Home networking has never before been so important an issue to consider with the proliferation of connected devices in the home.
We estimate that the typical family with 2.2 children ( assuming that this figure still applies ) will now harbour on average 20 connected devices - this figure being made up of mobile phones, laptops, computers, tablets, games, ipods, fitness devices and lots of other item which make up the 'internet of things' all of which clamour for connection to as fast a Wi-Fi or direct Ethernet as possible, hungry for data.
In the usual home the internet will be delivered by the ISP ( BT, Virgin, Talk Talk, Sky, KCOM, Vodafone and Post Office ) on a monthly contract, which will also include your line rental, and will end in a router with, normally, a few ethernet ports and the facility to broadcast a Wi-Fi signal.
In general a Wi-Fi signal will have a similar sort of range ( though from experience we would say slightly less ) than a DECT home phone which may well mean that it starts out strongly but will be affected by other electronic equipment and thick walls and suchlike. Often there is little choice as to where this is installed initially - in general it will be in the front room, near the phone socket in the general area of the main TV.
However this may provide broadband to your main television but as we have seen there are many more devices looking for a signal, a signal which may well drop off a room or two away from the main router. Now, the traditional method for allowing the connection of multiple devices throughout the house was :
- depend on Wi-Fi
- have an additional socket wired
- get a Wi-Fi booster
We have already mentioned that Wi-Fi degrades over distance and through substances so it is clear that this will not be a solution for a large house. A wired socket can be installed but it is hassle, messy and the end result does not give much freedom of movement.
A Wi-Fi booster may extend the range but in effect it will generally boost an already diminished signal so to an extent we do not have a clean solution that can deliver a full strength WiFi signal throughout the home. That was until some 'bright spark' thought of the pass through power line concept - this is a superb idea whereby at the main router point the internet/ broadband signal is also diverted into the beautifully conductive copper wires which make feed electric power to every corner of every home in he country.
Then all there is to do is to plug an adaptor into any power socket in the house and you have, what is in effect a new router, full power, some of these will pump out a Wi Fi signal, some models come with Ethernet sockets in them to allow an even faster more direct connection.
What this achieves is the desired effect - you really can have Wi-Fi anywhere in the house, you can connect a Smart TV, a computer, anything you like and you have the additional freedom of being able to move these focal router points where you like. One can, of course add satellite transmitter units wherever you like. We, naturally have a large selection of home networking products over at : NETWORKING