Wired versus Wireless

Ethernet is the most-often used method of connecting personal computers
together to form a network because it’s fast and its equipment is relatively
inexpensive. In addition, Ethernet can be transmitted over several types of
network cable or sent through the air by using wireless networking equipment.
Many new computers have an Ethernet connection built in, ready for
you to plug in a network cable. The most popular wireless networking equipment
transmits a form of Ethernet.

Installing wired home networks
Even though we’re talking mostly about wireless networks in this book and
how great they are, we’d be misleading you if we told you that wireless was
the only way to go. Wireless and wired homes each have advantages.
Wired homes are
Faster: Wired lines can reach 1000 Mbps in speed, whereas wireless
homes tend to be in the 10 Mbps and soon 100 Mbps range. Both wireless
and wired technologies are getting faster and faster, but wired will
always be ahead.
More reliable: Wireless signals are prone to interference and fluctuations;
wired connections typically are more stable and reliable.
More secure: You don’t have to worry about your signals traveling
through the air and being intercepted by snoopers, like with unsecured
wireless systems.
Economical over the long term: The incremental cost of adding Cat 5e
voice and data cabling and RG-6 coaxial cabling into your house — over
a 30-year mortgage — will be almost nothing each month.
Salable: More and more homebuyers are not only looking for well-wired
homes but are discounting homes without the infrastructure. As good as
wireless is, it is not affixed to the house and is carried with you when
you leave. Most new homes have structure wiring in the walls.
If you’re building a new home or renovating an old one, we absolutely recommend
that you consider running the latest wiring in the walls to each of your
rooms. That doesn’t mean that you won’t have a wireless network in your
home — you will. It just will be different than if you were wholly reliant on
wireless for your networking.
If you choose to use network cable, it should ideally be installed in the walls,
just like electrical and phone wiring. Network jacks (outlets) are installed in
the walls in rooms where you would expect to use a computer. Connecting
your computer to a wired network is just as easy as plugging a phone into a
phone jack

Installing wireless home networks

If you’re networking an existing home or are renting your home, wireless has
fabulous benefits:
Portable: You can take your computing device anywhere in the house
and be on the network. Even if you have a huge house, you can interconnect
wireless access points to have a whole home wireless network.
Flexible: You’re not limited to where a jack is on the wall; you can network
anywhere.
Cost effective: You can start wireless networking for a couple of hundred
dollars. Your wiring contractor can’t do much with that!
Clean: You won’t have to tear down walls or trip over wires when they
come out from underneath the carpeting.
What’s more, there’s really no difference how you use your networked computer,
whether it’s connected to the network by a cable or by a wireless networking
device. Whether you’re sharing files, a printer, your entertainment
system, or the Internet over the network, the procedures are the same on a
wireless network as on a wired network. In fact, you can mix wired and wireless
network equipment on the same network with no change in how you use
a computer on the network.
Time for the fine print. We’d be remiss if we weren’t candid and mention any
potential drawbacks to wireless networks compared with wired networks.
The possible drawbacks fall into four categories:
Data speed: Wireless networking equipment does transmit data at
slower speeds than wired networking equipment. Wired networks are
already networking at gigabit speeds, although the fastest wireless networking
standards (in the best situations) tops out at 54 Mbps.
Some vendors have proprietary extensions that will take the speed higher, but
even these top out at a little more than 100 Mbps in the best scenarios.)
But for almost all the uses that we can think of now, this is plenty fast.
Your Internet connection probably doesn’t exceed a few Mbps in speed,
so your wireless connection should be more than fast enough.
Radio signal range: Wireless signals fade when you move away from the
source. Some homes, especially older homes, might be built from materials
that tend to block the radio signals used by wireless networking
equipment, causing even faster signal degradation. If your home has
plaster walls that contain a wire mesh, the wireless networking equipment’s
radio signal might not reach all points in your home. Most
modern construction, however, uses drywall materials that reduce the
radio signal only slightly. As a result, most homeowners can reach all
points in their home with one centralized wireless access point (also
called a base station) and one wireless device in or attached to each personal
computer. And if you need better coverage, you can just add
another access point — we show you how in Chapter 18.
Radio signal interference: The most common type of wireless networking
technology uses a radio frequency that’s also used by other home
devices, such as microwave ovens and portable telephones. Some home
wireless network users, as a consequence, experience network problems
(the network slows down or the signal is dropped) caused by radio
signal interference.
Security: The radio signal from a wireless network doesn’t stop at the
outside wall of your home. A neighbor or even a total stranger could
access your network from an adjoining property or from the street
unless you implement some type of security technology to prevent
unauthorized access. To prevent unauthorized access, you can safeguard
yourself with security technology that comes standard with the
most popular home wireless networking technology. However, it’s not
bulletproof, and it certainly won’t work if you don’t turn it on. For more
on wireless security
For our money, wireless networks compare favorably with wired networks for
most homeowners who didn’t have network wiring installed when the house
was built.