Designing a Home Network
A home network is a local area network in a residential setting that is used for communication between digital devices such as personal computers, printers and mobile computing devices (Wikipedia, 2011). Wireless technology is an ideal choice for a network in the home. Wireless technology follows the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications.
The 802.11g wireless technology is ideal for this home network. It has a maximum data transfer rate of 54 Mbps and a total transmission distance of hundreds of feet. It runs on the 2.4GHz unlicensed band and supports 20 users per cell (Lammle, 2007). The network consists of two parts: the wireless section comprising of the wireless user devices and access point, while the wired section is the connection of the access point to the wired local area network using Category 5e or Category 6 wiring.
The client and infrastructure devices used include: wireless user devices, access point, residential gateway and cable modem. The wireless user devices, such as laptops, have an attached or inbuilt wireless network interface card (NIC) that can transmit and receive wireless signals. The access point transmits data to the user devices and serves a switching function.
A cable modem enables network devices to access the internet with an actual data transfer rate of 27Mbps (Tech Target, 2000). One end of the cable modem is connected to the coaxial cable from the Internet service provider; the other end is connected to the residential gateway using an Ethernet cable. A residential gateway is used to give user devices simultaneous access to the internet. The user devices in the network connect to the residential gateway wirelessly using Wi-Fi signals or wired using Category 5e cables.
This network technology has various benefits. The 802.11g products are reversibly compatible with 802.11b products. Cabling is not required for the user devices to communicate with the network (White, 2010). The cabling tends to be untidy and require tunneling and drilling walls, doors, floors and ceilings to pull the wiring. The wireless network will eliminate the need for this. The network uses have the freedom and flexibility to connect to the network from any location within the transmission range. In a wired network, access to the network is localized and determined by ones proximity to the access port on the wall or switching device.
References
Lammle, T. (2007). Ccna® - cisco® certified network associate study guide. (6th ed., p. 711). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.
Tech Target. (2000, October). Cable modem. Retrieved from http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cable-modem
White, C. (2011). Data communications and computer networks, a business user’s approach. (6 ed.). Boston: Course Technology Ptr.
Wikipedia. (2011, December 9). Home network. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_network