Mixed Network

[Tazmaniac]

Anyone using mixed network? Home phoneline network adapter (HPNA),Wireless and Ethernet.

Im planning to network our other computers and i need some suggestion what network types are going to use.

I want to connect another 2-4 computers located at the house on our roof top (Im planning to use wireless network coz it has no telephone lines) and another 2-4 computer located in different rooms of the house (with telephone line). 1 computer for each rooms. (Im planning to use HPNA)

My main reason is I want to have internet access all our computers in our house and i want to connect/network it on our small ofice beside the house (around 10-20 meters). The small office has a 3 computers and one of them (host) has a DSL connection.

All computers are using windows XP home except from host that using windows XP fessional.

Any comments and suggestions for network setup? Many thanks.

[qball15j]

I'm not going to go into too much detail but here it goes. If you want to do this cheaply you may be able to get away with using two AP's (access points) with one in client mode (which will be in the house). One AP will connnect to the current network in your office, place one acess point on the wall faceing the hous. In your house place the other access point on the wall faceing your office. You should have enough signal strength where that shouldn't be a problem. Now that you have the wireless link to the house you'll need a HPNA bridge to connect to your AP and the phone line. After that it's pretty straight forward, install the HPNA nics, configure the systems and you sshould be ready to go.

If you need hardware recommendations or have any other questions I'll post back tomorrow.

[qball15j]

Just read your post again, if you have problems with signal strength in the house for other wireless clients you'll need to buy an external antenna to aim at your house from your office.

[JWynn]

I would recommend an ethernet network for one main reason: security.

You plan on connecting to your office and Im sure you have plenty of sensitive information you wouldnt want others to have. Go wired not wireless. Use either Cat5 (100 Megabit) or Cat5e (1,000 Megabit = 1 Gigabit). If you do not plan on transfering alot or data from computer to computer go with Cat5 as its cheaper and still plenty fast. Plus your network cards and router will be cheaper also (compared to Gigabit and wireless).

If you go wireless you open yourself up to alot of trouble broadcasting your network out through the air for anyone to pick up.

I dont know enough about phone line network adapters to offer you advice either way about those.

[Tazmaniac]

Thx 4 all ur Info's.

If you need hardware recommendations or have any other questions I'll post back tomorrow.

Yes i need hardware recommendation for wireless networking and some tips too for security using wireless network.

Thanks too Jwynn. :D

[JWynn]

Linksys is a good reliable brand for wired and wireless routers. In my opinion its the best price/performance package.

Since you are going wireless enable the highest level of WEP encryption you have available in your router options and make sure your cards support that same level.

Make your pass phrase for the encryption something really wacky and crazy with lots of random lower case and upper case letters, numbers and any other symbols that are allowed.

Also make sure to change your router's user name and password from the defaults also preferably also to something wacky and crazy with letters and numbers.

Just dont forget your new passwords. :)

[qball15j]

I would imagine you want to buy from a retail store like Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA for an easy return policy if something doesn’t work out. I'll recommend Linksys products over all the others, reason being I've had great luck with them. Not to mention that's what you'll be finding at mostly all retail stores. Only thing you'll have problems finding at a retail store is the HPNA stuff, pretty rare these days. Personally I would go all wireless if can get enough signal strength around the house.

Reading your first post again, I'm assuming you do not have a network in your office at this time. Just for the fact of easy installation, I'll get to security later. :D Do you have a window in your office facing the house? If so, get a window mount directional antenna would work great. Is the DSL modem on the wall nearest the house? If not, depending on the distance you may need other networking devices, every little bit closer you can get the antenna to the house helps a lot.

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=35&prid=601 That wireless router will connect to the Ethernet port of your DSL modem. If you choose to setup an Ethernet network if your office the ports are on the back of this router to do so. You should know about Ethernet, you’ll need NICs and Cat5 cable, which can also be picked up at a retail store. After you get the router setup, depending on distance and signal strength you may need an external antenna. If you end up needing one here's a good website. http://www.hdcom.com/

For your PC's you'll need wireless adapters. Since distance and signal play a major part of your network I would go with USB adapters like this one http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=36&prid=578 that way it can be moved to get the best signal. You may say, why not get a PCI wireless card. Well, those cards don’t help your signal much at all. Most of them have bad antennas to begin with and since their shoved back behind your computer which is metal that also affects the signal. A lot of people also shove computer inside desks or up against the wall, you can imagine what that does to a wireless signal.

Now I'll get to wireless security. Whether you have a mixed network or all wireless as long as that wireless aspect is there your whole network can be exposed. That said there are a few things you can do to secure your wireless network from the average Joe. Remember nothing is 100% secure!
1. Change the default SSID and password on your router/AP.
2. Turn off SSID Broadcast.
3. Use MAC filtering.
4. Use WEP. (May slow your wireless network)

If this is entirely way too much wireless for you, here's something else for you to consider. Buy a regular Ethernet router for your office. http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34&scid=29&prid=561 after you get your PC's in your office working. It's time to dig a trench from your office to the house; you'll need to lay some electrical conduit. In the conduit you'll run Cat5 cable, after you get the Cat5 into your house try to get it to a central location either in the basement or attic. From there you can choose to either to go wireless throughout the rest of the house (easiest way) or just run Ethernet cable to all the other rooms.

Since that was such a long post I know I missed somthing.... Just let me know. :D

[Tazmaniac]

Many Thanks for the info's :D As of now we are canvassing linksys router/AP we already decide to use wireless network all over the house and ethernet network inside the office. But we are planning to change our internet connection from DSL to satellite. Any recommendation for router using satellite internet connection?

[qball15j]

Since you have DSL stick with it... Satellite has its drawbacks. It can be very slow at times and there's high latency because of the time it takes from the data to get from your dish to space and back down again.

Depending on which satellite provider you go with networking may be an issue. As fare as I know the only provider that allows Ethernet connectivity is DirecTV’s Direct Way, everything else just uses USB which you can't network. Well you can network having a USB only satellite modem BUT it’s not as flexible as having an Ethernet port.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Enabling MAC filtering brings you quite a bit more security with your wireless.

HPNA is pretty easy, and works well. You have the reliability of a wired network...although yes some speed decrease compared to 100 fast ethernet....but if you're only building the network for internet access and occasional file and print sharing...that speed decrease is far from your bottleneck.