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Cable, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and two-way satellite Internet services are the thoroughbreds of home-based Internet connections. Fast downloads, "always on" service, and the ability of a single connection to serve a home's worth of computers are increasing each technology's acceptance as a new "must have" home service. In Internet terms, the audio, video, and data files that create multimedia-rich Web pages require faster download speeds for efficient viewing. Sending image files, office presentations, and sharing music and video files over the Internet can be accomplished in a fraction of the time modem-based dial-up connections require.

Whole-house Wiring - Tim Woods from Internet Home Alliance shows how structured wiring is run from a second floor outlet to a Home Director Network Control Center. Woods also details the functions of the Network Control Center and explains how it distributes audio, video, voice, and data throughout a home. Watch Video!

The often-used word "broadband" refers to a type of transmission that carries multiple forms of data at high rates of speed, measured in kilobytes. DSL, for example, is a transmission method that carries both voice and data over a single phone line. Likewise a cable connection carries both the channels for a TV and the Internet data for a computer. Two-way satellite systems are also considered broadband, as one individual system can bring both an Internet connection and TV service to the home. The "two-way" in two-way satellite Internet connection means this service allows for both downloading and uploading (also called "downstream" and "upstream") to and from the Internet. Just as with other broadband connections the two-way satellite connection is always on.

The Connected Home Network
Today's connected home involves more than networking computers to share a single Internet connection.

Putting all PCs on a network enables homeowners to share peripherals such as printers

Click to enlarge full image A successful plan is the key to properly wiring a home. Each element to be included in the system must be accounted for and the right wires routed to the correct location.

and scanners, to access files from other computers, to videoconference between PCs, and to play video games between PCs. A networked home's phone system can become a PBX (public branch exchange) system, providing the same types of features typically found in an office phone system. Incoming phone lines can support multiple extensions, each of which can be assigned to a different room. As you'd do in the office, you can put calls on hold with music, transfer calls to other extensions, page someone in another room, hold conference calls and set up a voice mail system. In addition, the connected home's computer system can interface with household necessities like the lighting and heating, and services like home security, as well as entertainment systems.

A connected home allows homeowners to:

• Play a DVD in one room, and watch it on any other TV in your house
  
• Listen to your stereo in any room of your house
  
• Place video cameras at your front door, in the back yard, and in the baby's room and watch the pictures on any TV
  
• Hook multiple computers up to one internet connection
• Send files between all computers in the house
  
• Share devices such as computer printers and fax machines
  
• Have over a dozen different phone lines
  
• Easily make adjustments to all of these options as your family's needs change

Structured Wiring

Structured wiring carries multiple types of data to and from each room. Here, two coaxial cables for audio and video and two Ethernet cables for voice and data are sheathed in a single bundle for easy installation.

The backbone of a connected home is a structured wiring system. Think of a structured wiring system in terms of a house's electrical plan. Electricity flows into the house through a main power cable. This cable connects to a circuit breaker box, where it is separated and sent down smaller electric lines. These lines wind their way through walls, ultimately ending at power outlets. Finally, devices are plugged into the outlets.

Structured wiring functions similarly, but instead of distributing electricity it traffics audio, video, voice, and data communications. All external data lines (such as cable television, telephone, or Internet service) come into the house and are connected directly to a central control box. This box is usually the size of a large electric circuit breaker panel, and is placed in a similar location, such as in the basement or a utility closet. Within the control box, each incoming signal is split and sent down wires to multiple rooms in the house. In a high quality central control box, the distributed data will be amplified. A signal amplifier makes sure each outgoing signal is as strong as the original incoming signal. Without an amplifier, the power of the incoming signal gets split among each outgoing wire, resulting in performance loss (a snowy TV picture or static on the phone line).


Control Center

Data Security - A network gateway from Panasonic is used to secure a home's Internet-enabled voice, data, and security systems. Watch Video!

The control box, or center, is the hub for all video, telephone and data signals, which it distributes over structured wiring to rooms where phone, TV, and Internet access are needed. Wireless access points and adapters can extend the network wirelessly to laptop PCs and portable devices like Web tablets. The control center also houses the security firewall that protects a home's Internet-enabled network from outside hackers, while at the same time permitting authorized Internet access from homeowners using PCs outside the home.

From this box, bundles of wires run through the walls of the house to different rooms. With a good structured wiring package, these wires will be installed in a "home run" or "star topology" configuration. This means that each set of wires runs to only one outlet. This is in contrast to "daisy chaining", which means one line goes first to your kitchen, then to your living room, then to your bedroom. Although daisy chaining is less expensive, it introduces problems. The signal quality in a third floor bedroom (the last stop) will be much poorer than that at an early stop closer to the control box.

Home Director's Network Connection Center forms the hub of a home's wiring plan. It can be upgraded to include additional features as homeowners' needs change.

Feature Levels
Most structured wiring packages come in different feature levels. Budget installations may provide a basic system that will provide simple cable TV and telephone distribution. At a later date, additional control box modules can be added to enable features such as computer networking. The key is to make sure the bundles of wires running to every important room in your house are installed from the start. Since these bundles run through your walls, they are difficult and expensive to add at a later date.

Multi-line Phone System - Internet Home Alliance's Tim Woods explains how today's connected home can easily accommodate multipe phone lines and extensions throughout the house. Watch Video!

Building a new house, or conducting major renovations, provides an ideal time to consider installing at least a basic structured wiring package. Installation costs are significantly reduced before the drywall is attached to the wall studs. Even if you are not interested in computer networking or whole home video, it is useful to think of how the housing market will evolve and to consider that the future buyer of your house may desire such features.

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