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HomePNA is an industry standard for interconnecting
computers within a home using existing telephone lines and registered jack.
Using HomePNA, multiple computer users in a home can share a single Internet
connection, open or copy files from different computers, share printers, and
play multiuser computer games. The latest version, HomePNA 2.0, allows data
transmission at a rate of 10 Mbps over a standard telephone line's home wiring
system using the Ethernet CSMA/CD framing and transmission protocol.
HomePNA can be used without interrupting normal voice or fax services. One user
can talk on the phone at the same time other users are sharing the same line
to access the Web or share other computer resources. A Quality of Service (QoS)
feature assigns higher-level priorities to applications that are latency-sensitive like
packetized voice and streaming audio and video. The home network standard is
sponsored by members of the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA).
The shared phone line approach is one of several home network approaches. Others include the regular
Ethernet local area network, the powerline protocol, or the Bluetooth standard. Ethernet is a
widely-used standard for a local area network (LAN) that ordinarily requires each
computer to be equipped with an interface card, connected to a hub, and sometimes the
use of thicker cabling. (HomePNA uses the Ethernet line protocol with existing phone
cabling.) Powerline is a slower data transmission method that uses the home's electrical
wiring. Bluetooth uses wireless technology to transmit data between devices within a
30-foot range. In addition to HomePNA, there are other proprietary approaches to home
networks using existing phone lines.
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