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How to Set Up Your Home Network

Wired or wireless, getting connected is easier than ever. Follow our steps and you'll have your PCs talking to each other in no time.

Emru Townsend

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Telephone Tag: HomePNA 2.0

Companies such as Netgear, Linksys, and Proxim offer HomePNA packages.

What's good about HomePNA? It uses your household's existing telephone circuitry as its network wiring, and it is the easiest of the three standards to install and use. HomePNA uses a distinct frequency on your phone line, so someone can talk on the phone or use a fax machine without interfering with your multiplayer game of Quake.

What's bad about HomePNA? Your computers all have to be near phone jacks. If you have more than one phone line, make sure all the jacks you plan to use are for the same phone number.

How to Set Up a HomePNA Network

HomePNA adapters come in three flavors: USB or PCI (for desktop computers), and PC Card (for notebooks). If you plan to share a high-speed Internet connection, you'll also need an ethernet bridge ($180 and up)--like a gateway--on the system that uses the broadband modem, instead of an adapter. The ethernet bridge is hooked up to the PC that is connected to the broadband modem; no adapter is required for this PC.

Repeat the following steps for each computer:

  1. Turn off the computer and install the manufacturer's adapter. If you're putting a PCI card into a desktop computer, you'll have to open the case to do so.

  2. Plug the adapter into a phone jack. If a telephone or fax machine is already using the jack, plug the phone or fax into the adapter first. If you're short on phone jacks, you may want to use a two-way splitter to share the jack.

  3. Turn the computer on. Windows will detect the adapter and prompt you to install the driver from the included CD-ROM. Follow the on-screen instructions. Depending on the package you're using, you might also be prompted for the computer's name. (Remember what I said about being prepared?)

  4. Restart the computer.

  5. If you plan to share an Internet connection and don't have a router, install the Internet-sharing software (if included by the manufacturer) or use the Internet Connection Sharing software in Windows 98 Second Edition and Millennium Edition. Designate the computer that will connect directly to the Internet as the server; the others are clients. Remember to install firewall software on the server to protect all the PCs on your network.

Now you can invite your friends over for Quake III tournaments.

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