Complete guide to home networking
- Article 37 of 53
- iCreate, August 2005
Macs have always been the easiest computers to network, so isn't it time you got down with the digital hub and got your devices talking to each other? Rob Buckley shows you how to do it with and without cables
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More often than not, however, you’ll just have to keep your eyes open, looking for familiar names. “BT Openzones” are quite prevalent in the UK, particularly in service stations, pubs and airports. “T-Mobile hotspots” are the other big name to watch out for: they’re also popular in airports as well as Starbucks, but are more popular overseas, particularly in the US. Otherwise, look out for the word “WiFi”.
If you’re in a hotel, you’re unlikely to get WiFi access in your room, although there are always exceptions: Holiday Inns, for instance, are quite good for WiFi, as are Swiss hotels. More likely is a data port that you can plug a modem cable into and use dial-up (forget about it) or a high-speed Internet connection that uses Ethernet. Always, always, always take an Ethernet cable with you. Certain Spanish hotels, for instance, offer free broadband-quality Internet via an Ethernet socket in the wall, but you’ll have to have brought your own cable.
You can then, if you’re feeling irritated by cables, connect your AirPort Express to the Ethernet socket. Yes, one of the great things about the AirPort Express is that it’s small enough to sling into your bag, take it with you and then use for WiFi access wherever you happen to be. Its greatest asset in this regard is that it supports “Profiles”: you can save different sets of preferences in it, so that you can have a “Home” profile, a “My mate Imhotep’s house” profile, a “Hotel” profile and so on. And since it doesn’t need a modem to take advantage of an existing Internet connection, it’s perfect for creating your own WiFi point in a hotel.
If you’re out of luck with WiFi, can’t find a data port in your tiny B&B and your Ethernet cable is at home, it’s time to turn to the mobile phone. Provided you have a GPRS or a 3G connection and some way of connecting from your laptop to your phone, you can usually use it as a modem. GPRS is only as fast as a 56Kbps dial-up connection, at its peak, but 3G is faster than broadband in most cases. However, 3G is still not widespread, has expensive tariffs and coverage is patchy, so you’ll get more mileage and save yourself a lot of money by sticking with GPRS for a while.
In the olden days, infra-red or USB cables were de rigeur for connecting laptop and mobile phone. You can still use them, but now Bluetooth is the name of the game. If you have it in both your laptop and your phone (and it’s worth buying the £40 adaptor from D-Link that’s available from the Apple store if your laptop doesn’t have Bluetooth built in), you can pair the two devices up.
You’ll need two other things though: GPRS/3G settings so your Mac can use your mobile phone provider as its ISP; and suitable scripts for your phone so your Mac knows how to talk to the ISP and the phone. You can get both of these from the excellent Ross Barkman at www.taniwha.org.uk. Follow his instructions then try out the connection at home to make sure it works. If you’re travelling abroad, save the details about foreign ISPs’ settings somewhere, since you’ll have to use those.
If you’re full of cash, then you can get high-speed data cards that plug into your laptop and access the 3G or GPRS mobile phone network directly. You’ll need a laptop that can take PC cards. Currently, only the PowerBook 15“ and PowerBook 17” do, but almost all the pre-titanium PowerBooks had PC card slots. iBooks have always been PC card slot-free, unfortunately.
Some of these cards are quite nifty, since they often include wireless networking capabilities as well. But they’re pricey, coming in at nearly £200 in some cases, and are frequently incompatible with Macs. Vodafone is the only surefire provider of a Mac-compatible datacard, so we’d usually recommend getting a Bluetooth-compatible phone and an adaptor for your laptop if necessary, instead of a datacard. It’ll be cheaper, you’ll have one fewer thing to remember when you’re travelling and you’ll be able to use those nifty headsets as well.
Being able to access the Internet at any time is becoming more and more necessary, both for work and leisure activities. With more and more people also having more than one computer at home, networks are becoming a necessity, even if many don’t realise it. Hopefully, you’ll now be able to set up your own network. Your Macs don’t need to be islands.
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