Cool Tools comes home

Much of the product testing we do for the weekly Cool Tools column and the annual Cool Yule Tools Gift Guide gets done at home. Back when we bought our house in 2001, we kept things pretty much contained by limiting our cable modem Internet access to the upstairs "office," a converted bedroom with two PCs connected by Ethernet cables.

Then we got wireless, and the network expanded. Boy, did it ever.

First we used the wireless connection to link notebooks (both personal and work-related) to the broadband connection, discovering that surfing the Web from the couch is way more fun than sitting in the home office.

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Much of the product testing we do for the weekly Cool Tools column and the annual Cool Yule Tools Gift Guide gets done at home. Back when we bought our house in 2001, we kept things pretty much contained by limiting our cable modem Internet access to the upstairs "office," a converted bedroom with two PCs connected by Ethernet cables.

Then we got wireless, and the network expanded. Boy, did it ever.

First we used the wireless connection to link notebooks (both personal and work-related) to the broadband connection, discovering that surfing the Web from the couch is way more fun than sitting in the home office.

As more products with Ethernet ports came out - gaming consoles, personal video recorders, network media players and network cameras — we brought them home. With each, we had to decide whether to connect it via Ethernet cable or via wireless adapter (yet another device).

In time, my wife and I agreed to move the wireless router from the office down to the living room, mainly to provide a wired connection for our ReplayTV, which didn't respond well to the wireless adapter. This gave us a wired Ethernet connection for our company VPN, which lets us work downstairs when we telecommute (with the TV off, of course). VPN performance is better over the wired connection, I found.

The setup’s not ideal, but the best we can figure so far. The router adds more blinking lights to the home entertainment system, and there are more wires hanging around than I’d like, though most are behind the TV.  Wireless security became an issue the day our WindowsXP notebook alerted us to the presence of our next-door neighbor’s wireless network upon boot up. (An SSID with his last name popped up.)

I'm intrigued by power line networking, thinking about upgrading my wireless network to an 802.11g, mainly for testing digital media players, and recently found Dell and Gateway are offering 16-port unmanaged switches for only $79. Imagine what I could do with 16 ports? Of course, that would mean moving everything from the living room into a wiring closet…

Since there’s always something new going on, our home network is always evolving, we thought we’d take you along on our HomeLAN adventures. In this new column, we’ll give you product reviews, tips, predictions, and highlight new products that are set to invade your home network.

If you're knee-deep in your home network, or are just looking for new ways to use that broadband connection, join us. If there's something you'd like us to explore, send me an e-mail (kshaw@nww.com).

Read more about home networks in Network World's Home Networks section.