Is Your Home PC-Friendly?

Would you have bought your home if it had no plumbing? Or no electrical outlets? Already, some new homes are coming pre-wired for Internet connection, the networking of home computers, and with individual power socket surge protection. I hope to see some sort of uninterrupted power source become "standard" in the house of the near future. Imagine delaying a power failure at home long enough to find the candles and shut down your sensitive electronic equipment the proper way. "For Sale: Colonial, 3BR, 2BA, batteries included."

We're nearly there. The "Homes" classifieds are already dotted with references to central air conditioning, security systems, and even central vacuuming and my favorite, "city sewer, water & gas." All the modern conveniences - but is the home computer-friendly?

Do you have an Ethernet network in the walls that connect the various rooms, making home networking as simple as "plug and play." More than ever before, computers are being sold with 10BASE-T (a.k.a. RJ-45) Ethernet cards as a standard feature. The connecting cable looks like a fat telephone wire, and transfers data between computers instantly.

Is your telephone wiring left over from Ma Bell's days? Copper wiring limits you to a top speed Internet connection of 1.5 million bits per second made possible by a digital subscriber line (DSL), which is about 23 times faster than Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and about 27 times faster than 56K modem speeds. But if your neighborhood is wired for cable TV, you can probably use a cable modem, which can be upwards of 30 times faster than DSL! If you are one of the 33% of home computer users who connect to the Internet regularly, you'll appreciate the speed.

Are there surge protectors, or individual circuit switches on at least one electrical outlet in each room of your home? This is where you would plug in your computer. Without surge protection, one bad lightning storm could fry every computer in the house (your TV and VCR too, for that matter)! The alternative is to get one of those awkward three foot multi-plug extension cords for each computer, but who needs even more cables behind their desk?

The need for computers in the home has been met by the accommodating advances in technology and relative reduction in retail pricing. A survey conducted by DataQuest and released in February 2002 indicated that slightly more than 50% of American households had at least one personal computer in it. Further, that number is expected to reach 65% by 2005.

Compared to 94% of American households having a phone and 98% having a TV, it may appear that computers have some distance to go before they saturate the American home lifestyle. But the DataQuest numbers did not include Internet-connected telephones and TVs (such as WebTV), interactive digital TV, or computers dedicated to systems like alarms, utilities, and appliances.

With more schools introducing computer use to younger children each year, a computer in the home is becoming a greater necessity. According to a recent National School Boards Foundation survey, at least 45% of today's home computer users cite education as its primary use, followed by 33% using it for Internet access and e-mail. Another 27% cite business as their home computer's main use.

Obviously, parents and children both have legitimate needs for a computer at home, which is why home networking becomes so important. By connecting 2, 3 or more computers together throughout a house, the system can economize by sharing a single scanner, printer, and Internet connection. Each computer can be configured to varying degrees of security, assuring parental control over the system, as well as the Internet (try the free program The Family Browser 2.10 from www.thefamilybrowser.com). A simple firewall program (such as the free program Tiny Personal Firewall 2, downloadable from www.tinysoftware.com/) can protect the entire home network from cyber-invasions through their Internet connection.

Today's computers can multitask like never before. If you have no need for powerful word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, graphics programs, live chats, games, seemingly inexhaustible research material, or access to the latest news or local weather, use your computer for playing a CD, DVD or your MP3 collection, or as a telephone to talk to anyone anywhere in the world for the price of a local phone call (such as with the free program Speak Freely 7.2, downloadable from www.speakfreely.org), or just sit back and watch free streaming video broadcasts (see www.broadcast-live.com for a global schedule) or movies (see www.forrealfree.com/fimovie.html for a list of free movie sites).

As hundreds of thousands of people know from first-hand experience, New England's Interstate 95 bottleneck from Stamford to Bridgeport is one of those necessary evils that balance the rewards of low unemployment in our area. In fact, we have the second most congested roadway in America, next to the LA freeways. The Southwestern Area Commerce & Industry Association of Connecticut (www.sacia.org) is a foremost leader in combating these transportation problems, and has recently been advocating telecommuting as a component of the overall solution.

Some jobs seem custom-made for telecommuting, or vice-versa. Computer programming, data entry, web site design, help desks, and many sales and marketing positions do not require one's presence in a particular central location. Even if only a portion of the workload of these thousands of employees were shifted to home computers, highway congestion could be eased measurably. Does your workplace have "Summer hours" that allow you to leave work early on Friday so that you can enjoy an even longer ride home because everybody else is leaving early as well? Maybe you should ask your boss to let you telecommute on Fridays. Consider it. Seriously.

And here's a parting thought: Resale value. If your house wasn't computer-friendly when you bought it, but you made the appropriate upgrades, be sure to brag about it when it's time to sell. Especially if batteries are included.