Home Alternatives for Shared Network Access Service Providers 

By David M. Piscitello
Core Competence, Inc.

In my previous column, I offered the opinion that shared network access was the current true killer application for broadband local access. If I've convinced you that expanding your service portfolio to include residential LAN installation is a good idea, you must still decide which type(s) of residential LAN to offer your customers. In this column, I describe and compare four technologies for creating residential LANs.

Ethernet: for sure, but what flavor?
If it's not obvious by now that Ethernet is synonymous with LAN, let me state it at the outset. What about the physical medium? Ethernet runs over just about everything these days-unshielded twisted pair, fiber, home phone wiring, "ether", power lines, even barbed wire-honest, I saw a demonstration at NetWorld+Interop last year.

Let's examine three media alternatives:
· Traditional Ethernet (Category-5 Unshielded Twisted Pair)
· Home Phoneline Networking
· Wireless LAN

We won't include fiber or barbed wire because they are both impractical, although for different reasons. We'll also defer Powerline technology, for now. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance may have selected Intellon's PowerPacket technology as the basis for an industry standard, but home products will not be available until at least next year.

Let's consider a sample installation for a traditional nuclear family and assume we are connecting four rooms within the home. For each alternative, I'll discuss pros and cons, considering the following factors:

(1) price per station/network interface card (NIC),
(2) hub, base station, and media conversion requirements,
(3) materials and labor for wiring the household,
(4) installation of NICs and any hub, base station, and media conversion equipment required, and
(5) testing and troubleshooting.

Traditional Ethernet (Category-5 Unshielded Twisted Pair)
Traditional Ethernet operating over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most commonly used medium for "business" Ethernet. When you operate the original shared mode, media access is controlled by CSMA/CD media access protocol, with cables connected to repeater hubs. Cables, connectors, and speeds vary, but 10 Mbps over Category 5 cable with RJ-45 connectors (10BaseT) is quite common today and appropriate for the residential market.

Traditional Ethernet is the hands-down winner on price: a popular networking mail order house currently offers D-Link and SMC 10/100 NICs (PCI or ISA adapter, RJ-45 connectors) for at an astonishing $14.99-and SMC throws in a $7.99 cable to boot! A slew of vendors-including Linksys and Netgear, two NICs I've found to be consistently trouble-free installs-retail Ethernet NICs for less than $20. To connect our four computers together, a hub is required, but "pocket" hub prices begin under $50. Most DSL modems support this medium-some even include a 4-port hublet-so no external hub nor conversion is required.

10BaseT Ethernet compares very unfavorably in the "materials and labor for wiring the household" category. Even if you can find a competent residential contractor to install category 5 plenum (fire-retardent) cable, the cost for running cable in new construction is very expensive. Retrofitting cable into existing homes is trouble-laden and even more expensive. You're already waiting on a telco for copper to the home; do you really want to wait on contractors for copper inside the home? Testing and troubleshooting traditional Ethernet NIC installation and hub connections is marginally better for newer media interface cards-its omni-presence in the business world and the ability to purchase PCs with factory-installed Ethernet NICs earn it a slight edge, but troubleshooting new wiring is a serious con.

Home Phoneline Networking
Home Phoneline Networking (HPNA) is Ethernet modulated over common household telephone wiring (i.e., category 3 UTP originally installed for -- and shared by -- existing telephones with RJ-11 jacks). By design, HPNA is resilient to large signal attenuation and signal interference, and HPNA MACs are designed to operate over the unpredictable wiring "topologies" encountered in homes.

HPNA operates in its own frequency spectrum (above 2MHz) and is spectrum compatible with telephony (20Hz to 3.4 kHz) and DSL (25kHz to 1.1MHz). Until recently, Home Phoneline Networking was limited to 1 Mbps. D-Link, 3Com, Intel, Linksys, NetGear and other early adopters of the HPNA 2.0 standard now offer 10 Mbps PCI cards using Broadcom's iLine10 chipset. Linksys and Diamond Computer offer USB network adapters. NIC and hub costs are low-street prices for 2 PC starter kits begin at under $100. Bridges for media conversion from 10BaseT Ethernet to 1 Mbps HPNA are available today, for under $90.00. You'll need one of these for now, as many DSL modems don't offer an HPNA NIC option.

The typical home has multiple telephone jacks, so for many installations, no additional wiring will be required. When new wiring is required (i.e., when there is no telephone jack in the desired room), at least it's wiring that residential contractors understand. Because residential telephone wiring is more familiar to contractors and consumers, testing and troubleshooting for Home Phoneline Networking may prove to be less time-consuming than traditional Ethernet. The fact that vendors like Dell and Compaq offer home phoneline networking options when you configure and buy PCs online is a strong signal that HPNA is taking off.

Wireless LAN
Or, eliminate wires inside the residence altogether, and go wireless. The IEEE 802.11 standard for Wireless LANs uses the classic Ethernet CSMA/CD MAC over Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) in the 2.4 GHz frequency band (widely available, worldwide). You can run wireless LANs at rates of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps over a range of between 150-600 feet.

Installation is of course simplified because there are no wires to run. You'll still need to install Wireless NICs and a DSSS access station. But Wireless is also the most expensive home networking solution from an equipment purchase perspective. Street prices for Wireless PC cards begin at $170. A Wireless ISA/PCI adapter runs about $70. DSSS access stations, which also serve as bridges to traditional Ethernet LANs and your DSL modems, begin at around $800.

Compaq and Dell offer wireless NICs when you custom configure your PC online, again, an indication of growing popularity for wireless LANs for home and business networking. Troubleshooting is a matter of eliminating obstructions, if any, to the propagation of electromagnetic (radio) airwaves. This can often be accomplished by re-positioning the PC experiencing difficulty or the DSSS access station itself.

Recommendations
If possible, be technology-agnostic. Your mantra for residential LAN installation service should be "no additional wires." Learn what the customer wants out of a home network before you contract to provide installation. Collect information about existing wiring, and then apply the technology that delivers the best cost-benefit ratio to the customer without an intrusive wiring effort. If the customer is a home business with several PCs in one room or basement, traditional Ethernet may be the right choice. If the customer is a family with phone jacks aplenty, Home Phoneline Networking delivers. If the customer is looking for the luxury package, offer wireless.

If you absolutely must choose a single technology-perhaps because you feel support for multiple technologies and customized installation may be prohibitively expensive - the right choice, right now, is Home Phoneline Networking. You'll want to establish business relationships with qualified, residential contractors who can be trusted to do extended phoneline wiring, and who can complete the installation of inside wiring faster than an incumbent LEC. This alternative allows you to satisfy the majority of residential users at minimal cost; those users who require something else can install their own LANs.

Perhaps more important than choosing a single home networking technology is your choice of home networking vendor. In many cases, your craft people will be installing ISA/PCI cards in customer PCs. Before committing to any vendor, be certain to obtain a list of PCs they have been certified as compatible under Windows 95/98/2000 Plug & Play. Only agree to perform residential LAN installs on approved PCs. Avoid operating systems without Plug & Play. Better to leave money on the table than to be caught in an installation nightmare.

Carefully consider residential LAN alternatives before offering residential LAN installation as a value-added service. There's plenty of opportunity here, but you must choose technology wisely and train your sales force and field technicians accordingly.

David Piscitello is president of Core Competence, Inc., a network consulting firm and founder of The Internet Security Conference.