Linking Home Computers Without Shelling Out For New Wiring

By Lawrence J. Magid

SAN DIEGO -- The 700 or so Internet industry insiders who attended Upside Media's Internet Showcase conference in San Diego last month are hardly typical home PC users. Yet I was amazed at the response when a speaker asked the attendees to raise their hands if they had more than one personal computer at home. Virtually all hands were raised. Most had three or more, and one attendee had 13.

Homes with more than a dozen PCs are, of course, extremely rare. But a growing number of families now have two or more. For these families, finding ways to share data and resources among their machines can be a challenge.

It's one thing to buy an extra PC or two, but it could break the bank when adding extra printers, modems, phone lines and peripherals for each computer. What's more, there are times when you may want to move programs or data files from one PC to another. So it's no wonder there is a burgeoning interest in home-based local-area networks, or LANs.

Most LANs require special wiring and other equipment to link PCs. But a couple of companies at Internet Showcase demonstrated products that link computers using wires that are already in your home.

HomeRun from Tut Systems will allow you to link computers using standard telephone wiring. While LAN products that use ``twisted pair'' phone wires to carry data aren't new, HomeRun lets computers piggyback onto the same wires without interfering with phone service.

The system is expected to cost $149 per machine when it becomes available in mid-1998, according to a company representative.

Each HomeRun adapter has a standard (RJ-11) phone jack and (RJ-45) Ethernet connectors. Each PC or Mac on the network would also need an Ethernet card; these are widely available for as little as $20. The cards cost more for notebook computers.

For each machine on the network, you plug one wire from the HomeRun adapter into the computer's Ethernet card using standard (10Base-T) @Ethernet cables. Another wire plugs into any telephone jack in your home. Data are carried at 1.3 megabits per second, which is 45 times the speed of a 28.8-kilobit-per-second modem and about one-seventh the speed of a standard 10-megabit-per-second Ethernet LAN. Special software may be required to allow PCs and Macs to exchange data on the same network.

InterQuest Communications of Walnut Creek, Calif., markets a version of the product for apartment complexes, condominiums, hotels and campus environments that need networking without the expense of special wires.

Passport from Intelogis uses standard telephone wiring. The $249 starter system, which is expected to be available in April, will come with two external adapters that plug into the parallel port of any IBM-compatible PC. Additional PC adapters are $99, and printer adapters are $49 each. The devices plug into standard electrical outlets and use the electrical wiring in your home to carry data from one machine to another. Data are transferred at 350 kbps, about 12 times faster than a 28.8-kbps modem but much slower than a typical office LAN. The system is designed for three to 10 machines and is currently available for IBM-compatible computers only.

Using electric current would create security issues because it's possible for a neighbor who shares a power transformer with you to access data that travels via your house's current. Intelogis software includes security features that allow you to create a secure network that eliminates the possibility of other PCs accessing data, according to Intelogis Marketing Director Todd Green.

HomeRun and Passport allow you to share a single modem and Internet connection with every computer on the network. That means you log on once, and each machine can access the Web, e-mail and other Internet resources without having to make a separate phone call and tie up another modem and phone line. In both cases, one machine on the network logs on to the Internet and shares that connection with other machines. Passport will include software for modem sharing; HomeRun will require users to purchase additional software.

Although these devices will eliminate the need to install special wires, they don't solve all problems associated with installing and maintaining a network.

HomeRun, for example, still requires you to buy, install and configure network-interface cards, which -- under Windows 95 -- can be a nightmare.

Although the Passport product doesn't require additional hardware for the PC, it does require installing and configuring network drivers. Ultimately, both companies and Microsoft want to make networking ``plug and play.'' But whether that will happen soon is a matter of speculation. There are already plenty of hardware products designed to be auto-configured, but it's more like ``plug and pray.''

Before salivating over either product, remember that neither is currently on the market. I've learned never to trust any product until it's been tested by real, paying customers.

Besides, if you want a home-area network, there are already low-cost ways to wire your home. I didn't need to spend too much to set up a 10-mps Ethernet LAN at my house using the same technology employed by most businesses. You can buy Ethernet hubs for as little as $40, network cards for under $20 per machine and the necessary wires for about $35 per 75-foot length. Add about $100 for installation, and the cost is still lower than what you'd have to shell out for the HomeRun or Passport systems.

(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

 

Related sites:

• Tut Systems
• InterQuest Communications
• Intelogis

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