Back to Basics

Whether your plan is to use a home network to play games across multiple PCs, to enjoy your MP3s from any room, or simply to share a printer or an Internet connection (like most people), you first need to understand the basics. In the following pages, we tell you everything you need to know on the subject. We explore three networking technologies in depth—wired Ethernet, wireless, and power-line—and test performance to see how they compare. For novices, we explain how to set up a home network with each technology. And if you already have a network, we tell you how to enhance it.