Technologies have certainly changed. These days, Internet service packages come bundled with everything you need to setup a home network. The hardware is typically even multifunctional: it’s a cable modem + router + wireless capable all in one.
Quite a leap when you realize that just a couple years ago the same setup would have required different devices. A cable modem connected to a router and wireless access point via separate LAN cables. Notebooks didn’t come with built-in wireless capability either, so you had to buy PCMCIA cards capable of doing that.
The home network I’ve got at our Rivervale home now is a simple one. The cable modem/wireless router is wired to both our PCs, with the router accepting secure wireless connections for our collective four notebooks (three of mine, one of Ling’s) and the PS3.
Thing though is that wireless connections can still be directly affected by interference from other electro-magnetic sources. Moreover, the router is situated at the far end of the house, and the PS3 is on other end. Even if physical distance wasn’t an issue, there are two thick walls and a big fish tank in between them LOL.
Either way, I’ve never been satisfied with the quality of connection in the living room. Heck, Vista finds better quality signals from my neighbors’ networks when it goes hunting for mine. So, I finally got round several days ago to install Aztech Homeplugs. It’s a pretty nifty system that uses power lines to connect computers and peripherals into a home network. One plug is used as the local connection to the router, and the other is plugged into a socket right beside the PS3. All the benefits of a wired cable connection, with the advantage of remote accessibility away from the transmission source. Just amazing!
That said, the little critters in our aquarium lived amazingly well and healthily even though for more than 2 years they were in the direct path of radio signals traveling from the workroom to the living room. Maybe the radio waves were doing them good, and now they’ll fare the poorer LOL.:)
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