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April 2001 Issue
Telephony: Home Networking Joins the Mainstream
By

A couple of weeks ago, I learned personally just how quickly home networking technology is becoming part of the home-buying experience.

My wife and I were looking at the possibility of buying a new house, and our sales rep referred us to her associate Les to discuss our in-home communications wiring needs.

Les represents Digital Interiors, a home networking vendor that works with developers. After listening to his sales pitch, I realized this business should be part of our industry and cable systems management could learn some valuable points about both the business potential and how to sell it to the consumer.

Technical folks should also pay attention—keep reading—because they will probably be carrying these products within the next three years.

Les told me telephones in new homes should be wired in a star rather than a loop topology. Star topologies are usually called home run connections. Each jack is connected by a single set of wires to the point where the telephone service enters the house.

Loop topologies are formed by running wires between telephone outlets, and, at one of the outlets, running a wire to the point where the telephone service enters the house.

Les illustrated this point with a simple diagram that consumers are able to understand. He used a block sketch of two houses—one wired for star, the other for loop.

He then gave a personal testimony as to why star connections are better, setting the stage for the structured wiring system that is the basis of his home networking product line.

He said his own house is older, and his portable phone doesn’t work as well on certain extensions at the end of a loop. Notice that he didn’t mention convergence, data or even dial-up data connection, although he could have used these buzz words to sell the concept. Instead, he found an example the average consumer could relate to.

Les showed me a picture of the wall box where his company terminates each of the telephone lines. He pointed out that a lot of people are using computers at home, and these computers are often connected to the Internet. He then reminded me that there are several ways to connect to the Internet—one is via existing phone lines.

This was a good time for him to point out that Digital Interiors uses Category 5 twisted pair to wire its customers’ telephone outlets, further improving the quality of the data connection. (Once again, note that Les didn’t try to explain crosstalk, twists per inch or any of the technical detail to his customer.)

He then pointed out that some cable companies also offer high-speed data service, and noted that his wall box also terminates all the cable lines in the house at a central location similar to the phone lines. I could put a cable modem in Les’ wall box and have a data quality home run to my computer.

Because both phone and cable lines terminate at the same box, I could even have options of one or more universal outlet wallplates with jacks for cable, cable data, 10BaseT Ethernet using twisted pair or standard telephone service. (Is this company beginning to nibble at your installation revenue? And they don’t have a vested interest in selling your data service, either.)

Next, Les told me about future technology, which he said is right around the corner. He referred to a picture of a couple of kids in a family playing a digital game on the computers in each of their rooms, and said that if and when I needed to connect devices in my home with an Ethernet hub, his cabinet has a shelf to accommodate that equipment, too.

Now think about home security. Les showed me how we could add video cameras and a monitor to his system on the high end, or a more basic intrusion detection alarm system for less money.

If I didn’t want to invest in the full amount of the system, but might consider it later, I could choose a prewire option that lets me add the hardware later without having to worry about fishing wires through finished walls. (Hmm, can cable installers run low-voltage video wiring, too?)

Finally, there’s all-house music and home theater options. The all-house music system could be arranged so the player or receiver could be at the same location as the wall box, or I could have jacks by the entertainment center where I could connect to my receiver. Les also could provide a home theater sound system, either as a full system including all speakers, or as a wiring-only option, where I could add my own speakers.

Depending on the options I purchased, I was looking at spending between $700 and $5000 with Digital Interiors. (How much do we make on a cable installation?)

Because this example was for new house construction, you might be thinking it has a relatively small application in a cable operator’s product line. Perhaps that is true under conventional thinking, but conventional thinking isn’t what got us into high-speed data and digital TV.

It’s my opinion that once dad sees the neat home theater system that newly married junior has in his house, he will want one, too. Similarly, young Alyssa is going to tell her parents how much she needs high-speed Internet access near the TV because Discovery channel has an on-going series that is part of her homework. Mom probably will want some form of security system. This all means that Mom and Dad have two choices: Move to a brand new home, or update.

We can let firms like Digital Networks figure out how to do updates to existing construction or we can apply everything we know about installation and seize this opportunity.

As a realist, I don’t believe cable is going to be the first to jump into this pool, but I’d hate to see us miss the opportunity to swim in a neighborhood where the pool salesmen are already taking home commission checks.

Justin J. Junkus is President of KnowledgeLink, Inc., and Applications Engineering Director for ANTEC. To discuss this topic further, you may email him at .

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