Build a Simple Home Network at very Economical Prices

Networking was
Meant for the Elite
Professionals
 

The common and complexity of home network.

Now, the times have changed. The technology has been simplified with less costly components  The trouble in understanding the basics is simply to get over the techno-babble barrier.

Becoming more familiar with the computer terms is the answer.

The fundamental equipment is much simple to understand with elaborate operational manuals available in the market.  Let me help you in correlating some words with what you already know. For building a simple home network in the wired type of system, you need Ethernet Cat-5-6 cable.

You must be having a rough idea of the distances between your rooms and to the hall. But 20% more of this Ethernet (100 meters/300 feet) Cat-5-6 cable than the actual distances the cable has to cover and connect

In case of wireless networks, the cost factor is higher.

You have to purchase a hub or switch or router. The hub is the simplest and cheapest component with ports to plug cables to. The switch resembles the hub but does better functions. A router is costlier, but has maximum features. A router is a must for connecting the internet to your PC.

You can always use one of your computers to do Internet Connection Sharing.

Using a dedicated router is better than receiving resources on one of the computers in the network. Finally you need to get adapters for fitting into computers, color printer, fax machine that you want the PCs to be connected.

You can use 10 Mb or 100 Mb speed Ethernet NICs (Network Interface Cards) for wired networks. In case of wireless system, use 802.11 (n, b or g) wireless cards. Using the manufacturer's manual

Attach and setup the hardware. Each PC will find its place in the respective rooms of your family members and the color printer and fax machine will find its place in the hall on the ground floor, all interconnected with cable or wireless.

Each device on the home network will be given at least one IP address.

This is a simple dotted octet number like 70.1.2.125, which you might have noted when connecting to the internet. In your home network, numbers like 192.168.0.1 is assigned to the router as IP address.
Focus your numbering scheme starting at the router.

This router is the Central Hub Connected by cable/wireless 

IP addresses of the other computers, printer and fax may be like 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3, etc. Each IP address is dedicated to each device.

Following the specific instructions from the supplier of the router and computer, you will definitely succeed in building your home network.