Home Networking Gets Easy

If you have more than one PC in your household, linking them together in a network lets you share a single Internet connection, share printers, disk space and will allow you to go head to head in multi-player games. And the best news is, creating a network has been made simple by new devices that use your existing phone wire. It doesn't tie up the phone line either. Intel is just out with its version called AnyPoint. Product manager Barry Bonder says you can use it without even having to open your computer

"This is the first product that can be installed without opening the PC. You simply plug it into the parallel port, plug it into the nearest phone jack and you're set. The hardware is set up."

"The software is very, very intuitive. We've been working on it for quite a long time with usability engineers and human factors engineers and really honed it so it's down to now two questions. That's all you need to answer to install the product. Give the PC a name and tell us which of your PCs you want to see used to connect to the Internet."

The phone line network isn't as fast as the networks in many office settings, but it isn't likely you'll have as many PCs at home sharing it. Intel sells an AnyPoint starter kit to link two PCs for about 180 dollars. And the phone line networking standard means devices made by different manufacturers should work together. You can find more information at intel.com.