If you have more than one computer, a home network will let you share resources among them. Any computer can print on a shared printer located anywhere in the house. And your computers can share all kinds of files-music, digital pictures, and documents. Keep all your digital music on one computer, and listen to it anywhere in the house. Organize and keep all of your family's digital pictures in one place, so it's easy to find the ones you want and make backup copies on CD-R. Use extra free space on one computer when another's hard drive starts to fill up. Play network computer games either head-to-head, or on a team. If you sign up for a cable or DSL Internet connection, a home network will allow all your computers to share the line. Everybody can keep a private e-mail account and surf the web at the same time. You can also play online computer games with friends and opponents from around the world. Plus, the same router that lets you share Internet access also helps to protect your computers from Internet threats.

What Kind of Network is Right for Me?

Now that you've decided to start a network, it's time to decide what kind of network best suits your networking needs. Basically, there are two kinds of networks, wired and wireless. The most basic difference is that wired networks communicate through data cables, while wireless networks communicate through radio signals. Wired networks have been around for decades. By far the most common wired networking technology found today is known as Ethernet. The data cables, known as Ethernet network cables or Cat 5 cables, connect the computers and other devices that make up the networks. Wireless networks are relatively new. They don't use cables for connections; instead, they use radio waves, like cordless phones.

Why choose a wireless network?

Wireless networks are rapidly becoming more popular and coming down in price. Since they don't require cables, you can use the devices anywhere in an office or home, even out on the patio. There's no need to roll out an Ethernet network cable to each room of a house; you can network anywhere-without wires. Outside of the home, wireless networking is available in hotspots at coffee shops, businesses, airports-great when you're on the road and need to get some work done. For convenience, wireless networking is the answer.

Why choose a wired network?

Wired networks have been around for years. They use the most affordable products and provide the fastest speeds of transmission. The distance between devices, such as computers, on a network is also much less restricted in wired networking-up to 300 feet with Cat 5 Ethernet cables or 1,800 feet using fiber optics. When you need to move large amounts of data at high speeds, such as professional-quality multimedia, wired networking is the most efficient way to do it.

What Wireless Standard is Right for Me?

Now if you've decided to create a wireless network, the next step is to figure out which wireless standard to use. Basically, a standard is a set of specifications for a device. All devices that follow a specific standard share operating characteristics, such as the radio frequency used and maximum data transfer speed. For wireless networking, there are three standards to choose from at this time:

To learn about the differences in the wireless standards and how to select the right kind of network for your particular situation...

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