LAN & WAN Basics

How To: Diary of a New Home Network- Part 1

Designing a system to distribute communications and electronic entertainment services around a new home can be a daunting task. But with the right approach, you don't have to be a master of the home networking universe to do it, and you might even have fun! Tim Higgins recently did just that.

LAN & WAN Basics

NeedToKnow: Voice over IP – Part 1

These days you hear the acronym "VoIP" so much that it sounds like the Monty Python skit that launched SPAM into Internet vernacular. But it looks like this time Voice over IP is here to stay. So it's time for one of our Need To Knows so that you're armed and ready to understand its terminology and make intelligent choices among a dizzying array of VoIP products and services.

LAN & WAN Basics

How To: Tips for Fixing XP File and Printer sharing

Users of WinXP and Win2000 frequently can connect to the Internet, but have problems getting File and Printer sharing to work properly. Sometimes it doesn't work at all, sometimes only some machines on a network can share, and sometimes machines can share, but only in one direction.

LAN & WAN Basics

Building A Home Network From Scratch – The Ins and Outs of Building a Home Network

With interest rates at an all-time low in the U.S., many Americans are now able to build or buy their first home or, if they are already a homeowner, to upgrade to something better. Buying or building a home offers those who are technology-minded the opportunity to consider the integration of home connectivity up-front. Many new, custom-built homes now offer some level of basic home connectivity as an option; but this is a new phenomenon. Considering that the Internet has become a mainstream feature of our collective lifestyle in just a few short years, unless the home you are buying is fairly new it is likely that you are pretty much left to your own devices when it comes to networking.

LAN & WAN Basics

How To: Fixing DNS problems

The inability to open a website by name usually indicates a DNS (Domain Name System) problem. DNS is the service that converts the website URL, i.e. www.yahoo.com into the IP address that is needed for actual communication.

LAN & WAN Basics

Guide to Using your Router on Campus

It's back to school time and some college campus network administrators are finding they have their hands full trying to control the wave of network problems caused by students' use of inexpensive wired and wireless routers connected to their networks.