RSS feedsIf you’re anything like me, choosing a new home involves more than just the number of rooms, proximity of key services and the standard of fitted suites.
If you’re a technology lover, there are always additional agendas that greatly influence your choice.
I can’t look at a lounge without trying to figure out where I’ll put five loudspeakers and a large TV without at least two of them ending up in a fireplace.
Accommodating PC kit should be easy. There may be minor concerns over where your internet connection enters the home, but beyond that it’s a case of just putting your computers on desks and using wired or wireless networking to link them up.
But is it really that simple? I recently moved into a new house and had to rethink my initial networking strategy.
The internet connection came into the opposite end of the house to where I wanted my main work PC so, keen to get up and running as quickly as possible, I opted for a wireless link.
I realised I wouldn’t have the bandwidth of my previous wired Ethernet network, but surely it would be sufficient for basic connectivity until I managed to look into cabling.
Sadly not. Everyone knows wireless networking is greatly affected by its surroundings, but I’ve rarely used a technology that delivers such wildly different experiences. In my old home, the wireless worked fine. My Netgear DG834N wireless router distributed a strong signal throughout the house and into the garden – even with other wireless networks within range.
Upon moving into my new house I was delighted – and more than a little surprised – not to find a single other wireless network within range. Surely this would be my best wireless experience yet, but almost immediately I ran into problems.
The main PC reported a signal that drifted between good and poor, regardless of the position of its antenna and the router in the other room. I thought a poor connection was still a connection nonetheless, but it frequently dropped, inevitably while I was attempting a critical file transfer. My network media players also kept cutting out.
I’m not blaming Netgear, or my neighbours unless they have a stack of conflicting wireless technologies; swapping radio channels also made no difference. My new home simply had thick walls and so there were only two other courses of action. One was networking over the mains (Homeplug), but this can still be prone to electrical interference. The other was to lay cables, but renting the house limits my options for hiding the cables.
Cables don’t bother me, but for many people they’re a big issue; indeed accommodating 20m of Cat-6 cabling without opening walls would be met with utter horror by many and rejected without discussion. But with wireless not working sufficiently and no possibility of moving the phone point, a cable was my preferred choice.
So I carefully made my way from one room to the other. The carpeted areas were relatively easy, as there’s normally room between the hooks and skirting board to run a cable under the carpet’s edge. It was also simple to tape the end of the cable to a stick and feed it under carpets at doorways.
The trickiest parts were the sections running alongside units on hard tiling, but careful choice of cable colour and tape allowed me to discreetly secure it in place. The entire job took one hour, involved no drills or saws and is barely noticeable.
My network performance took a huge leap forward, and there were no interference or security issues. I even switched off my wireless.
