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Introduction | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3
How To Do It
Don't be intimidated; it's not as hard as it seems
By Maryanne Murray Buechner
Your home has one high-speed Internet connection and several computers, and you'd like them all to share that fat pipe. But a home network? You can't bear the thought of drilling holes in your walls and snaking cables around the house. Here's the good news: you don't have to. You can go wireless.
More and more consumers are doing it; sales of wireless home-networking products in 2001 were 12 times what they were the year before, according to Stephen Baker, director of research for NPD Techworld. And it's easy to see why. Not only does a wireless network give you the freedom to roam around the house or yard with your laptop without losing your Internet connection, but the latest equipment has also got considerably cheaper and more reliable.
There are disadvantages: interference from microwaves and baby monitors; ranges that vary from several hundred yards to just a few dozen feet; and installation procedures, although marketed as do-it-yourself, that turn out to be complicated and not at all intuitive. They can easily eat up an entire weekend. They can drive you to drink.
But when you see those little green lights blink—when your computers are finally talking to one another and surfing at the same high speed—you'll know it was time well spent. Click here to get started.
Step 1: Get the Gear >> |
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