Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home?

[Guest]

Powerline, MoCA, 802.11 wireless, or conventional Ethernet--which networking technology is right for your home? Netgear sent us product based on all four technologies and we ran them through their paces to help you decide which works best in your home.

Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home? : Read more

 

[rebturtle]

I'll be bookmarking this article for customers who tell me, "No, I don't want a wired LAN, I picked up this wireless router at WalMart....."

 

[blackmancer]

+1 wired ethernet connections all the time!!!!!!!!

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I like the netgear floorplan "Stairs to go upstairs" ... great!

And nice article btw. Imo I'd have put the first rant about netgear after the section detailing that you're using it, so it looks more like an explanation than an advertisement (page 1) though.

 

[anamaniac]

Thank you for the article.
I decided to skip getting a switch (as I still want interent on all connected devices anyways), and grabbed a 2.4/5GHz 820.11n gigabit router...
Has done well for me, just too bad my PSP can't use wireless N.

I've been tempted (and almost did) put new holes in my walls to drag my cat6 cables around my house (I only grabbed cat6 over cat5e because of the colour of the cables at my shop, however I do somewhat regret it because cat5e is a lot more flexible).

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Q: can regular people like I download the zap benchmark software somewhere? I'm the guy being blamed if our corporate network in two towns breaks down, and lately I've been hammered for unstable wireless network and can't find any cause for this. Would like to see minimum performance for our access points (got about 40 meru aps with dual radio and a,b,g and n concurrently).

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Gigabit ethernet throughout the house running through a gigabit switch in the garage here with 802.11g for the laptops until I get round to replacing the router we got with our broadband supplier with an Airport Extreme.

Luckily the previous owner of the house was a network engineer and had left all the wiring throughout the house. I just hooked up a cheap second hand gigabit switch off eBay and have been loving it ever since.

 

[NicNash]

If you connect a power-line connector from a computer that is also connected to a wireless n network, to that router... will it use both adapters at same time? or whichever to provide best speed?

weird thought.. but yea

 

[NicNash]

btw great article on these lesser known technologies. this article is worth its weight in gold to those who care

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]nicnash[/nom]If you connect a power-line connector from a computer that is also connected to a wireless n network, to that router... will it use both adapters at same time? or whichever to provide best speed? weird thought.. but yea[/citation]
Depending on the OS, but if you're running a standard microsoft os, it'll use whichever it detects a gateway on first. Has nothing to do with which is fastest or most reliable.

Type route print in cmd if you want to see what it uses

 

[ytoledano]

Wired is king.

 

[Ciuy]

Gigabit Ethernet foreverr, why upgrade/strugle with connection types that perform slower ?? Today we need the best HD connection ever

wireless is and always will be sheeet !!!!

 

[Guest]

Great post. One small remark though, instead of naming it "Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home?" you might've named in "A Netgear commercial", since you talk more about Netgear, than the topic. Dlink and Cisco rule!

 

[Tattysnuc]

Any chance of a follow up guide on

1. how to do the setup in software (Mac/Win 7/Vista/XP)
2. Sharing files
3. Streaming

I'm in the process of setting up a Gigabit wired network around the house and I'm struggling to find any decent guides that take you trough the entire process, from selecting the hardware to streaming media.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]smole[/nom]Great post. One small remark though, instead of naming it "Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home?" you might've named in "A Netgear commercial", since you talk more about Netgear, than the topic. Dlink and Cisco rule![/citation]
You put dlink and cisco in the same sentence? imo you should be ashamed!
If there's one thing I know for certain, then it is that nobody who wants something to work should buy dlink to get there!
Once (2001) I built a complete infrastructure with dlink switches and wireless adapters. The APs didn't even last a year before I replaced them with some asus ones, and these got replaced by much better HP ones in 2005. And finally when I got a chance to replace the dlink junk with 4108 switches nobody even wanted the old ones! In the end I gave like 20 dlink switches with fiber modules away for free - it was cheaper than throwing them away!

And over the years when people ask "My wireless connection sometimes doesn't work. When I restart my access point it works again. What can I do about it?" my answer is always "Is it Dlink?" and guess what - the answer has ALWAYS been yes.
It's possibly the least reliable network gear you can aquire! I'm not particularily fond of netgears mediocre quality, but they're tons better than anything dlink can provide! By the way - buying expensive Dlink stuff doesn't make it more reliable either! I've had a DES-6000 (8 slot modular) break down because it became summer and the temperature reached 34C (have had HP switches enduring 57C without breaking down). And serveral of the DES-1226 although configured correctly with vlans would occasionally send all data to the first vlan until rebooted. You don't reboot network equipment! You just don't!

As for cisco - it works, sure, but it's tons more expensive than any competing brand, and doesn't offer support for anything nobody else can. And on top of that it's slower than most other quality gear with the same feature sets.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]Tattysnuc[/nom]Any chance of a follow up guide on 1. how to do the setup in software (Mac/Win 7/Vista/XP)2. Sharing files3. StreamingI'm in the process of setting up a Gigabit wired network around the house and I'm struggling to find any decent guides that take you trough the entire process, from selecting the hardware to streaming media.[/citation]

And when you're at it do an article about (free) CMS system choices for hosting your web and storage servers at home. We live in a time where anybody can get 50Mbit for the same money a 2Mbit cost 5 years ago.

Also an article about how ip trafic is routed and how dns servers really work would be cool - cisco is teaching a theory, but it isn't how things actually work in reallife. For instance many isp's provide a link where the 'network number' is the client pc, and the 'broadcast address' is the gateway ; according to cisco this shouldn't work, but it does.

 

[saint19]

+1 wired ethernet connection. For my, is the best option till my ISP rise the speed of my connection.

 

[tommysch]

Going wireless for gaming is like buying a MAC over a PC. Its all hype and the look-at-me-im-so-cool thing.

 

[fausto]

OK, i've been wanting wired ethernet at home for a while and this just makes me want it even more.

Anyone knows of any good tutorials on wiring the house? making the holes on the wall and running the wiring?

 

[fausto]

[citation][nom]nicnash[/nom]If you connect a power-line connector from a computer that is also connected to a wireless n network, to that router... will it use both adapters at same time? or whichever to provide best speed? weird thought.. but yea[/citation]

no it would not, you would have to choose which network connection you want to use between the 2. but it provides a backup if your main one is down.

 

[ravewulf]

Definitely a combo of Gig-E and Wireless n.

My laptop already has Wireless n, now I just need a new motherboard* for my desktop with gigabit ethernet and a new router

 

[candide08]

[citation][nom]nicnash[/nom]If you connect a power-line connector from a computer that is also connected to a wireless n network, to that router... will it use both adapters at same time? or whichever to provide best speed? weird thought.. but yea[/citation]

Using two connections simultaneously is called "teaming," and is only done when both network connections are the same speed and type.

 

[fflam]

Much like DSL, MoCA signals occupy the unused line spectrum for CATV above 850 MHz, so there’s no risk of interference from other data on the line

well that's not true. here the cable company uses signal up to 1ghz. if i find a 5-950mhz splitter in a house/apt you will lose some channels.

 

[williamvw]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]Q: can regular people like I download the zap benchmark software somewhere? I'm the guy being blamed if our corporate network in two towns breaks down, and lately I've been hammered for unstable wireless network and can't find any cause for this. Would like to see minimum performance for our access points (got about 40 meru aps with dual radio and a,b,g and n concurrently).[/citation]
Unfortunately, Zap is still held tightly within Ruckus Wireless. To the best of my knowledge, I'm the only journalist who's been given a copy, and even then it was on the condition that I not share it with anyone under threat of dismemberment. The good news is that, based on a conversation I had with Ruckus a couple weeks ago, they're planning on making Zap open source, perhaps via SourceForge. So hopefully you'll soon be able to download it alongside the rest of the world.

 

[williamvw]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]You put dlink and cisco in the same sentence? imo you should be ashamed! If there's one thing I know for certain, then it is that nobody who wants something to work should buy dlink to get there![/citation]
Much as I appreciate your comments, I'll disagree with you on this one point and perhaps dispel the notion of being "bought" by Netgear in the process. You sound like you've been burned by D-Link purchases in the past, and I'm sorry to hear that. I'll agree that D-Link tends not to be the top-ranking product in most roundups. In my experience, they historically are on par with Linksys, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your viewpoint. In the end, though, I've had very few problems with the D-Link equipment on my own network (which is consumer-class, nothing even close to the fiber switch level). D-Link tends to be ahead of the curve on consumer feature adoption, which I appreciate. I can't make a statement about their commercial gear because I haven't used it, but suffice it to say that, on the consumer side, I've had no major complaints about the products or service over several years of use and testing.