The Members Forum

I sometimes wonder how the average consumer avoids going crazy when confronted with modern home networks.

If you’re lucky and your network is simple—a wireless router and a couple PCs—everything might just work. But if you’re not lucky, or if your network is more complicated, then good luck. Weird, unpredictable problems arise when networks are involved, and things can get especially ugly when you add consumer-grade networking hardware and buggy firmware into the mix.

My home/office network is not average. Right now it comprises at least four desktop PCs, a couple of laptops, one Mac, two servers, two smartphones, an Xbox 360, a Drobo FS, a VOIP adapter, and two orphaned but still functional Media Center extenders. I have wired Gigabit Ethernet adapters wherever I can, with one wireless access point handling devices that can’t conveniently connect to an Ethernet port.

That might seem a little extreme, but I’ll bet a lot of my readers can describe home networks that are almost as complex. And in an age of proliferating mobile devices, digital living rooms, and connected appliances, the challenges are only going to get worse.

Earlier this month, I had a chance to experience some of those inscrutable network problems firsthand. I switched our slow but reliable Qwest DSL service for a much faster Comcast cable connection. I bought a Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, got the self-install kit from Comcast, and set aside a weekend for the transition.

ZDnet has the details HERE!