Internet Access In More Than One Room

When the Internet was new, not everyone in the household desired Internet access. It was usually more than enough to simply have one computer in one room hooked up to the Internet. After all, dial-up modems often required their own phone line, and computers were so expensive and so rarely used that, if they had a computer at home at all, most households only owned one.

Now, though, computers are a part of everyday life, and it is not unusual for every person in a household to have their own computer. In most cases, the reason people want those computers is so that they can all access the Internet. With so many ways to watch television, engage in social networking or play games, its no wonder that everyone wants to connect to the Net, no matter what room they are in.

Traditionally, the only way to put the Internet in every house was to have one or more additional phone lines installed, and to have them placed in each room. This was very expensive and often required that holes be drilled into many walls in order to install wires.

The modern incarnation of this is the installation of LAN cables, which is best done during the initial construction of the house, or during extensive re-modelling.

In some cases it is possible to convert a houses existing phone lines into LAN lines, especially when a customer is using a digital subscriber line (DSL). This will not impair the functionality of the phones and will not require that any new cables be laid out, however, it does mean that each computer will need to have its own DSL modem in order to distinguish the digital and voice signals being sent over the line.

Cable modems will require the installation of additional lines, since they cant travel over phone lines.

Modern technology allows for certain kinds of electrical wiring throughout the house to serve as a means of transmitting digital signal, thereby achieving Internet access, however, this requires special equipment and modems. Increasingly, the solution for connecting to the Internet from anywhere in the house is to install a wireless system.

Installing a wireless system is surprisingly easy with modern software, and it allows for a house to have a single modem and single Internet connection, with all computers connecting to a router instead of connecting to the modem itself.

Wireless Internet is much less expensive since, to access the Internet, you only need to buy a modem and a wireless router, plus wireless plugs and cards for any computers which dont happen to have wireless capability built-in.

From then on, it is necessary only to configure the computers to connect to the wireless network, which only takes a minute or two per computer. The machines can then access the Internet from anywhere in the house, as long as they are within the range of the wireless routers. Most wireless routers have a broadcast radius that is larger than the average house, so this isnt an issue.

It is important for anyone who is using a wireless network for Internet access to ensure their network is encrypted and protected by a password. This ensures that the Internet will not be borrowed or hijacked by nasty neighbours, nor will any information travelling across it be available to the general public. This is essential for both data security and personal safety reasons.