In past columns I have discussed how to connect more than one computer so you could share an Internet connection, a printer or play multiplayer games.
Previously we have covered telephone line networking devices, which use telephone wiring to share data without disrupting the use of your telephone. (My choice for those devices was Intel's great "Anypoint" system, which was a snap to install on my home system.)
This time I wanted to examine wireless networking. I selected the components offered by SOHOware www.sohoware.com because the company focuses on easy solutions for SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) problems. I also find their prices nearly unbeatable.
The hub of my system would end up being my SOHOware Broadguard router, which "routes" my Internet connection where it needs to go while protecting my files and data with its built-in firewall.
This allows up to four devices to share one broadband connection and would be a bargain at $99 even without the firewall protection it also brings to the table.
To make my home wireless, I added a "NetBlaster II" hub, a device about the size of a pack of cards that broadcasts and receives from remote computers. It costs $149.
This connects to the router and serves as the host for all of your other devices.
Then, all you need to do is add wireless cards to each of your other PCs, install some software and you're done. Because I don't mind opening my PCs, I selected PCI network cards ($79), which installed easily. For my laptop, I used a PC card that slid into a slot on the laptop (also $79).
To be honest, the first few hours with this setup were touch and go, mostly because my PCs are scattered all over the house. Because the position of the hub is critical, in a best case scenario one would locate the hub at a central part of the house. In my case, the hub was in one corner.
I easily received the signal at another PC upstairs and was cruising the Web at 10 Mbps in under an hour, with no wires. The other PC had too weak a signal to use the wireless connection. The hub should have a 150-foot range, but my house had numerous walls and the signal just could not make it. The upstairs PC was about 80 feet away and worked flawlessly.
For the laptop, the devices worked beautifully. I could easily use my laptop outside on the patio and receive a decent Internet signal.
Because the SOHOware gear is compliant with the industry standard called "802.11b," you also can mix and match devices from other manufacturers on your home network.
The takeways here are simple. If you have a group of PCs that are pretty close together and you want to share one connection without running wires, then wireless networking is the way to go. It was easy to set up and configure (once I read to put the hub as high as possible on the wall and took my friend Mike's advice to mount it sideways).
James Derk is new media editor for The Evansville Courier & Press. His e-mail address is jderk@evansville.net.