Troubled times for home networks

[gkd_uk]

There are many technologies that only prove how useful they are when you actually try them.

Take for instance, broadband. The high price may have initially put people off but for those that tried it, and for the millions who have signed up since, the value of that faster, always-on link is apparent every day.

And then there are the technologies that prove how useless they are when you actually try them.

Take for instance, home networking.

Increasing numbers of us have amassed large collections of digital images, music, movies and TV shows. The ability to do more with it, to share it around and show it off, has an obvious appeal.

But, said Van Baker, a research vice-president at analysts Gartner who studies the home networking market, the available technology is not living up to its potential.

"The state of home networking is pretty dismal for the average consumer," Mr Baker told the BBC News website.

The problem, he said, was the sheer complexity of getting all those different devices to work together and swap data via a home network.

"Mention WPA or encryption or SSID or HDCP and you have lost the vast majority of consumers already," he said. "Most of them are not going to deal with that level of complexity and knowledge."

The technical know-how required to set up a network and run music or video across cables or wi-fi, was, he said, "the elephant in the room that no-one wants to talk about."

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