Help for Cable customers

Home networking will play a central role in the future of technology.

Here are just a few ways in which wireless technologies can be used in the home.

• Use your broadband connection to make phone calls through VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). You can even have a video chat – ideal for keeping in touch with friends and family all over the world.
• Use your computer to store your music or play Internet radio and then stream it through to your speakers elsewhere in the house. There is already a wide range of hardware available on the market with this purpose in mind.
• Download TV programmes or movies to your computer and then watch them on any screen in the house. However, don't expect perfect performance yet in this area: networks are getting ever more powerful, but smooth wireless video streaming is, at present, difficult to achieve.
• Programme your personal video recorder (PVR) when you are away from home.
• An increasing number of household goods – TVs, speakers, fridges, lights, vacuum cleaners, etc. – will contain wireless-equipped devices enabling them to talk to your computer, Internet connection, or each other.
• Nanny or baby cams: hook up a Web cam to monitor your baby or even your nanny! With networking technology you can view what's going on from another room or indeed from anywhere in the world.
• Home security: using the same technology as a baby cam, you can keep tabs on your home, monitor what's going on in the street, or check out who's arriving at the front door.
• Manage your air conditioning and house lighting from one place, even when away from home.
• Advanced washing machines and other domestic goods with sophisticated electronic components will be wireless-equipped so that they can be maintained or have new features automatically installed.