Five hints for making connections
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Gannett News Service
Every home office needs to make electrical connections to power computers and other equipment, as well as data connections for Internet communications and networking. Here are some things to consider.
• Make sure your home office has at least two or three electrical outlets. Place a surge protector on each outlet. Most surge protectors expand a single outlet to five or more outlets, which is important because every computer, monitor, printer, fax machine and other add-on devices probably will require its own outlet. Don't be surprised if you need a dozen or more for all of your equipment.
A D-Link ($49.99; dlink.com) switch networks up to four PCs.
• Consider adding a broadband cable or digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet connection. A dial-up telephone modem is fine for casual home-office users, but consider an extra telephone line to take incoming calls at the same time you are on the Internet. Adding a second line can cost more than $100 depending on how your house is wired and you'll pay $20-$40 a month for it.
• Think about installing Ethernet wiring inside your walls to create a home-office computer network. This will allow you to share computers, printers and other devices that are spread across different parts of your home. Ethernet jacks, which resemble telephone jacks but are larger, cost about about $70 per outlet to install.
• Forget about cables and network jacks by installing a wireless network. You'll need a base station, as well as a wireless network card for each computer. Base stations run about $200 to $300 and are sold by a variety of companies, including 3Com, Netgear, D-Link and Sohoware. You also might consider investing in a wireless keyboard and mouse, such as those sold by Logitech and Microsoft, which let you navigate and type on your PC without cables.
• Think about using a home automation system if you plan to spend a lot of time in your home office but need to monitor what else is going on around the house. For instance, webcam kits from companies such as Xanboo let users monitor activities in other parts of the home from desktop or laptop computers. Xanboo kit prices start at $49.
