Networking

Powerline / Home plugs

These small devices utilise your homes electrical wiring as the cabling for your network. Turning any electrical socket into a potential connection point for networking or internet connectivity.

Wireless Network Adaptor / Wired network Adaptor

Need to connect your pc or laptop to the internet/home network? You need a wireless or wired network adaptor. Most PCs have a wired adaptor as standard built into the motherboard but will likely need a wireless adaptor. Most gaming laptops have both options available.

The adaptors come in 2 forms – Internal and external with the external models connecting via USB.

NAS

Network attached storage devices are exactly what they sound like – storage that is attached to the network. NAS units allows many devices to access the data or save to a centralised storage location.

Network standards

There are many different Network standards so we have included them below in a easy to understand list. This will help you understand what you are buying and why certain standards are better than others.

WIFI – Wireless connection

• 802.11: Supporting a maximum bandwidth of only 2Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. Due to the unregulated frequency, equipment using this standard can incur a lot of interference from household appliances such as microwaves, and cordless phones.
• 802.11b: Utilising the same 2.4Ghz frequency but hitting a much higher bandwidth of 11Mbps. Devices using this standard are general low cost and not designed for performance use due to the relatively slow speeds and potential interference. The upside to the frequency is the great range and the signal is not easily obstructed.
• 802.11a: Created at the same time as the 802.11b variant but due to its higher cost and shorter signal range it was generally utilised on business grade equipment. Supporting bandwidth upto 54Mbps and operating around the 5GHz regulated band meaning much less interference but poor penetrating performance. Due to the different bands utilised 802.11a/b are incompatible. To overcome this some manufacturer’s offer a hybrid allowing the use of one or the other depending on what devices were connected.
• 802.11g: Very similar to the 802.11b standard and additionally backwards compatible with it but operating at a much faster 54Mbps. This means 802.11g has a great signal range, it’s not easily obstructed and performs well. The downside - Appliances may interfere due to its operation on the 2.4 GHz band.
• 802.11n: Known as Wireless N, 802.11n was designed to improve on 802.11g standard. Utilising multiple antennas (MIMO) instead of one and providing upto 300Mbps of network bandwidth. It offers amazing speed, great signal range and is resistant to external interference. The only downside is that it may interfere with nearby 802.11b/g networks due to its use of multiple antennas.
• 802.11ac: Backwards compatible with 802.11b/g/n and utilising dual band technologies, allowing simultaneous connections to both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands. This is the current best wireless standard and offers a bandwidth of upto 1300Mbps on the 5Ghz band and upto 450 Mbps on the 2.4Ghz.