Home Network Options Grow, Get Cheaper
U.S. Robotics, Linksys, and 2Wire showcase unwired ways to add Internet access throughout your home.Tom Spring, PCWorld.com
LAS VEGAS-- There's more than one way to wire a home, and you might find them all at the Consumer Electronics Show here this week.
For some, "wired" is a misnomer; a growing number of options for connecting your home and its contents to the Web involve wireless networking products. Among the new offerings are products from 2Wire, Linksys, and U.S. Robotics. All are introducing 11-megabit-per-second wireless networking kits and components based on the Wi-Fi standard, or IEEE 802.11B.
Each expects to get a share of the 10 million U.S. homes that will have networks by 2002, according to estimates by The Yankee Group. They're betting you'll want to tie together home PCs and share fast Net connections and peripherals such as printers. Next, they expect, you'll link appliances such as Web tablets, digital music players, and even your car's onboard computer.
U.S. Robotics Moves Beyond Modems
U.S. Robotics introduces on Saturday a passel of wireless networking products that together allow you to link a fleet of PCs. The U.S. Robotics Wireless Network Starter Set, which connects two desktop PCs, is priced at $349. It includes a Wireless PCI Adapter with built-in antenna and a Wireless PCI Adapter with detachable external antenna. Additional Wireless PCI Adapters to connect a third PC cost $189. U.S. Robotics expects to ship a USB option in February.
The company is also introducing a $149 U.S. Robotics Wireless PC Card for connecting a laptop to the network. To link four or more computers, you will need the $399 U.S. Robotics Wireless Access Point, also released this week.
Linksys Leaps Into Thin Air
Linksys, known for its hardwired networking products, leaps into the wireless world with the introduction here of its Instant Wireless line of networking solutions.
They are the Instant Wireless PC Card ($129), Instant Wireless Access Point ($249), and the Instant Wireless PCI Adapter ($49). No bundled pricing is available. USB versions of the PCI card are scheduled to ship in February.
To create a home network between two PCs, you need two Instant Wireless PCI Adapters and two Instant Wireless PC Cards (PC Cards slide into the PCI adapter to make a desktop wireless), bringing the total cost to $356. To allow PCs to share Internet access, you can either use Internet sharing software or purchase the Linksys Instant Wireless Access Point, which supports up to 30 wireless desktops. Linksys points out that PC Cards can be used interchangeably with notebook computers.
2Wire Goes Wireless
2Wire is showing two wireless solutions for the home. First is the $399 HomePortal 100W, a wireless Internet gateway that acts as router, hub, and firewall. The HomePortal 100W links directly to your cable modem and to any wireless receiver that uses the IEEE 802.11b standard. 2Wire doesn't market a wireless PCI or PC Card solution.
Also new is the $599 HomePortal 1500W, which features an integrated Digital Subscriber Line modem. A third small office/home office product, the $1099 ICS 2000W, supports advanced telephony services and will be available in March.
2Wire's wireless HomePortal products are unique because you can use them with different types of home networking technology. For example, the 1000W can connect home phone line and Ethernet networks. HomePortal gateways support a maximum of 250 desktops.
Home Network Hoe-Down
The 802.11B standard has an operating range of 300 to 1000 feet indoors. The standard competes with the wireless HomeRF standard, which transmits data at rates of 2 megabits per second. However, HomeRF technology is improving, and the networks are gaining speed.
Also new on the home net front are 10-mbps power-line networks that link PCs using a house's existing electrical wiring. Both are showcased by Phonex Broadband and Sonicblue.