Instant Home Computer Networks

April 4, 2002

Instant Home Computer Networks

By DAVID POGUE

JULY 17, 1998, was a memorable day at our house. We had hired an electrician
to wire the place for networking. By hooking together our four computers in
this way, we hoped to enter network-nerd nirvana. We would be able to copy
files back and forth, consult a centralized family calendar, share a
communal
laser printer, play interactive games from opposite ends of the house, and -
above all - share our cable modem for fast Internet access.

I nearly fainted twice that day. The first time was when the electrician
announced that by cleverly exploiting crawl spaces, he had managed to snake
Ethernet
cables to all three floors of the house without having to rip open a single
wall or floorboard.

The second time was when I got the bill.

If only we had waited. Even in 1997, a new era was dawning, in which new
technologies would permit households with more than one computer to
experience
the joys and economies of networking without the expense and trauma of
rewiring the house.

One idea, for example, was something called HomePNA, a system of connecting
computers by telephone jacks. The seed of this idea was brilliant: your
house
is already fully wired - for telephones - so why not piggyback networking
signals on those wires?

But HomePNA turned out to be slow, buggy and confusing. It was also
limiting, because plenty of rooms don't even have phone jacks. You couldn't
put a computer
in those rooms without having to hire - you guessed it - an electrician.

This month and next, companies like LinkSys, Gigafast, Phonex, SMC and
NetGear (add ".com" to derive their Web addresses) are releasing new
products based
on an even brighter idea: exploiting your home's existing electrical wiring.

This new networking standard, called Powerline but marketed by manufacturers
under a variety of names, turns out to be fast, reliable and simple. Because
a typical house has a lot more power outlets than phone jacks, Powerline is
far more convenient than phone-line systems. The HomePlug Powerline
Alliance,
the industry group that came up with the standard (www
.homeplug.org), really had its act together.

It works like this. You buy a sandwich-size Powerline adapter for each
computer. (I tested adapters from LinkSys, which are available now, and
those from
Gigafast, which ship next month; but in principle Powerline products from
all manufacturers work identically and interchangeably.)

Powerline adapters come in two versions, Ethernet and U.S.B., depending on
which connector your computer has free. Most are marketed and labeled
exclusively
for Windows (98 and later), although the Ethernet versions also work like a
charm on Macs.

The far end of each adapter plugs in to any electrical outlet. Presto:
instant high-speed network. You're ready to share printers, use one PC as a
backup
disk for another, shoot sarcastic little on-screen messages to each other,
and so on.

For most computer fans, though, the most compelling reason to set up a
network is to share a cable modem or D.S.L. connection. If you equip a cable
modem,
for example, with its own Powerline adapter, every Powerline-equipped
computer in the house can surf the Net simultaneously at full speed. (Think
den,
patio or teenager's bedroom.)

If you have a laptop, you can walk upstairs, downstairs, all around the
house, plugging in to whichever outlet is most convenient to your couch, bed
or
recliner, and you're instantly connected to the Internet and to the other
computers in the house. Powerline makes possible a glorious choice of
locations
and rubbery postures.

At this point, knowledgeable geeks are entitled to scowl and mutter, "But
what about WiFi?"

For anyone who has carefully researched home networking, that is an
important question. Before Powerline, thousands had already experienced the
thrill of
home networking - without any wires at all - by setting up networks marketed
by various companies as AirPort, WiFi or 802.11b. (The terms all refer to
the same wireless system.)

These systems work as cordless phones do: you buy a base station (about
$180), which communicates with antenna cards ($80 to $100) in each Mac or
PC. You
can move through the house, continuously online, without plugging in to
anything.

Powerline may be a hair less convenient than standard WiFi gear, but it's
faster: its top speed is 14 megabits per second (I copied a one-megabyte
file
in about five seconds), compared with 11 for a wireless network. That
doesn't translate to faster Web surfing, because cable modems and D.S.L.
boxes themselves
are much slower than that. You really feel the difference, though, when you
transfer files among computers. (Of course, if you really cared about
file-transfer
speed, you'd pay even more for a just-released version of WiFi wireless
equipment, called 802.11a, whose advertised maximum speed is 54 megabits per
second.)

Powerline also has a superior range. A wireless laptop's connection slows
down as it moves farther from the base station, until, at about 150 feet, it
disconnects
completely. The Powerline signal, by contrast, travels about 1,000 feet and
doesn't slow down as you approach the limit. Bill Gates, take note: that
doesn't
necessarily give you a range of 1,000 feet as the crow flies (or as the
termite burrows), because home wiring twists and turns inside the walls.
Still,
Powerline is a better bet for big abodes. In my home, for example, there is
no WiFi coverage in the basement because it's too far from the cable modem
in the attic. But even in the basement, a Powerline-equipped laptop
downloads the latest Dilbert cartoon in a heartbeat.

Powerline networks are more secure than WiFi, too. If you live next door to
a family of WiFi users, it's possible for your wireless computer to get a
free
ride to the Internet on their cable modem. (In fact, more than one
enterprising apartment dweller exploits this loophole deliberately, offering
to share
a high-speed Internet connection with neighbors for, say, $5 a month.)
Powerline, on the other hand, comes with 56-digit data encryption turned on,
which
is plenty tough enough to keep out such Internet hitchhikers.

Finally, Powerline systems, though sometimes hampered by old wiring or
peculiarities of your local power grid, are far less susceptible to
interference
than 802.11b wireless networks, which are easily disrupted by 2.4-gigahertz
cordless phones or even microwave ovens. (Phrase for the new millennium:
"Honey,
quit defrosting - I'm online!")

On the other hand, at $120 (Gigafast) to $150 (LinkSys), Powerline adapters
are more expensive than wireless gear. If you have three computers and a
cable
modem, a wireless setup might cost $420 (a base station and three cards).
For a comparable Powerline setup, you'd have to buy four adapters ($480) and
a router (about $80), a little box that distributes a single Internet
connection among multiple computers.

There are ways to decrease the cost of a Powerline setup. One PC, of course,
may connect directly to the router and not require an adapter. Or the
technically
inclined can avoid buying the router itself by using Internet Connection
Sharing, a feature of Windows Me and Windows XP that lets one PC (when
turned
on) simulate a router. (You don't need a router at all for WiFi networks,
because most wireless base stations have built-in routers.)

Furthermore, Powerline prices will drop. One company expects them to fall to
around $75 by this time next year. They'll eventually grow more compact,
too.
In fact, Powerline circuitry could eventually be built into new computers,
so simply plugging in the power cords makes them part of a network.

Nor do the possibilities end there. The HomePlug organization points out
that a new generation of home-entertainment products - the TiVo (
news/quote)
Series 2, Internet radios, MP3 stereo components and so on - have built-in
Ethernet jacks. These appliances can slurp in music or video files from your
PC upstairs via Powerline adapters, or even play music or movies directly
from the Internet via your cable modem.

In the short term, wireless cards may be a better bet for use in an
apartment or, say, a two-story house. Powerline, with its superior range and
simplicity
of installation (there's nothing to install inside the PC), are a better
choice for bigger homes or technophobes.

Either way, the news is that you now have a choice of solid technologies
that let you build a home network without inhaling a single speck of plaster
dust.
Powerline is a simple, straightforward way to multiply the usefulness of
each computer, give other family members their own fast Internet
connections,
and gain the flexibility to settle down for work in any room at any time.
Everybody's happy - except, perhaps, your electrician.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company |
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