With the growing technology and modern age, most homes have an Internet connection and a local network.  The home network enables many devices; such as tablets, phones, PC’s to be connected to each other and to the internet. It is very helpful to understand a home computer network installation.

Choosing a wired or a wireless network

Firstly, it is important to choose between a wired or a wireless network.  Wired networks tend to be faster than wireless networks because they use Ethernet over the UTP cables. Some of the advantages of a wired network are:

• Secure and reliable
• Typically fast

Disadvantages of Wired network

• Not easily accessible for the visitors
• Not easy to set up in a quick way
• Will not work with devices that do not have an Ethernet port

Let us have a look at Home Wireless networks – Wireless networks are easy and quick to install and use Wi-Fi, but they are slower than the wired networks.

Advantages:

• No cables to run
• Easy setup
• Allows easy access to devices such as mobiles, tablets, and smartphones

Disadvantages:

• Not as quick as wired networks
• Not as reliable as wired networks
• Not as secure when compared to wired networks

However, depending upon your preferences, you can choose the wired network or the wireless network.

Setting up a Home computer network installation and understanding the components

Today most houses use a wireless network, or a mixed network, as most of us use devices that do not support an Ethernet cable.

The main components that are required to set up the Home computer network installation are as follows:

• Broadband fritters
• Telephone cable with RJ 10 connectors
• Wireless Access point
• Router or wireless router
• Ethernet hub or Switch
• Cable cat 5, cat5e or cat 6 with RJ45 connectors

For most homes, the Hub, or the wireless router, which connects to the Internet will be the important component of that particular house, and in most of cases, it may be the only component needed. The wireless router usually includes the Ethernet switch, wireless access point, DSL modem, and router in a single box. Usually, with the setup of home computer network installation, you will tend to get the set, but if you are missing something, then you may need the help of your local technician.

Wireless Router Location

The wireless router needs to be set up in a place where it has the best access for connection. The wireless router needs to be connected to the cable, fibre network, telephone line in your place. Therefore many people try to set up the wireless router near the main telephone socket. However, one can change the location according to your preference, but you need to make sure that the connection does not get any interference.

Do not:

• Install the setup behind the sofa
• Install next to microwaves, motors, or cordless telephones
• Hide it in the cupboard

Testing your wireless signal

Once you have set up the router, you need to test the wireless signal. The quickest way to test the wireless signal in various locations is to make use of the insider Wi-Fi checker. This is basically an app that you have to install on your android phone or tablet, and then make use of it to check the signal. You can check the signal strength by moving in and around your place and then accordingly adjust the location of your router to get the best results.

Extending your home network

In big homes, it might be not possible to connect all the devices to the wireless router, and therefore you will need to buy additional networking components to extend your home network.

You can extend the home network by:

• Extending the Wi-Fi coverage by installing additional networking components
• Using power cables
• Extending the wired network by running the cables into other rooms

Home Computer network installation Setup

To proceed with a home computer network installation setup, one needs to properly set up the house router that you are using via a web browser, and then login in using a username and a password. Before you allow different devices to connect to your house network, you should make some changes to the parameters of the router that are set by default. The important one is the SSID that is used to access the router admin password and the router; as the default username and password are known and can be published on the net.

Connecting Wi-Fi devices

The basic way of connecting a Wi-Fi device to a Wi-Fi network is to connect to the network by entering the password when the pop up comes up on your device. However, most of the modern Wi-Fi routers also support a feature known as WPS that involves pressing a button on the router, and you will notice a WPS connection button on your device. The devices then get connected without even requiring the password.

If you have any difficulties in successfully setting up your router to the internet and connecting your devices, you can always contact the experts! Home computer network installation should be easy, but then it can be a  challenging task; especially when you do not understand all the steps.

For further information and assistance, reach us at 1300 016 017.