-obvious drawbacks, including real-world speeds that start slower than most wired networks and drop with distance, as well as questions about whether you'll have a strong enough signal to support a connection. But while Wi-Fi5 equipment--the latest generation of wireless networking hardware--is too expensive for most home users, it's the fastest technology we tested, and it offered easier installation than did comparable Wi-Fi products.
Surprisingly, the Intel Pro/Wireless 5000 CardBus Adapter came with only a small paper instruction sheet. Installation was a breeze, however. Using default settings, we networked two notebooks with Pro/Wireless 5000 adapters in about 15 minutes. Since Wi-Fi5 equipment is so new, and since vendors are targeting businesspeople on the move (at least around the office), PCI cards weren't available in time for our testing. As a result, we tested WiFi5 using PC Card network adapters on two laptops running Windows XP.
Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi5 hardware installations are similar except in one detail: For Wi-Fi5, you won't find any USB adapters, a mainstay of Wi-Fi networking. USB connections would create bottlenecks in 802.11a networks, which can transfer data more than twice as fast as the USB 1.1 connections most PCs have.
The 802.11a standard theoretically tops out at a blistering 54 mbps, though we never achieved even half that speed in our tests. Still, the WiFi5 cards we evaluated delivered impressive real-world performance. Our throughput rates peaked at around 22 mbps and averaged around 13 mbp--that's more than twice the speed of the Wi-Fi, HomePlug, and HomePNA equipment we tested.
The drivers for most wireless adapters assume that you'll be using an access point to relay signals between your PCs. In network-speak, this is called "infrastructure" mode. But wireless cards can also work in "ad-hoc" mode, where the cards communicate directly with each other--no access point needed. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi5 access points aren't yet available with built-in routers, so to share your broadband Internet connection, you must use an ethernet cable to connect the access point to a stand-alone router. You can pick up a router with a built-in firewall for $100 or less. Or you can set up a single always-on PC, and use Windows Internet Connection Sharing to share its dial-up or broadband connection.
Though Wi-Fi5 offers a higher level of encryption than Wi-Fi, it still uses Wired Equivalent Privacy, which critics say is too insecure. For home use, however, WEP combined with common sense security setups should be adequate.
Wi-Fi5's biggest hang-up is that it's incompatible with less-expensive Wi-Fi networks. Whereas Wi-Fi5 operates in the 5-GHz band, Wi-Fi operates in the 2.4-GHz band (as do some other electronics devices, such as cordless phones and microwaves, which can cause interference). Dual-mode access points to bridge communication between the two wireless technologies are expected later this year, though availability and pricing have yet to be announced. Later this year, 802.11g networks promise to combine the speed of 802.11a with 802.11b compatibility.
A wireless Wi-Fi5 PC Card adapter will set you back $130 to $170, and an access point currently costs between $300 and $400. However, equipment costs will drop as these products spread through the market. Businesses looking to extend their existing networks with the fastest wireless networking equipment available should look into Wi-Fi5.
Q: What's the lowest-cost technology for starting a wireless network?
A: Wi-Fi
Attracted by the idea of roaming around with your constantly connected laptop, but not ready to commit to Wi-Fi5 at $170 per network adapter? Consider the widely used Wi-Fi standard instead. Wi-Fi hardware is fast enough for shared Internet access and most file-sharing duties in homes or small offices.
We installed Wi-Fi adapters from two vendors, Proxim and Netgear, and each installation took about half an hour. Since lots of Wi-Fi products are available, and you can mix and match hardware from different manufacturers, we wanted to test compatibility right out of the box.
If you use adapters or access points from different manufacturers, you'll need to tweak a couple of settings to get everything running smoothly. The SSID (or Service Set Identifier, a name you enter to identify the wireless network) and the radio channel settings (there are 11 channels to choose from) need to match for each wireless adapter. These quick parameter changes are easy to make--and to forget. If they differ at all, the network won't work, and you'll be left to angrily curse the red light in your system tray that signifies no connection.
We plugged in one PC Card and one USB network adapter (in many cases you can connect the adapter to your PC without powering the PC down, but check your manual to make sure), and then installed the drivers and the configuration utility. That's when we hit a minor roadblock: The devices were set, by default, to infrastructure mode. Since we hadn't (yet) set up an access point, we needed to change the mode setting to ad-hoc.
As with Wi-Fi5, the biggest installation hurdle we faced was lackluster documentation. One manual failed to cover XP installation, for example, notwithstanding the XP-ready decal on the box. Another product came only with a small poster to serve as an installation guide--the full manual resides in a PDF file on the accompanying CD-ROM.
Most networks require at least one Wi-Fi access point. Adding an access point (you can find them for $150 and up) effectively doubles your wireless network's range. To share a cable or DSL connection, look for an access point that has a built-in router; this will allow you to share Internet access with each PC in your network (see Scenario 2).
Though Wi-Fi networks are slower than Wi-Fi5 ones (Wi-Fi hardware consistently achieved speeds of about 4.1 mbps in our tests), they're also far less expensive. If you search online vendors, you can find a Wi-Fi network adapter for as little as $80. And since Wi-Fi has been around longer than Wi-Fi5, a greater range of compatible products exists, including routers, print servers, and various types of access points, as well as PCI and USB adapters for connecting a desktop.
Typically, Wi-Fi products offer you a relatively painless way to get started with wireless networking. For the most part, we found that roaming around with a connected laptop worked well. If any adapter is more than 100 feet from an access point, however, you're in for headaches. Too many obstructions, such as walls, brick, and steel, will also greatly reduce your range. In these situations, a wired or hybrid network is a better choice.
Q: What technology can I use to network a group of computers through my existing phone jacks?
A: HomePNA
Phone-line networking hardware (HomePNA) is the oldest of the no-new-wires network standards we looked at, and it's the least expensive. For $30 to $70 per computer, you can quickly create a network connection anywhere that you have a working telephone jack.
Two D-Link phone-line adapters--which came as part of D-Link's DHN-920 kit--readily connected to PCs in adjacent rooms of the test site, about 40 feet apart. Windows XP automatically recognized the USB phone-line adapter. Then we connected each phone-line network adapter to a regular telephone jack with the included phone cable.
HomePNA hardware won't disrupt your telephone use. When we made phone calls while sending files across the two-PC phone-line network, our throughput remained constant. Each network adapter includes a phone-line splitter, so you can run a cable from the network adapter to a telephone or answering machine or use a separate splitter to split the phone line at your wall jack.
The phone-line-to-USB network adapters were the slowest of the products we tested, consistently transferring data at about 4 mbps. Speeds drop off as line noise increases, so your results will depend on the quality of your line.
Their low cost makes phone-line networks the budget choice for simple file and network sharing in a home or small office that has plenty of phone jacks. Unlike with ethernet hardware, you don't need a hub to connect multiple computers to a phone-line network. Keep in mind, though, that phone-line networks only cover one line at a time. So a network that is set up over the main phone line won't work with a separate fax line or with the line you installed to keep the kids from tying up your main number.
Phone-line networks aren't quite as flexible as either power-line networks (since most homes don't have phone jacks in every room) or wireless equipment (because you can't really roam while you're tethered to a phone jack). But if you're simply connecting a few household desktops so that they can share a modem or broadband connection (see Scenario 1), phone-line products are an excellent way to save money.
Q: What technology will let me use electrical outlets to start a network?
A: HomePlug
Maybe you'd like to start a wireless network, but you're concerned that wireless adapters start to lose their signal and drop in speed as you place them farther apart. Still, you'd like to connect from any room in the house--even rooms without phone jacks. What should you do? Consider a power-line network. HomePlug power-line network adapters will cost you about $150 for each connected PC and $179 for a power-line cable/DSL router for sharing a broadband connection.
After all, since most rooms in your house have multiple outlets, plugging into power-line networking could give you an instant network connection just about everywhere in your home. That level of flexibility has made power-line products one of the most anticipated networking technologies to hit store shelves in some time, despite some rather unimpressive early implementations.
As with phone-line products, you don't need a hub to connect more than two computers using HomePlug. And notwithstanding its name, HomePlug can be a great way to connect a small office. Your building's wiring is your hub, and the power line hardware transmits data using those wires, while drawing its power from them. You can plug into power strips, though you should avoid ones with surge protection or line conditioning, either of which can negatively affect power-line data signals. Power-line network adapters contain their own surge protection circuitry, which protects both the adapter and your PC.
The previous iteration of power-line networking products drew ire from folks disappointed by its less-than-blazing 350-kbps speed--much too slow for sharing large files. We looked at a preproduction version of a second-generation HomePlug network adapter from Linksys (the PLUSB10), which offers a theoretical top speed of 14 mbps. In tests at an apartment and at a detached home, real-world throughput topped out at slightly over 5 mbps. Your results might be quite different, depending on line noise.
We connected the adapters to electrical jacks 20 to 40 feet away, with no speed difference over those distances, and the power-line network fared better than both Wi-Fi and phone line in terms of raw speed (see How Fast Are They Really?). Setting up USB power line network adapters proved as simple as installing a phone line network product. And once the drivers are installed, you're ready to go. The ethernet-to-power-line bridge that we tested (Linksys's PLEBR10) didn't require new drivers because it connected through the preinstalled ethernet adapter in the test PC.
If you often find yourself crouching under your computer desk to install new equipment, the additional wire that both power-line and phone-line products add to the tangle could be annoying. In addition to being cable-free, wireless network adapters come in less-cumbersome PC Cards and USB adapters that make the equipment less obvious; from an aesthetic standpoint this might be more important at home than at the office.
Still, HomePlug products are a good bet for most homes and should become more attractive as their prices drop over the next 12 months. Power-line networks avoid the security weaknesses of wireless networks while still permitting you to work from any room in your home.
A power-line network can also serve as an intriguing extension to an existing network, creating a hybrid network. One of the power-line network adapters we connected to a desktop was, in fact, a power-line-to-ethernet bridge, which can link a power-line network to a wireless network, for example. For the test, we connected one end of the bridge to the desktop's ethernet network card via RJ-45 cable.
Power-line products instantly extend your network to any outlet in the house and, perhaps just as important, to places where wireless products might have trouble maintaining a strong signal. The back yard is still better served by wireless, but a power-line network may be your best bet for the attic or the basement.
--Paul Heltzel
Networking Answers: Setup Tips
Q: What equipment do I need?
A: Regardless of the type of network you have, you'll need an adapter for each devide on the network. In some cases your PC may have a built-in adapter--for example, an ethernet port or 802.11b adapter (found in a growing number of laptops). If not, you must add an adapter by inserting a PC Card into your notebook, installing a PCI card in your desktop, or plugging in a USB device.
In addition to needing adapters (also called clients), you may need hardware to connect your devices to each other and to the Internet. For example, if you use a wired ethernet network, you'll need cables to connect your network devices. And unless you're simply connecting two PCs in a room (in which case you could plug an ethernet cable into the adapter on each), you'll probably want a hub--a central connecting point with ports for cables from each networked device. Hubs are frequently priced as low as $40.
If you want the PCs on your network to share a single Internet account, you may want to invest in a more complex device known as a router (or residential gateway). Routers, available for $100 or less, make sure traffic gets to the device to which it is addressed. Most residential gateways are basically routers that connect a single incoming Internet hook-up to a home or local-area network.
To set up a wireless network, you need to use a specialized kind of bridge called a wireless access point (about $150). It's essentially a radio that allows devices with wireless adapters to communicate with a wired network (like the Internet). Since most people who set up a wireless home network also want their PCs to share Internet access, many vendors combine a router with an access point in a device known as a wireless residential gateway.
Q: Do I need to have a router in order to share Internet Access?
A: No. If you'd rather, you can set up one of the PCs on your network to serve as a host (which will function as a router) by using software. Your options include using the Internet Connection Sharing software in Windows 98 SE or later and turning to such third-party products as WinProxy from Ositis Software, which offers antivirus protection and more robust firewall features than Windows.
Bear in mind that the computer functioning as a router must carry a modem for dialup access or--if you have cable or DSL access instead--two ethernet adapters (one of them to attach to a broadband modem and the other to link to your network).
Further, in order for any PC on the network to have Internet access, the host PC must be up and running.
Q: Why would I need a router?
A: It allows you to network numerous PCs (and ethernet-enabled printers) and gives you a de facto firewall without requiring a host computer to remain on. Also, most routers permit you to run a Web server for a personal or corporate Web site, if your ISP allows it.
Heads up: At the time of this writing, no gateway/router products supported a USB connection to a modem; so make sure you avoid getting a USB broadband modem that lacks an ethernet port.
Q: Can I network some computers with wires and some without?
A: Some wireless gateways include ethernet ports for connecting wired computers and support communication between the two types of networks. You can connect a PC with an ethernet adapter--or you can run a cable from a hub--directly to one of these ports to create a hybrid ethernet-and-wireless network. And if you like, you can add HomePlug or HomePNA devices by plugging an appropriate network bridge (HomePlug to ethernet or HomePNA to ethernet) into one of the ethernet ports.
Q: Will my equipment's placement change the network's performance?
A: In some cases, yes. Wireless networks are the most sensitive to placement, since the radio signals they use to communicate have a limited range. Obstacles such as walls and doors can block the signals. In general, try to put your wireless access point/gateway in the most central location possible relative to the PCs on the network. And try to place each wireless adapter in such a way that its antenna points toward the wireless access point.
Q: Can I network PCs that are running different versions of Windows?
A: Sure. In fact, if you have a hub and/or a router, you can put a Mac or a Linux-based machine on your network to share Internet access. Just remember to enable TCP/IP--the networking protocol of the Internet--on the OS you're using, for the adapter you have. If you want a Mac and a PC to share files or otherwise communicate with each other, you'll need additional software such as Thursby Software Systems' $149 Dave or the $199 PC MACLAN from Miramar Systems.
If one computer runs Windows XP, disable Internet Connection Sharing on the non-XP system. Use XP's networking wizard to create a copy of the network software for the older Windows PC.
Q: I've installed my network hardware. How can I share files and a printer?
A: Windows 2000's and XP's network setup guides walk you through the Windows settings changes needed to enable your networked PCs to share files and printers.
To enable File and Printer Sharing in your network settings in Windows 98 and 98 SE, right-click Network Neighborhood and select Properties on the pop-up menu, or open Control Panel and double-click Network. Windows 95 has File and Printer Sharing enabled by default. To enable File and Printer Sharing in Windows XP, you must use the Network Setup wizard.
You must also specify which drives or folders you wish to share. To do so, right-click the drive (in My Computer) or folder, and click Sharing. If you use NT File System in Windows 2000 or XP, you can password-protect specific files. Right-click the file, select Properties, and click the Security tab to set permissions. Enabling file sharing may make your PC vulnerable to hacks, so be sure to use a firewall.
To share a printer, you'll have to install the driver for your printer on each computer on your network, regardless of which version of Windows you're using.
Q: Can I print using any printer attached to another networked PC?
A: No. Most printers will work fine using Windows' built-in printer sharing, but a few won't accept jobs over a network. Multifunction devices are the most prone to refusing; consult the manufacturer.
Q: Can I put a printer that lacks built-in ethernet support on my network without attaching it to a PC?
A: Yes, by using a print server, which typically starts at about $120. A print server is hardware--stand-alone or built into a router--and software that handles network communications for a printer that lacks networking capability (see Scenario 3). Attach the printer cable to the print server's parallel port and run the software. Then run the printer installation wizard on each PC, stating that you're installing a printer on a network. The printer will appear in your Network Neighborhood. Caveat: The printer must have a cable connecting to the server. You can't use USB printers with most, unless the printer has a parallel port. Typically, you also lose bidirectional communication--for example, you don't get a message if the printer has run out of paper or out of ink, or even if the job went through.
--Yardena Arar
Networking Answers: Security Tips
Q: What kind of security precautions should I take during setup?
A: In general, you should start by changing any default passwords or network IDs and you should change these every 30 days. For a wireless or power-line network, use the built-in encryption scheme; but set it up only after your network is up and running. Using encryption during setup adds an unnecessary level of complexity to an already hassle-prone task.
Q: I've heard that an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless network is inherently insecure. What can I do about this?
A: A wired network, at the very least, poses a physical barrier to intruders: You have to be physically connected to a wired network. The Wi-Fi specification's built-in encryption scheme, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), was intended to provide the same basic level of security. But encryption experts have shown that WEP can easily be hacked. Anyone within antenna range of a wireless network and armed with a simple piece of software would need just an hour or so to gain access. Follow the manufacturer's setup guidelines when setting your encryption keys--the alphanumeric codes used to create and unlock the encryption--on the base stations and wireless networking cards.
Q: How can I ward off hackers?
A: Install a personal firewall (such as Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm). This will isolate your PC from the rest of the Internet by checking each packet of data and determining whether it should be allowed to get in (or in some cases, leave) your machine.
Q: If I already have a gateway/router, do I need a separate software firewall?
A: Not necessarily--but you're better off with both. Most gateways/routers use a technology called Network Address Translation to generate internal IP addresses for each device on the network. These internal addresses differ completely from the single IP address your ISP assigns you when you make a connection--the one identifying your network to the Internet at large. Hackers trying to access that address will see only a router, at most. NAT ensures that incoming traffic gets to the right computer while rendering computers inside the network invisible to probes.
NAT is not 100 percent secure against skilled hackers, however, so it's best to supplement it by installing software firewalls on each of your computers.
If you have a computer plugged into a broadband modem without a gateway/router, you definitely need a software firewall to make your PC invisible to the network and to block attacks.
Q: Can I run one antivirus program and protect the whole network?
A: No. It's best to run an antivirus application on every computer, workstation, mail server, and file server in your whole network. Run daily updates on the antivirus program. And keep your Windows OS up-to-date by going to Start, Windows Update and following the pop-up screens.
Q: How can I tell if I've been hacked?
A: Strange things happen: Applications stop working or behave erratically; you incur higher-than-normal bandwidth usage; you can't access services such as Web or FTP servers; Web pages on your network get overwritten with shout-outs. Unfortunately, hacks frequently go undetected for a while because hackers are getting better at covering their tracks. So in addition to using a firewall, keep your virus definitions up-to-date; they will filter out the Trojan horse tools that hackers attempt to plant on your computer.
Q: What can I do if I'm hacked?
A: Reformat your hard drive and then reinstall the operating system and applications from clean installation discs or from clean backups. Some hackers can take over a newly installed OS even faster than one that's been running for a while because the user hasn't installed security patches yet. So configure the server completely off the network to ensure that nothing sneaks by during installation.
--Yardena Arar, Andrew Brandt, and Alan Stafford
Yardena Arar and Alan Stafford are senior editors for PC World, and Andrew Brandt is a senior associate editor for PC World.
Paul Heltzel is the author of Home Networking Solutions (Muska & Lipman Publishing).
No-New-Wires Network Standards (chart)
| Network Standard | Street price: PC Card | Street price: PCI card | Street price: USB 1.1 | Rated speed (mbps) | Tested speed (mbps)1 | Comments |
| Wi-Fi5/802.11a | $130-$170 | $180-$200 | n/a | 54 | 13.1 | Speedy, flexible, and capable of handling multimedia. So what's not to like? It's expensive and incompatible with 802.11b. And no 802.11a routers are yet available. |
| Wi-Fi/802.11b | $80-$120 | $120-$1402 | $140-$150 | 11 | 4.1 | Reasonably priced entry into wireless networking. Lots of options for routers, access points, and adapters. |
| HomePNA | $60-$70 | $30-$60 | $50-$70 | 10 | 4 | Easy installation, low cost. Fine for Web use but sluggish for file transfers. |
| HomePlug | n/a | $150 | $150 | 14 | 5.2 | Plugs into any outlet in your home. Strong bet for large homes where wireless signals will be weak. Its adapters are twice as bulky as wireless adapters. |
How Fast Are They Really?
Networking companies often make impressive-sounding speed claims about their products, based on the theoretical limit of the network technology they employ. The latest generation of network products is no exception, boasting top speeds of up to 54 mbps. Unfortunately, factors such as line noise and interference make it unlikely that you'll experience speeds that fast in the real world. To get an idea of what you can expect, we ran speed tests on representative products using each network technology.
How Fast Are They Really? (chart)
| Network standard | Rated speed (mbps) | Real-world throughput (mbps): Short distance | Real-world throughput (mbps): Medium distance | Real-world throughput (mbps): Roaming | 35MB file transfer (seconds) | 50MB directory transfer (seconds) |
| Wi-Fi5 (802.11a)1 | 54 | 22.3 | 13.1 | 5.2 | 18.1 | 26.4 |
| Wi- Fi (802.11b) | 11 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 74 | 108 |
| HomePNA (phone line) | 10 | 4 | 4 | n/a | 71 | 116 |
| HomePlug (power line) | 14 | 5.5 | 5.2 | n/a | 54.3 | 101 |
Glossary
Unless you work in an IT department, you'll rarely come across most networking terminology. Enrich your networking lexicon with these terms, and you'll have most of the information you need to lay out a network.
Access point A wireless hardware device that attaches to a wired network and sends data to and receives data from your wireless network adapters.
Ad-hoc mode A networking arrangement in which you set your wireless network adapters to communicate directly with each other, rather than through an access point.
Firewall A way to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing your network, by rejecting incoming requests to access an IP address. A hardware firewall is often built into a router. A software firewall does much the same thing on your PC. Some hardware and software firewalls prevent unauthorized outgoing data as well.
Gateway A source of access to the Internet for multiple computers. In most home networks, a router serves as the gateway, though one computer running the appropriate software can also act as a gateway.
Hub A piece of hardware, usually a small box, that contains a series of ports (usually 4, 8, or 16), allowing you to connect your computers to form or extend a network.
Infrastructure mode A network arrangement in which adapters in a wireless network communicate with a central transmitter/receiver called an access point, which functions as a sort of wireless hub.
IP address A number that every computer needs to get on the Internet. IP stands for Internet Protocol.
Latency The time data takes to arrive at its destination. Excessive latency can cause slow-loading Web pages and noticeable delays in network games.
Node A computer or other hardware device connected to your network. A PC, a printer server, and a network printer are all nodes on your network.
Router A piece of hardware used to connect one LAN to another. Home networking routers have now added features such as firewalls, and they function just like gateways. The distinction is simply marketing.
Switch A more intelligent (and expensive) hub that routes data to the computer meant to receive it. A regular (passive) hub sends data to all of its ports (only the requesting PC accepts the data), which slows things down.