Wireless Home Networking For Dummies E-Book

Danny Briere

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 641

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The perennial bestseller shows you how share your files and Internet connection across a wireless network Fully updated for Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this new edition of this bestseller returns with all the latest in wireless standards and security. This fun and friendly guide shows you how to integrate your iPhone, iPod touch, smartphone, or gaming system into your home network. Veteran authors escort you through the various financial and logisitical considerations that you need to take into account before building a wireless network at home. * Covers the basics of planning, installing, and using wireless LANs * Reviews essential information on the latest security issues * Delivers valuable tips on how to stay current with fast-moving technology * Discusses how to share resources such as printers, scanners, an Internet connection, files, and more with multiple computers on one network Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition skips the technical jargon and gets you connected with need-to-know information on building a wireless home network.

Leseprobe

Wireless Home Networking For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

System Requirements

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals

Part II: Making Plans

Part III: Installing a Wireless Network

Part IV: Using Your Wireless Network

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals

Chapter 1: Introducing WirelessHome Networking

Nothing but Net(work): Why You Need One

File sharing

Printer and peripheral sharing

Internet connection sharing

Phone calling for free

Home arcades and wireless to go

Wired versus Wireless

Installing wired home networks

Installing wireless home networks

Choosing a Wireless Standard

Introducing the 802.11s: a, b, g, and n

Comparing the standards

Planning Your Wireless Home Network

Choosing Wireless Networking Equipment

Access point

Network interface adapters

Wireless network interface adapters

Chapter 2: From a to n and b-yond

Networking Buzzwords You Need to Know

Workstations and servers

Network infrastructure

Network interface adapters

Getting the (Access) Point

Setting parameters to create your own personal network

Comparing infrastructure mode and ad hoc mode

Your Wireless Network’s Power Station: The Antenna

Exploring Industry Standards

Wi-Fi history: 802.11b and 802.11a

The outgoing standard: 802.11g

The next big thing: 802.11n

Understanding Wi-Fi Certifications

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

The Wi-Fi Alliance

Chapter 3: Exploring Bluetooth and Other Wireless Networks

Who or What Is Bluetooth?

Comparing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Communicating with Bluetooth Devices: Piconets, Masters, and Slaves

Understanding Bluetooth connections

Transmitting data via Bluetooth

Securing data in a Bluetooth network

Integrating Bluetooth into Your Wireless Network

Bluetoothing your mobile phone

Wirelessly printing and transferring data

Extending Your Wireless Home Network with “No New Wires” Solutions

Controlling Your Home without Wires

Understanding how home control networks work

Exploring wireless networking standards: ZigBee and Z-Wave

Part II: Making Plans

Chapter 4: Planning a Wireless Home Network

Deciding What to Connect to the Network

Counting network devices

Deciding what devices to connect with wires and what to connect wirelessly

Selecting a wireless technology

Choosing an access point

Deciding where to install the access point

Adding printers to the network

Adding entertainment and more

Connecting to the Internet

Budgeting for Your Wireless Network

Pricing access points

Pricing wireless network adapters

Looking at a sample budget

Chapter 5: Choosing Wireless Home Networking Equipment

Choosing an Access Point

Understanding Certification and Standards

Considering Compatibility and Form Factor

Looking for Bundled Functionality: Servers, Gateways, Routers, and Switches

DHCP servers

NAT and broadband routers

Switches

Print servers

Exploring Operational Features

Knowing What Security Features You Need

Examining Range and Coverage Issues

Controlling and Managing Your Device

Web-based configuration

Software programming

Upgradeable firmware

Taking Price into Account

Checking Out Warranties

Finding Out about Customer and Technical Support

Part III: Installing a Wireless Network

Chapter 6: Installing Wireless Access Points in Windows

Before Getting Started, Get Prepared

Setting Up the Access Point

Preparing to install a wireless AP

Installing the AP

Configuring AP parameters

Changing the AP Configuration

Chapter 7: Setting Up a Wireless Windows Network

Setting Up Wireless Network Interface Adapters

Installing device drivers and client software

PC Cards and mini-PCI cards

PCI and PCIx cards

USB adapters

Connecting to a Wireless Network with Windows XP

Connecting to a Wireless Network with Windows Vista

Connecting to a Wireless Network with Windows 7

Tracking Your Network’s Performance

Chapter 8: Setting Up a Wireless Mac Network

Exploring Your AirPort Hardware Options

Getting to know the AirPort card

Apple AirPort Extreme–ready computers

“Come in, AirPort base station. Over.”

Getting aboard the AirPort Express

Backing up with Time Capsule

Using AirPort with OS X Macs

Configuring the AirPort base station on OS X

Upgrading AirPort base station firmware on OS X

Connecting another Mac to your AirPort network on OS X

Adding a Non-Apple Computer to Your AirPort Network

Connecting to Non-Apple-Based Wireless Networks

Chapter 9: Securing Your Home Network

Assessing the Risks

General Internet security

Airlink security

Getting into Encryption and Authentication

Introducing Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

Opting for a better way: WPA

Clamping Down on Your Wireless Home Network’s Security

Getting rid of the defaults

Enabling encryption

Closing your network

Taking the Easy Road

Going for the Ultimate in Security

Part IV: Using Your Wireless Network

Chapter 10: Putting Your Wireless Network to Work

A Networking Review

Getting to Know the Windows 7 Network and Sharing Center

Sharing in Windows 7 — I Can Do That!

Choosing what to share

Setting up a homegroup in Windows 7

Sharing specific libraries

Adding users

Accessing shared files

Be Economical: Share Your Printer

Installing a printer in Windows XP

Installing a printer in Vista and Windows 7

Accessing your shared printers

Sharing Other Peripherals

Sharing Files between Macs and Windows-Based PCs

Getting on a Windows network

Letting Windows users on your Mac network

Chapter 11: Gaming Over Your Wireless Network

PC Gaming over a Wireless Home Network

Getting the right hardware

Examining networking requirements

Getting Your Gaming Console on Your Wireless Home Network

Exploring the advantages to using a console over a PC

Connecting your console to your network

Signing up for console online gaming services

Dealing with Router Configurations to Get a PC or Console Online

Getting an IP address

Getting through your router’s firewall

Setting Up a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

Chapter 12: Networking Your Entertainment Center

Understanding How Wireless Networking Can Fit Into Your Entertainment System

Wirelessly Enabling the Gear in Your Home Entertainment System

Understanding bandwidth requirements for audio and video

Exploring your equipment options

Getting Media from Computers to Traditional (Non-Networked) A/V Equipment

Choosing Networked Entertainment Gear

Adding Wi-Fi to Ethernet A/V gear

Choosing equipment with built-in Wi-Fi

Putting a Networked PC in Your Home Theater

Wirelessly Connecting Inside Your Home Theater

Unwiring speakers

Cutting the video cable

Chapter 13: Extending Your Mobile Network

Building Your Own Hot Spots with 3G

Exploring wireless WAN services

Getting multiple devices online without buying multiple service plans

Boosting Your Mobile Network at Home with a Femtocell

Exploring the pros and cons of femtocells

Setting up a femtocell

Chapter 14: Other Cool Things You Can Network

“Look, Ma, I’m on TV” — Video Monitoring over Wireless LANs

Finding the right wireless network camera for you

Setting up the camera

Controlling Your Home over Your Wireless LAN

Controlling your home-automation system with a touch panel

Doing your wireless control less expensively

Storing Your (Digital) Stuff on Your Wireless Network

Exploring your server options

Comparing features when buying a server

Having Your Very Own Wi-Fi Robot

Wirelessly Connecting Your Digital Cameras

Chapter 15: Using a Bluetooth Network

Discovering Bluetooth Basics

Taking a Look at Bluetooth Mobile Phones

Exploring Other Bluetooth Devices

Printers

Audio systems

Keyboards and meeses (that’s plural for mouse!)

Bluetooth adapters

Communicating with Another Bluetooth Device: Pairing and Discovery

Chapter 16: Going Wireless Away from Home

Discovering Public Hot Spots

Exploring Different Types of Hot Spots

Freenets and open access points

For-pay services

Tools for Finding Hot Spots

Staying Secure in a Hot Spot Environment

Using a VPN

Practicing safe browsing

Dealing with Hot Spots on Mobile Devices

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 17: Ten FAQs about Wireless Home Networks

Which Standard Is Right for Me?

Are Dual-Band Routers Worth The Extra Money?

I Can Connect to the Internet with an Ethernet Cable But Not with My Wireless LAN. What Am I Doing Wrong?

How Do I Get My Video Games to Work on My Wireless LAN?

My Videoconferencing Application Doesn’t Work. What Do I Do?

How Do I Secure My Network from Hackers?

What Is Firmware, and Why Might I Need to Upgrade It?

Is NAT the Same as a Firewall?

How Can I Find Out My IP Address?

If Everything Stops Working, What Can I Do?

Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Troubleshoot Wireless LAN Performance

Check the Obvious

Move the Access Point

Move the Antenna

Change Channels

Check for Dual-Band Interference

Check for New Obstacles

Install Another Antenna

Add an Access Point

Add a Repeater or Bridge

Check Your Cordless Phone Frequencies

Chapter 19: Ten Devices to Connect to Your Wireless Network in the Future

Your Bike

Your Car

Your Home Appliances

Your Entertainment System

Wi-Fi networking will be built into receivers, Blu-ray disc players, and TVs

Cables? Who needs them?

Your Musical Instruments

Your Pets

Your Robots

Your Apparel

Understanding the technology behind wearables

Wearing personal tracking devices

Going wireless with jewelry and accessories

Everything in Your Home

Where to ZigBee and Z-Wave

Introducing Bluetooth 4.0

Chapter 20: Ten Sources for More Information

CNET.com

Amazon.com, Shopping.com, Pricegrabber.com, and More

Wi-Fi Planet, Wifi-Forum, and More

PC Magazine and PC World

Electronic House Magazine

Practically Networked

ExtremeTech.com

Network World

Wikipedia

Other Cool Sites

Tech and wireless news sites

Industry organizations

Roaming services and Wi-Finder organizations

Manufacturers

Wireless Home Networking For Dummies®, 4th Edition

by Danny Briere and Pat Hurley

Wireless Home Networking For Dummies®, 4th Edition

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Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Authors

Danny Briere founded TeleChoice, Inc., a telecommunications consulting company, in 1985 and now serves as CEO of the company. Widely known throughout the telecommunications and networking industry, Danny has written more than 1,000 articles about telecommunications topics and has authored or edited eight books, including Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd Edition; HDTV For Dummies, 2nd Edition; Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies; Wireless Network Hacks & Mods For Dummies; and Home Theater For Dummies, 2nd Edition (all published by Wiley). He is frequently quoted by leading publications on telecommunications and technology topics and can often be seen on major TV networks providing analysis on the latest communications news and breakthroughs. Danny lives in Mansfield Center, Connecticut, with his wife and four children.

Pat Hurley is director of research with TeleChoice, Inc., specializing in emerging telecommunications technologies, including all the latest access and home technologies: wireless LANs, DSL, cable modems, satellite services, and home networking services. Pat frequently consults with the leading telecommunications carriers, equipment vendors, consumer goods manufacturers, and other players in the telecommunications and consumer electronics industries. Pat is the co-author of Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd Edition; HDTV For Dummies, 2nd Edition; Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies; Wireless Network Hacks & Mods For Dummies; and Home Theater For Dummies, 2nd Edition (all published by Wiley). He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, beautiful daughter, and two smelly and unruly dogs.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Danny wants to thank his wife, Holly, and kids, for their infinite patience while he constantly tested new wireless technologies in the house, especially since it usually meant taking something that was (finally) working and replacing it with something that was newer but didn’t work at all. At least it looked good! Pat, as always, thanks his wife, Christine, for providing her impeccable judgment when he asks, “Can I write this wisecrack and not offend half the people in the world?” and for her ability to restrain her desire to knock him over the head with a big frying pan when deadlines and late-night writing intrude on their domestic tranquility. He also wants to thank his daughter Annabel, who let him borrow her DSi, Wii, and other gizmos to play with on the network, and for generally being the best first grader ever.

Now that we’re on our fourth edition, we have a large and historically significant (to us, at least) list of people to thank, including: Bill Bullock, at Witopia; Melody Chalaban and Jonathan Bettino at Belkin; Shira Frantzich from Sterling PR (for NETGEAR); David Henry at NETGEAR; Karl Stetson at Edelman (for the Wi-Fi Alliance); Mindy Whittington and Ana Corea at Red Consultancy (for Eye-Fi); Doug Hagan and Mehrshad Mansouri, formerly of NETGEAR; Dana Brzozkiewicz, at Lages & Associates, for ZyXEL; Trisha King, at NetPR, for SMC Networks; Fred Bargetzi, at Crestron; Shawn Gusz, at G-NET Canada (still waiting to try Auroras in our cars!); Karen Sohl, at Linksys; Keith Smith, at Siemon; Darek Connole and Michael Scott, at D-Link; Jeff Singer, at Crestron; Amy K Schiska-Lombard, at Sprint; Brad Shewmake, at Kyocera Wireless; James Cortese, at A&R Partners, for Roku; Bryan McLeod, at Intrigue Technologies (now part of Logitech); Stu Elefant, at Wireless Security Corporation (now part of McAfee); Craig Slawson, at CorAccess (good luck, too!); and others who helped get the content correct for our readers.

Our team at Wiley was awesome as always: Amy Fandrei, our “suit” on the corporate side of the house and our project editor Kim Darosett, who deserves a medal, a raise, and perhaps sainthood for putting up with us as we tried to write to deadlines and keep our day jobs at the same time. We’d also like to thank our technical editor, Dan DiNicolo, for helping us look smart. Finally, we always have to thank Melody Layne, who’s moved on to a different and exciting job at Wiley, but who has always been our champion at Wiley.

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Introduction

Welcome to Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition. Wireless networking for personal computers isn’t a new idea; it has been around since the late 1990s. Two big developments have made wireless go from an expensive niche for geeks to something that just about everyone is familiar with and has used: first the development of industry-wide standards (that ensured that wireless equipment would work regardless of who made it) and then the incorporation of wireless networking capabilities into all sorts of consumer electronics devices (PCs and laptops, netbook computers, smart phones, printers, cameras, even TVs). Now . . . well, wireless is everywhere.

One of the most appealing things about the current crop of wireless networking equipment is the ease with which you can set up a home network, although its reasonable price may be its most attractive aspect. In some cases, setting up a wireless home network is almost as simple as opening the box and plugging in the equipment; however, you can avoid many “gotchas” by doing a little reading beforehand. That’s where this book comes in handy.

About This Book

If you’re thinking about purchasing a wireless computer network and installing it in your home — or if you have an installed network and want to make sure it’s operating correctly or want to expand it — this is the book for you. Even if you’ve already purchased the equipment for a wireless network, this book will help you install and configure the network. What’s more, this book will help you get the most out of your investment after it’s up and running.

With Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition, in hand, you have all the information you need to know about the following topics (and more):

Planning your wireless home network

Evaluating and selecting wireless networking equipment for installation in your home

Installing and configuring wireless networking equipment in your home

Sharing an Internet connection over your wireless network

Sharing files, printers, and other peripherals over your wireless network

Playing computer games over your wireless network

Connecting your audiovisual gear to your wireless network

Securing your wireless network against prying eyes

Finding and connecting to wireless hot spots away from home

Creating your own on-the-go wireless networks with 3G wireless

Discovering devices that you can connect to your wireless home network

System Requirements

Virtually any personal computer can be added to a wireless home network, although some computers are easier to add than others. This book focuses on building a wireless network that connects PCs running the Windows operating system (Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7) or Mac OS X. You can operate a wireless network with Windows 98, Me, or 2000 or with Mac OS 9,but these systems are less and less able to handle the rapidly increasing requirements of applications and the Internet. As a result, we focus mostly on the most recent operating systems — the ones that have been launched within the past five years or so. Wireless networking is also popular among Linux users, but we don’t cover Linux in this book.

Because wireless networking is a relatively new phenomenon, the newest versions of Windows and the Mac OS do the best job of helping you quickly and painlessly set up a wireless network. However, because the primary reason for networking your home computers is to make it possible for all the computers (and peripherals) in your house to communicate, Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition, gives you information about connecting computers that run the latest versions of Windows and the most widely used version of the Mac OS. We also tell you how to connect computers that run some of the older versions of these two operating systems.

How This Book Is Organized

Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition, is organized into 20 chapters that are grouped into five parts. The chapters are presented in a logical order — flowing from planning to installing to using your wireless home network — but feel free to use the book as a reference and read the chapters in any order you want.

Part I: Wireless Networking Fundamentals

Part I is a primer on networking and wireless networking. In case you’ve never used a networked computer — much less attempted to install a network — this part of the book provides background information and technogeek lingo that you need to feel comfortable. Chapter 1 presents general networking concepts; Chapter 2 discusses the most popular wireless networking technology and familiarizes you with wireless networking terminology; and Chapter 3 introduces you to several popular complementary and alternative technologies to wireless networking, like Bluetooth and technologies that help you extend the reach of your wired home network.

Part II: Making Plans

Part II helps you plan for installing your wireless home network. Chapter 4 helps you decide what to connect to the network and where to install wireless networking equipment in your home, and Chapter 5 provides guidance on making buying decisions.

Part III: Installing a Wireless Network

Part III discusses how to install a wireless network in your home and get the network up and running. Whether your have Apple Macintosh computers running the Mac OS (see Chapter 8) or PCs running a Windows operating system (see Chapters 6 and 7), this part of the book explains how to install and configure your wireless networking equipment. In addition, Part III includes a chapter that explains how to secure your wireless home network (see Chapter 9). Too many people don’t secure their wireless network, and we want to make sure you’re not one of them!

Part IV: Using Your Wireless Network

After you get your wireless home network installed and running, you’ll certainly want to use it. Part IV starts by showing you the basics of putting your wireless network to good use: sharing files, folders, printers, and other peripherals (see Chapter 10). We discuss everything you want to know about playing multiuser computer games wirelessly (see Chapter 11), connecting your audiovisual equipment (see Chapter 12), using broadband mobile services (3G) to connect when you’re away from home (see Chapter 13), and doing other cool things over a wireless network (see Chapter 14).

Bluetooth-enabled devices are becoming more prevalent these days, so you don’t want to miss Chapter 15. For that matter, don’t miss Chapter 16, where we describe how to use wireless networking to connect to the Internet through wireless hot spots (wireless networks you can connect to for free or a small cost when you’re on the road) in coffee shops, hotels, airports, and other public places. How cool is that?

Part V: The Part of Tens

Part V provides three top-ten lists that we think you’ll find interesting — ten frequently asked questions about wireless home networking (Chapter 17); ten troubleshooting tips for improving your wireless home network’s performance (Chapter 18); ten devices to connect to your wireless home network — sometime in the future (Chapter 19). Finally, we tell you where to go for even more information in Chapter 20, where we list our top ten (well, more than ten) places to find out more about the world of wireless.

Icons Used in This Book

All of us these days are hyperbusy people, with no time to waste. To help you find the especially useful nuggets of information in this book, we’ve marked the information with little icons in the margin.

As you can probably guess, the Tip icon calls your attention to information that saves you time or maybe even money. If your time is really crunched, you may try just skimming through the book and reading the tips.

This icon is your clue that you should take special note of the advice you find there — or that the paragraph reinforces information provided elsewhere in the book. Bottom line: You will accomplish the task more effectively if you remember this information.

Face it, computers and wireless networks are high-tech toys, er tools, that make use of some complicated technology. For the most part, however, you don’t need to know how it all works. The Technical Stuff icon identifies the paragraphs you can skip if you’re in a hurry or just don’t care to know.

The little bomb in the margin should alert you to pay close attention and tread softly. You don’t want to waste time or money fixing a problem that you could have avoided in the first place.

Where to Go from Here

Where you should go next in this book depends on where you are in the process of planning, buying, installing, configuring, or using your wireless home network. If networking in general and wireless networking in particular are new to you, we recommend that you start at the beginning, with Part I. When you feel comfortable with networking terminology or get bored with the lingo, move on to the chapters in Part II about planning your network and selecting equipment. If you already have your equipment in hand, head to Part III to get it installed — and secured (unless you like the idea of your neighbor or even a hacker being able to access your network).

If you were thinking of skipping Part I, please make sure that you’re up to speed on the latest and greatest version of Wi-Fi wireless networking. — 802.11n — which will dramatically affect your planning. If you aren’t up to speed on this new standard, we recommend that you at least take a quick view of Chapter 2 first.

The wireless industry is changing fast. We provide regular updates for this book at www.digitaldummies.com.

Happy wireless networking!

Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Part I

Wireless Networking Fundamentals

In this part . . .

If you’ve never used a networked computer or you’re installing a network in your home for the first time, this part of the book provides all the background info and down-and-dirty basics that will have you in the swing of things in no time. Here you can find general networking concepts, the most popular wireless networking technology, wireless networking terminology, and the latest alternatives in wireless networking. We also delve into cool new options for complementing your wireless network with peripherals networking and home control and home automation standards. Now that’s whole-home networking the wireless way!

Chapter 1

Introducing WirelessHome Networking

In This Chapter

Jump-starting your wireless revolution at home

Comparing wired and wireless networks — and why wireless wins!

Deciding which wireless standard meets your needs

Planning for your wireless home network

Choosing the right wireless equipment

Welcome to the wireless age! Nope, we’re not talking about your grandfather’s radio — we’re talking about almost everything under the sun. What’s not going wireless? Wanna say your refrigerator? Wrong — it is. How about your stereo? Yup, that too. Watches, key chains, baby video monitors, high-end projectors — even your thermostat is going wireless and digital. It’s not just about computers any more. Your entire world is going wireless, and in buying this book, you’re determined not to get left behind. Kudos to you!

A driving force behind the growing popularity of wireless networking is its reasonable cost: You can save money by not running network wiring all over your house, by sharing peripherals (such as printers and scanners), and by using your wireless network to drive other applications around your home, such as your home entertainment center. This book makes it easier for you to spend your money wisely by helping you decide what you need to buy and then helping you choose between the vast array of products on the market. Wireless networks are not only less expensive than more traditional wired networks but also much easier to install (no drilling and no pulling wires through the wall!). An important goal of this book is to give you “the skinny” on how to install a wireless network in your home.

Whether you have 1 computer or 20 (like Danny), you have several good reasons to want a personal computer network. The plummeting cost of wireless technologies, combined with their fast-paced technical development, has meant that more and more manufacturers are getting on the home networking bandwagon and including wireless networking in all sorts of products. That means that more applications around your house will try to ride your wireless backbone — by talking among themselves and to the Internet. So, wireless is here to stay and is critical for any future-proofed home.

Nothing but Net(work): Why You Need One

Wireless home networking isn’t just about linking computers to the Internet. Although that task is important — nay, critical — in today’s network-focused environment, it’s not the whole enchilada. Of the many benefits of having wireless in the home, most have one thing in common: sharing. When you connect the computers in your house through a network, you can share files, printers, scanners, and high-speed Internet connections between them. In addition, you can play multiuser games over your network, access public wireless networks while you’re away from home, check wireless security cameras, connect your mobile phone to your wireless network, or even enjoy your MP3s from your home stereo system while you’re at work — really!

Reading Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 4th Edition, helps you understand how to create a whole-home wireless network to reach all the nooks and crannies of your house. Of course, the primary reason that people have wanted to put wireless networks in their homes has been to “unwire” their PCs, especially laptops (which, these days, come with wireless standard), to enable more freedom of access in the home. But just about every major consumer goods manufacturer is hard at work wirelessly enabling its devices so that they too can talk to other devices in the home — you can find home theater receivers, Blu-ray disc players, gaming consoles, music players, and even flat-panel TVs with wireless capabilities built right in.

File sharing

As you probably know, computer files are created whenever you use a computer. If you use a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, to write a document, Word saves the document on your computer’s hard drive as an electronic file. Similarly, if you balance your checkbook by using Quicken from Intuit, this software saves your financial data on the computer’s drive in an electronic file.

A computer network lets you share those electronic files between two or more computers. For example, you can create a Word document on your computer, and your spouse, roommate, child, sibling, or whoever can pull up the same document on his or her computer over the network. With the right programs, you can even view the same documents at the same time! And that’s not even getting into online services like Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) that let you store your shared files on a computer in the cloud (in other words, on the Internet) so you can access these files whenever and wherever you have an Internet connection.

But here’s where we get into semantics: What’s a computer? Your car has more computing and networking capability than the early moon rockets. Your stereo is increasingly looking like a computer with a black matte finish. Even your refrigerator and microwave are getting onboard computing capabilities. What’s more is that all these devices have files and information that need to be shared.

The old way of moving files between computers and computing devices involved copying the files to a floppy disk (or, nowadays, a USB thumb drive) and then carrying the disk to the other computer. Computer geeks call this method of copying and transferring files the sneakernet approach. In contrast, copying files between computers is easy to do over a home network and with no need for floppy disks (or sneakers).

What’s interesting is that more computers and devices are getting used to talking to one another over networks in an automated fashion. A common application is synchronization, where two devices talk to one another and make the appropriate updates to each other’s stored information so that they’re current with one another. For example, Microsoft’s Zune portable media player (www.zune.net) is in many ways similar to Apple’s iPod, with one big exception: Zune’s wireless capabilities. Whenever you put your Zune in its charger base, it connects to your wireless network and automatically syncs new content (music, audiobooks, podcasts, and videos) from your PC. This means you always have that new content at your fingertips — literally — without having to lift a finger.

Printer and peripheral sharing

Businesses with computer networks have discovered a major benefit: sharing printers. Companies invest in high-speed, high-capacity printers that are shared by many employees. Sometimes an entire department shares a single printer, or perhaps a cluster of printers is located in an area set aside for printers, copy machines, and fax machines.

Just like in a business network, all the computers on your home network can share the printers on your network. The cost-benefit of shared printers in a home network is certainly not as dramatic as in a business, but the opportunity to save money by sharing printers is clearly one of the real benefits of setting up a home network. Figure 1-1 depicts a network through which three personal computers can share the same printer.

Other peripherals, such as extra hard drive storage for backing up your computers or for all those MP3s that someone in the household might be downloading, also are great to share. Anything connected to your PCs or that has a network port (we talk about these in great detail throughout the book) can be shared anywhere on your wireless network.

Figure 1-1: Share and share alike: Share one printer via your home network.

Internet connection sharing

Another driving reason behind many homeowners’ interest in wireless home networking is a desire to share an Internet connection. Let’s face it: The Internet is a critical part of day-to-day living — from kids doing their homework to you managing your bank account — so it’s only natural that more than one person in the household wants to get online at the same time. And, with the proliferation of broadband Internet connections — cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), fiber optics, and satellite modems — the demand at home has only soared.

Modem types

Your wireless network helps you distribute information throughout the home. It’s independent of the method you use to access your outside-of-home networks, like the Internet. Whether you use a dial-up connection or broadband, you can create a wireless home network. Here’s a rundown of the different types of modems:

Dial-up modem: This device connects to the Internet by dialing an Internet service provider (ISP), such as America Online (AOL) or EarthLink, over a standard phone line.

Fewer and fewer wireless networking equipment manufacturers support a dial-up connection on their equipment, because the majority of homes (and the vast majority of networked homes) use broadband these days. We mention dial-up here only for completeness; not because we recommend that you use it.

Cable modem: This type of modem connects to the Internet through the same cable as cable TV. Cable modems connect to the Internet at much higher speeds than dial-up modems and can be left connected to the Internet all day, every day.

DSL modem: Digital subscriber line modems use your phone line, but they permit the phone to be free for other purposes — voice calls and faxes, for example — even while the DSL modem is in use. DSL modems also connect to the Internet at much higher speeds than dial-up modems and can be left connected 24/7.

Broadband wireless modem: The same wireless airwaves that are great for around-the-house communications are great for connecting to the Internet as well. Although the frequency may be different and the bandwidth much less, broadband wireless modems give you connectivity to your home’s wireless network, in a similar fashion as DSL and cable modems.

Satellite modem: Satellite modems tie into your satellite dish and give you two-way communications even if you’re in the middle of the woods. Although they’re typically not as fast as cable modems and DSL links, they’re better than dial-up and available just about anywhere in the continental United States.

Fiber-optic modem: We’re in the midst of the fiber-fed revolution as the telephone and cable companies push to outdo each other by installing extremely high-capacity lines in homes to allow all sorts of cool applications. (The biggest example of this in the U.S. is Verizon’s FiOS system — www.verizon.com — which connects tens of millions of homes to the Internet by using fiber-optic connections.) Until now, the broadband access link has been the limiting bottleneck when wireless networks communicate with the Internet. With fiber optics, you could see broadband access capacity equal to that of your wireless network.

Network (very!) basics

When configuring your PCs on a network, you can buy equipment that lets you connect multiple computers to an Internet modem using radio waves with no wires (our focus here, obviously); through special network cables; or even through regular phone lines, the coaxial wiring (cable TV wires), or the power lines in your house. No matter what the physical connection is among your networked devices, the most popular language (or protocol) used in connecting computers to a broadband modem is a network technology known as Ethernet.

Ethernet is an industry standard protocol used in virtually every corporation and institution; consequently, Ethernet equipment is plentiful and inexpensive. The most common form of Ethernet networking uses special cables known as Category 5e/6UTP (or unshielded twisted pair). These networks are named after their speed — most are 100 Mbps (much faster than alternative networks that run over powerlines or phone lines) and are called 100BaseT.

You also find 1000BaseT (gigabit Ethernet) networks, which run at 1 gigabit per second. Figure 1-2 illustrates a network that enables three personal computers to connect to the Internet through a DSL or cable modem. (This network model works the same for a satellite or fiber-optic connection.)

See Chapter 4 for more information about planning and budgeting for your network and Chapter 5 for help in selecting your wireless networking equipment.

Figure 1-2: Internet for all: Set up a network that enables many PCs to connect to the Internet through a DSL or cable modem.

Phone calling for free

With some new wireless phone capabilities, you can get rid of the static of your cordless phone and move digital over your wireless home network, thus saving money on calls by using less-expensive, Internet-based phone calling options (Voice over IP, or VoIP). What started as a hobbyist error-prone service has grown into a full-fledged worldwide phenomenon. Phone calling over the Internet is now ready for prime time:

Free and for-fee services are available. Services such as Vonage (www.vonage.com) and Skype (www.skype.com) allow you to use your regular phones to call over the Internet for free or for a low monthly cost.

Add-ons to popular software programs are available. Internet calling and even videoconferencing have been added to instant messaging programs such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) so that you can talk to the people you used to only IM.

New devices make it simple. New devices, such as the Olympia DualPhone (http://dualphone.net), ease access to these Internet calling services — so you don’t have to don a headset every time you want to make a phone call.

The best part is that VoIP services are all moving toward wireless too. Throw away that old cordless phone and replace it with a new wireless handset or a neat Wi-Fi phone that you can take on the road to make free calls from any Wi-Fi network you have access to.

The convergence of wireless and Voice over IP is one of the major megatrends going on in the telecommunications and Internet markets today — you can bet that you want it in your home too!

Home arcades and wireless to go

If you aren’t convinced yet that a wireless home network is for you, we have four more points that may change your mind. Check them out:

Multiuser games over the network: If you’re into video games, multiplayer card games, or role-playing games, you may find multiuser games over the network or even over the Internet fascinating. Chapter 11 discusses how to use your wireless network to play multiuser games.

Audio anywhere in the household: Why spend money on CDs and keep them stacked next to your stereo? Load them on your PC and make them wirelessly available to your stereo, your car, your MP3 player that you take jogging, and lots more. Check out Chapter 12 for more info on how to use your wireless network to send audio and video signals around the house.

Home wireless cam accessibility: You can check out your house from anywhere in the house — or the world — with new wireless cameras that hop on your home network and broadcast images privately or publicly over the Internet. Want to see whether your kids are tearing apart the house while you’re working in your office downstairs? Just call up your wireless networked camera and check them out. (In our generation, we always said, “Mom has eyes in the back of her head”; our kids probably think that Mom is omniscient!)

Wireless on the go: This concept is great if you have a portable computer. Many airports, hotels, malls, and coffee shops have installed public wireless networks that enable you to connect to the Internet (for a small fee, of course) via hot spots. See Chapter 16 for more about using wireless networking when you’re away from home.

Wired versus Wireless

Ethernet is the most-often-used method of connecting personal computers to form a network because it’s fast and its equipment is relatively inexpensive. In addition, Ethernet can be transmitted over several types of network cable or sent through the air by using wireless networking equipment. Most new computers have an Ethernet connection built in, ready for you to plug in a network cable. The most popular wireless networking equipment transmits a form of Ethernet by using radio waves rather than Category 5e/6 cables.

Installing wired home networks

Even though we’re talking mostly about wireless networks and how great they are, we would be misleading you if we told you that wireless is the only way to go. Wireless and wired homes each have advantages.

Wired homes are:

Faster: Wired lines can reach speeds of 1000 Mbps, whereas wireless homes tend to be in the 20 Mbps to 300 Mbps range. Both wireless and wired technologies are getting faster and faster, but for as far as our crystal balls can see, wired will always be ahead.

More reliable: Wireless signals are prone to interference and fluctuations and degrade quickly over short distances; wired connections typically are more stable and reliable all over your home.

More secure: You don’t have to worry about your signals traveling through the air and being intercepted by snoopers, as you do with unsecured wireless systems.

Economical over the long term: The incremental cost of adding CAT-5e/6 voice and data cabling and RG-6 coaxial cabling into your house — over a 30-year mortgage — will be almost nothing each month. That is, as long as you’re building or remodeling your home — when your walls aren’t open, getting network cables inside of them is a lot more difficult and expensive.

Salable: More and more home buyers are not only looking for well-wired homes but also discounting homes without the infrastructure. As good as wireless is, it isn’t affixed to the house and is carried with you when you leave. Most new homes have structured wiring in the walls.

If you’re building a new home or renovating an old one, we absolutely recommend that you consider running the latest wiring in the walls to each of your rooms. That doesn’t mean that you won’t have a wireless network in your home — you will. It just will be different than if you were wholly reliant on wireless for your networking.

If you choose to use network cable, it should ideally be installed in the walls, just like electrical and phone wiring. Network jacks (outlets) are installed in the walls in rooms where you would expect to use a computer. Connecting your computer to a wired network is as easy as plugging a phone into a phone jack — after the wiring is in place, that is.

Without question, the most economical time to install network cable in a home is during the home’s initial construction. In upscale neighborhoods, especially in communities near high-tech businesses, builders often wire new homes with network cable as a matter of course. In most cases, however, the installation of network cable in a new home is an option or upgrade that’s installed only if the new owner orders it and pays a premium. Installing a structured wiring solution for a home can cost at least $2,000–$3,000, and that’s for starters.

Although the installation of network cable in an existing home certainly is possible, it’s much more difficult and expensive than installing cable during construction. If you hire an electrician to run the cable, you can easily spend thousands of dollars to do what would have cost a few hundred dollars during your home’s construction. If you’re comfortable drilling holes in your walls and working in attics and crawl spaces, you can install the cabling yourself for the cost of the cable and outlets.

The reality is that no home will ever be purely wireless or wireline (wired). Each approach has benefits and costs, and they coexist in any house. If you’re building a new house, most experts tell you to spend the extra money on a structured wiring solution because it adds value to your house and you can better manage all the wiring in your home. We agree. But no wiring solution can be everywhere you want it to be. Thus, wireless is a great complement to your home, which is why we advocate a whole-home wireless network for your entire home to use.

Installing wireless home networks

If you’re networking an existing home or are renting your home, wireless has fabulous benefits:

Portable: You can take your computing device anywhere in the house and be on the network. Even if you have a huge house, you can interconnect wireless access points to have a whole-home wireless network.

Flexible: You’re not limited to where a jack is on the wall; you can network anywhere.

Cost effective: You can start wireless networking for under a hundred dollars. Your wiring contractor can’t do much with that!

Clean: You don’t have to tear down walls or trip over wires when they come out from underneath the carpeting.

What’s more, there’s really no difference in how you use your networked computer, whether it’s connected to the network by a cable or by a wireless networking device. Whether you’re sharing files, a printer, your entertainment system, or the Internet over the network, the procedures are the same on a wireless network as on a wired network. In fact, you can mix wired and wireless network equipment on the same network with no change in how you use a computer on the network — your computers don’t care whether they’re talking over a wire or over a wireless system.

Now for the fine print. We would be remiss if we weren’t candid and didn’t mention any potential drawbacks to wireless networks compared with wired networks. The possible drawbacks fall into four categories:

Data speed: Wireless networking equipment transmits data at slower speeds than wired networking equipment. Wired networks are already networking at gigabit speeds, although the fastest current wireless networking standards (in theoretical situations) top out at 300 Mbps. (The real-world top speed you can expect will probably be under 100 Mbps.) But, for almost all the uses we can think of now, this rate is plenty fast. Your Internet connection probably doesn’t exceed 20 Mbps (though lucky folks who have fiber-optic lines running to their homes may exceed this rate by a big margin!), so your wireless connection should be more than fast enough.

Radio signal range: Wireless signals fade when you move away from the source. Some homes, especially older homes, may be built from materials that tend to block the radio signals used by wireless networking equipment, which causes even faster signal degradation. If your home has plaster walls that contain a wire mesh, the wireless networking equipment’s radio signal may not reach all points in your home. Most modern construction, however, uses drywall materials that reduce the radio signal only slightly. As a result, most homeowners can reach all points in their home with one centralized wireless access point (also called a base station) and one wireless device in or attached to each personal computer.

If you need better coverage, you can just add another access point — we show you how in Chapter 18 — or you can upgrade an older wireless network to a newer technology, such as 802.11n, which provides farther coverage within your home.

Radio signal interference: The most common type of wireless networking technology uses a radio frequency that’s also used by other home devices, such as microwave ovens and portable telephones. Consequently, some wireless home network users experience network problems (the network slows down or the signal is dropped) caused by radio signal interference.

Security: The radio signal from a wireless network doesn’t stop at the outside wall of your home. A neighbor or even a total stranger could access your network from an adjoining property or from the street unless you implement some type of security technology to prevent unauthorized access. You can safeguard yourself with security technology that comes standard with the most popular wireless home networking technology. However, it’s not bulletproof, and it certainly doesn’t work if you don’t turn it on. For more information on wireless security, go to Chapter 9.

Wireless networks compare favorably with wired networks for most home-owners who didn’t have network wiring installed when their houses were built or remodeled. As we mention earlier in this chapter, even if you do have network wires in your walls, you probably want wireless just to provide the untethered access it brings to laptops and handheld computers.

Choosing a Wireless Standard

The good news about wireless networks is that they come in multiple flavors, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The bad news is that trying to decide which version to get when buying a system can get confusing. The even better news is that the dropping prices of wireless systems and fast-paced development are creating dual- and tri-mode systems on the market that can speak many different wireless languages.

Introducing the 802.11s: a, b, g, and n

You may run into gear using one of two older standards: 802.11 a and b. For the most part, manufacturers aren’t making gear using these systems anymore (at least not for the home — some industrial and commercial network gear still on the market use these systems), but you will still hear about these systems as you explore wireless networking:

802.11a: Wireless networks that use the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a standard use the 5 GHz radio frequency band. Equipment of this type is among the fastest wireless networking equipment widely available to consumers.

802.11b: Wireless home networks that use the 802.11b standard use the 2.4 GHz radio band. This standard is the most popular in terms of number of installed networks and number of users.

Following are the two major wireless systems that have pretty much replaced 802.11b and 802.11a:

802.11g: The outgoing default version of the 802.11 wireless family, 802.11g was the primary form of wireless networking from 2003 until 2009. In many ways, 802.11g offered the best of both worlds — backward compatibility with the older 802.11b networks we just mentioned (they too operate over the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band) and the speed of the older 802.11a networks also discussed in that section. And the cost of 802.11g has dropped precipitously, so it’s now less expensive than the older and slower 802.11b. (You can buy an 802.11g network adapter for less than $20 and a home router for less than $40.)

802.11n: In late 2009, the IEEE finalized and ratified a newer and faster system called 802.11n. The 802.11n system (like 802.11g before it) is backward compatible, which means that older 802.11b and 802.11g systems can work just fine on an 802.11n network. 802.11n systems can also support the 5 GHz frequencies (though not all do; more on this in Chapter 3), and may therefore be backward compatible with 802.11a as well. A lot of new technology in 802.11n extends the range of the network and increases the speed as well — 802.11n can be as much as five times faster than 802.11g or 802.11a networks. Draft versions of 802.11n gear have been on sale since 2007; now that the final version is being sold, 802.11n should be your default choice for a new wireless network.

Equipment supporting all four of these finalized standards — 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n — can carry the Wi-Fi logo that’s licensed for use by the Wi-Fi Alliance trade group based on equipment that passes interoperability testing. You absolutely want to buy only equipment that has been Wi-Fi certified, regardless of which 802.11 standard you’re choosing.

The terms surrounding wireless networking can get complex. First, the order of lettering isn’t really easily understandable because 802.11b was approved and hit the market before 802.11a. Also, you see the term Wi-Fi used frequently. (In fact, we thought about calling this book Wi-Fi For Dummies because the term is used so much.) Wi-Fi refers to the collective group of 802.11 specifications: 802.11a, b, g, and n. You may sometimes see this group also named 802.11x networking, where x can equal a, b, g, or n. To make matters more confusing, a higher-level parent standard named 802.11 predates 802.11a, b, g, and n and is also used to talk about the group of the four standards. Technically, IEEE 802.11 is a standards group responsible for several other networking specifications as well. For simplicity in this book, we use 802.11 and Wi-Fi synonymously to talk about the four standards as a group. We could have used 802.11x, but we want to save a lot of xs (for our wives).

For the most part, 802.11a and 802.11b equipment is being phased out. If you’re buying all-new gear, 802.11g or 802.11n are your real choices — and we’re already starting to see 802.11g gear discontinued in favor of 802.11n. You can still find a few bits of 802.11a or b gear, but it’s mostly sold to fit into older networks. If you already have some gear that’s 802.11b, don’t despair — it still works fine in most cases, and you can upgrade your network to 802.11g or 802.11n bit by bit (pun intended!) without worrying about compatibility. In this section, we still discuss 802.11a and b, even though they’re increasingly not something you’re likely to consider.

Comparing the standards

The differences between these four standards fall into five main categories:

Data speed: 802.11a and 802.11g networks are almost five times faster than the original 802.11b networks — 802.11n is five times faster still! For the most part, any current Wi-Fi gear (whether it be 802.11g or 802.11n) will be faster than the Internet connection into your house, but the extra speed of 802.11n may be worthwhile if you’re trying to do things such as transfer real-time video signals around your home wirelessly.

Price: 802.11g networking gear (the standard system today) has been on the market since the mid-2000s — accordingly, the price for this gear is quite low (less than $20 for an adapter). The new 802.11n adapters can cost about twice as much.

Radio signal range: 802.11a wireless networks tend to have a shorter maximum signal range than 802.11b and g networks. The actual distances vary depending on the size and construction of your home. In most modern homes, however, all three of the older standards should provide adequate range. Because it uses a new technology called MIMO, 802.11n can have two or more times the range in your home, so if you have a big house, you might gravitate toward 802.11n.

Radio signal interference: The radio frequency band used by both 802.11b and 802.11g equipment is used also by other home devices, such as microwave ovens and portable telephones, resulting sometimes in network problems caused by radio signal interference. Few other types of devices now use the radio frequency band employed by the 802.11a standard. 802.11n gear can use either frequency band (though not all gear does — some uses only the more crowded 2.4 GHz frequency range).

Interoperability: Because 802.11a and 802.11b/g use different frequency bands, they can’t communicate over the same radio frequency band. Several manufacturers, however, have products that can operate with both 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b/g equipment simultaneously. By contrast, 802.11g equipment is designed to be backward compatible with 802.11b equipment — both operating on the same frequency band. 802.11n is backward compatible with all three previous standards, though the 802.11a backward compatibility is available only on 802.11n gear that operates in the 5 GHz frequency range.

Think of dual-mode, multistandard devices as being in the same vein as AM/FM radios. AM and FM stations transmit their signals in different ways, but hardly anyone buys a radio that’s only AM because almost all the receiving units are AM/FM. Users select which band they want to listen to at any particular time. With an 802.11a/b/g (or 2.4/5 GHz 802.11n) device, you can also choose the band that you want to transmit and receive in.

For a long time, wireless networks operating at the 2.4 GHz frequency range were most popular in the home, but the advent of 5 GHz capable 802.11n devices (such as Apple’s popular AirPort Extreme with Gigabit Ethernet) have finally brought 5 GHz networks into lots of homes.

If you’re starting your home wireless network from scratch, there’s no compelling reason not to go with 802.11n. 802.11n gear doesn’t cost that much more than the older 802.11g gear, and it provides a lot more networking capability. That said, if you have an existing 802.11g network in place, there’s no reason to throw it away and move to 802.11n right away — unless you have some high bandwidth requirements like video.

Planning Your Wireless Home Network

Installing and setting up a wireless home network can be ridiculously easy. In some cases, after you unpack and install the equipment, you’re up and running in a matter of minutes. To ensure that you don’t have a negative experience, however, you should do a little planning. The issues you need to consider during the planning stage include the ones in this list:

Which of your computers will you connect to the network (and will you be connecting Macs and PCs or just one or the other)?

Will all the computers be connected via wireless connections, or will one or more computers be connected by a network cable to the network?

Which wireless technology — 802.11n or 802.11g — will you use?

Which type of wireless adapter will you use to connect each computer to the network? And which of your computers already have one built-in?

How many printers will you connect to the network? How will each printer be connected to the network — by connecting it to a computer on the network or by connecting it to a print server?

Will you connect the network to the Internet through a broadband connection (cable or DSL) or dial-up? If you’re sharing an Internet connection, will you do so with a cable/DSL/satellite/dial-up router or with Internet connection-sharing software?