Summing It Up
The first installment of this two-part article series discussed ways to enhance your network with voice and video gadgets. We found ways to help you save money on your phone bill with VoIP and Wi-Fi phones, improve your surveillance system with network or IP cameras, and share your digital content in the home or office with digital photo frames. In this article, we discovered how much better life can be by sharing your files with NAS devices, printers with print servers, and the digital media from your computers on your TV with network media players.
I leave you with a few tips to help you on your journey of buying accessories and gadgets for your network:
- Consider the supported wireless standards (802.11b/g/n) of any wireless networking accessories you purchase, to make sure you get the most out of your network. For instance, if you have an 802.11n (or pre-n) wireless network, you should try to get the same wireless standard for your accessories.
- Think about the devices you already have, any you’re purchasing now, and those you may buy in the future, to save time and money. If you want a print server now and you may desire a NAS device later, for example, think about just buying a NAS product now that has an integrated print server.
- Buying online is typically the best bet when getting your networking toys. You can save loads of money using price-comparing engines such as PriceGrabber.com or Google Product Search. (One of my favorite online stores is Buy.com).