Cable TV and Telephone Digital Subscriber Line Internet access represent tremendous improvement over traditional low speed dialup. Some residential subscribers already have access to extremely high speed, called Fiber to the Premise (FTTP). FTTP delivers multimegibit services at low cost and high reliability.  WiFi delivers untethered network access and in some locations WiFi hotspots deliver high speed access on the go. Cellular network owners are rolling out a multitude of high speed data services. These technologies are changing how the Internet is perceived. High speed allows real time access to high quality audio, provides faster data transfers and better multi-user gaming. Always-on connection encourage spur of the moment usage.

Dedicating an Internet connection to each device is wasteful and inconvenient. The solution is to create a local network (LAN) that allows devices to communicate with one another locally while sharing a single Internet connection.  Home networking is advantageous even with a lowly dialup connection and gets better when used with high speed, always on services.

To learn more about the issues involved in setting up and operating a SOHO LAN I decided to build one. Much has been made of the difficulty installing Ethernet IEEE 803.2 using TIA Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) structured wiring. Several "no new wire" initiatives are focused on reducing barriers to home networking. Significant effort has gone into phone line networking: HomePNA, power line networking: HomePlug, and wireless: WiFi. These initiatives aim to eliminate specialized wiring.  While wiring is certainly an issue, a larger impediment is network configuration and security. In the past data networks were the province of corporate Information Technology (IT) gurus. As networking migrates to small business and residential users it needs to be easy to set up and use. In my experience wiring was only a small part of the overall equation. The root problem is the amount of knowledge required to connect and configure network components. Living with a LAN is kind of like owning an vintage British sports car, when it works it is exhilarating but one must be knowledgeable to keep it running. 

Security considerations of small LANs are often overlooked. One should not forget the same technology that allows access to millions of web sites also allow millions more to attempt mischief. The is especially true of wireless networks. Security is a multilevel discipline; one must protect the client machine from viruses and unauthorized external connections without interfering with legitimate use. Part of a well-designed security system is Intrusion detection. This monitors unauthorized access attempts before sensitive information is compromised. Seeing how often your network is probed for weakness is a sobering experience. 

I've described my experience in a series of reports posted on the Writings page.  It begins with a simple dialup network installed in 1998 and documents how the network has evolved over time. 

As Internet access becomes ever more important the role of first-mile access providers becomes subject to regulatory scrutiny. Competition between first-mile access providers is extremely limited. It does not matter if nationally there are hundreds of Cable TV or Telephone Companies if only one or two are available at your location. This places the first-mile access provider in powerful position as gatekeeper opening the specter of the Internet being converted from an open peer-to-peer egalitarian network to a walled garden controlled by a few powerful players.

The Internet is as revolutionary as the printing press. For the first time in human history ordinary citizens are able to publish and distribute their own creative works – sharing their views with others over the Internet. Extreme low cost and ease of exchange threatens existing media business models developed in an age of information scarcity and high distribution cost. The Internet represents as dire a threat to these business as did the automobile to horse transport a hundred years ago. Legacy players are struggling to survive. They are attempting to placing legal and technical limits on how this marvelous new technology is used in a vain attempt to protect an obsolete business model.

The Writings page has several papers exploring Internet policy implications for the future.