What is a Home Network?
”Home network” sounds too technical or even scary to some, but millions of people have one, some without even knowing it, and get daily benefits that they wouldn’t want to be without! So what exactly constitutes a network?
Many homes have an Internet connection, either through a “cable modem” or “DSL”. If more than one device (computers, video game consoles, DVRs, etc.) in your home can access the Internet, you have a network—it’s as simple as that! The “box” that lets your devices share the Internet connection is called a “router”, because it “routes” requests from and to your devices in and out of the single Internet connection.
Sometimes the router will be built into the modem, creating a “gateway”. And these days, the router or gateway will frequently have wireless capability, allowing computers and other devices to connect to it without wires.
Another benefit (and evidence) of a home network is the ability of your devices to connect to each other. This lets you copy files from one computer to another in the home, print to a single printer from multiple computers, and more.
Of course, once you have a home network installed, there are many other things you can do with it, like on-line gaming, digital movie rentals, media sharing with friends and family, listen to your digital music anywhere in the home—the list goes on, and expands every day.
Posted by Johanna Fry at 11:39AM PST
Johanna Fry
susan Jun 11, 2009
I have a DPC2203c modem….I cannot get the driver from this website to install on my new computer?