Way back most families only had one single computer, and no other high tech devices. World Wide Web access was based on dial-up modems which were connected directly with a serial cable on the home computer. No Local Area Network was needed. The advancement of technology and the acceptance of modern high speed broadband connectivity at homes, necessitates that home appliances should be networked to facilitate online access and to also communicate and share information between them.

What I mean by home appliances is computers, gaming consoles, wired or wireless printers, and data storage devices like NAS. All of those devices need to communicated between themselves over a LAN, but also need to have high-speed access to the Internet. To achieve that, you will need to set-up a home network. With a home based network you are technically building a local area network, which can be wired or wireless, that networked devices communicate between inside the home, and also share the same internet connection.

The device that control the home network is the router. This is usually a device that lets you setup a wired or a wireless network. You can use Ethernet cables if you’re making a wired network, or use Wi-Fi for wireless. This router shares the internet connection with your devices.

Once you have your network in place, you have limitless opportunities to attach whatever you need to your network. Things such as laptops, desktops, gaming consoles, servers, print servers, etc After you successfully connect all your devices to the router, you can share and distribute your files over the network, have LAN parties on game consoles, play online video games, and share pictures between computer.




By: Alex Smith