When setting up a network for a home or small business, there are several choices. Fast [or 100Mb] ethernet, Gigabit ethernet, wireless networking, in a few flavors, or Powerline, using the power conductors that every structure has.

The choice is usually a compromise in every case. Considerations are cost, quality, network traffic, ease of installation, and security. Cost is usually the overriding factor in most cases, but it is not simply the network cards and switches that mitigate the choice, as they have gotten very inexpensive. Many motherboards now have gigabit ports built in, and per port costs of gigabit switches have plummeted. Still there is the cost of the category 6 wiring, necessary to carry the signal through the structure. If the structure is being built, it is simple to choose the right cable, and it costs no more to put the wiring in than any other cabling job.

For lesser network needs, there is fast ethernet with category 5 wiring, much cheaper per foot, with NICs and switches at bargain basement prices. Once again, the highest cost comes in the cable runs, which, if not done before the structure is complete, can be prohibitively expensive.

Widely popular now is wireless networking, as it requires no wires [duh!] and also has the beginnings of the network in many routers, handed out almost free by the larger internet service providers.  For home users this can be a godsend, as most wives don’t like the look of wiring going everywhere in the house, and ripping into drywall to string ethernet is usually not task easily sold to the arbiters of style in the dwelling. When choosing wireless, choice abounds. There is the speed, frequency, propagation, and security to think about. The simplest, but also slowest, choice is 11 Mb networking. It is also called 802.11b, or just 11b, which indicates the specification that was ratified, and gives indication of the highest speed achievable.  For most people, being accustomed to any sort of networking, the speeds of 11b are just too slow. This type of networking does have the benefit of being widely available for a long time, so used or discontinued equipment can be had for very little money.

The next rung up the speed  ladder is 802.11g, also known as 54g. It is quite a bit faster, but also is more costly, and although many variations were made to further increase speed, reliability, and range, the variations are largely incompatible, which means that choosing components of the network is more difficult. 

Still faster, more expensive, and more problematic is 802.11n, a standard chosen to not only give more speed and reliability, but also to allow another specific parameter, to guide quality of service. Quality of service specifies how the signal will be handled, so that in the case of streaming audio, or more importantly video, the end result is worth watching. The many details of 11n make it very difficult to optimize all things on the network, and manufacturers are still shaking out all the bugs today.

With all of these wireless methods, security becomes something that everyone must address. Even the lowly home network, with just a couple of nodes [the network term for each user ] must take care to be secure. No one wants bank information being made available to the entire world, or having the bandwidth they pay for slip away when a crafty neighbor hooks into the unsecured network. Security is not difficult, but with each part of the security, network speed drops. Also, a really dedicated hacker can, over time, eventually get into your network, unless you are changing parameters religiously over time.

Powerline is a method of using the electrical wiring of the dwelling to carry network information. As with wireless, there are levels of speed. The first level is specified as 14Mb. This sounds like a decent speed, until the actual facts are gleaned from materials supplied with the equipment. Actual speeds are in the 3 - 7Mb range, with large appliances sometimes causing almost complete loss of the connection. Those who use microwaves, large air conditioners, washers, electrical dryers, hair dryers, or anything else with a large motor in their houses need to be aware of these possible slowdowns. Also, those who live in close proximity to a neighbor [as in apartment dwellers] need to be aware that the need for security measures causes slowing of the transmission, in the same way that wireless speed is slowed by security.

Newer Powerline adapters have claimed speeds of 85Mb, and do fare better with interference problems, but it is good to remember that actual speeds vary, and under best case are usually half of optimum. Expensive revisions just becoming available, and specifying speeds of 200Mb will have the same problems as lower speed units, and cost upwards of $200 per node.

There is another type of networking, unknown to many, not lately popular, but still around, and recently reworked with a new specification. This is the never really popular Home Phone Networking Alliance’s specification for using the wiring of the telephones to carry the signals. The first level of speed for this type of network was completely non-spectacular, at 1Mb. This got the HPNA off on the wrong foot with many, as it was barely better than transferring files by floppy disc.

The next speed rating, designated as 2.0, was set at 10Mb, the same as regular ethernet, nothing to shatter speed records, but quickly and easily set up and used. The simplicity of this system allowed many non-technical people to set up networks with a minimum of fuss. The hardware was inexpensive, and rugged, something early ethernet cards were not. It also helped that some large internet service providers were giving out routers that included an HPNA 2.0 port, which meant no expensive network bridge was needed.

Today. HPNA is almost an also-ran, but may be staging a comeback soon. In May 2007, the latest HPNA standard, designated 3.1 was ratified, allowing speeds over phone lines and coaxial cable, which are not achievable other that with gigabit ethernet.  Slashdot reported, last November, that speeds of 320Mb had been achieved, more than twice the rate of the 3.0 specification. The HPNA has signed on more member than ever before, and is poised to move forward with adoption rates that truly will make it the home standard.

For those wishing to set up a small home network, or business network of a few nodes, on the cheap, HPNA 2.0 parts are extremely easy to find and attractively priced. In making this choice, a little inspection of documents reveals that 10Mb was not the absolute spec, with actual speeds coming close to the specified speed, making it, under good conditions faster than standard ethernet.  Also, USB to HPNA 2.0 adapters are inexpensive, and provide networking with no fuss whatsoever. Routers including HPNA 2.0 capability, mostly from 2Wire, make it easy to connect the home or small business to the internet with HPNA.

Tags: hpna, ethernet, wi-fi, wireless networking, powerline networking, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11a