home network

[letulechuga]

Hi. I would like to setup a home network to share files and printers etc. There's a wireless router downstairs into which two pc's are directly plugged into. Upstairs I have a macbook, through which I push the internet connection to my main desktop. There are also several other wifi devices. The pc's are all on windows 7. Where would I begin ?

Thanks in advance AT.

 

[piasabird]

What kind of network do you mean? Do you want to pull wired Ethernet into the bedrooms and living rooms or what? You have to know the total number of possible connections and how many wireless or wired connection there will be. Even my smartphone uses WIFI.

Sometimes WIFI will work just fine if the house is not too large. I have 2 computers in my basement, a desktop and another computer I use with my HDTV for streaming Internet Video, Youtube, etc. Then upstairs I have another computer with an AC centrino wireless card and it seems to do fine most of the time. I also have a tablet I use sometimes.

I started by getting my DSL service 2 levels up from the slowest level. I think that helped quite a bit. A little extra speed and a better wireless router or stronger antenna's on the wireless might help. Some wireless routers use dual channels and can handle more bandwidth. In some areas of the USA with higher population you might run into ISP's with higher net congestion which will slow you down. If that is the problem, improving a network will not help much.

I built my desktop for upstairs with a motherboard that has an "ac" wireless Centrino card. I did not really know if it would work or not until I tried it. If you have a basement with an open ceiling or drop ceiling with panels, you might be able to route a wired cable up through a closet and pop it out at the level of the baseboard near the closet door. You could also hire someone to put in wired connections that go to wall sockets. Just dont drill through an existing hot 110 wire. Of course you could pick a spot and drill through the foor.

 

[letulechuga]

Thank you for your response. I would simply like to be able to access all of the files on each pc from any pc in the house. Some of them unfortunately do not show up in the network tree in Windows.

 

[smitbret]

Thank you for your response. I would simply like to be able to access all of the files on each pc from any pc in the house. Some of them unfortunately do not show up in the network tree in Windows.

This is a NetBIOs issue and there is no simple resolution for it. Trust me, I have been trying to find one for a couple of years. The only solution that I ever found that worked consistently is when I had a WD MyNet N900 router that could be set to act as the network's Master Browser. That feature worked really, really, really well but unfortunately the device sucked at everything else, requiring frequent reboots to maintain WAN and basic routing functions.

The only answer that I have found is to create your shared folders and then just map the network drives between PCs or just create shortcuts to shared folders between devices.