Benefits of Having a Home Network

More often than not, we mistake our Wi-Fi connection for the internet. We're going to tell you that it is actually so much more than that. Your shiny new router is a middle-man, a bridge between your devices. By creating a wireless local area network or WLAN, it acts a central hub for all your Wi-Fi capable devices. And that, in very layman terms, is a home network. So what are the benefits of having one in your humble abode? What miracles can you achieve with this?
Home Server:
I don't know about you but my file management system is pretty messy (non-existent even). Spread across different devices and drives, many are the exhausting days when I find myself frantically searching for an important file. If you're like me and even if you're not, having a home server will ease things up for you immensely. You can connect an external hard drive directly to your router and access the contents from any device connected to your network. Not only does this free space on your computer, it makes switching between gadgets, seamless. Gone are the days when you had to copy stuff.
Media Streaming:
This one actually falls in the previous category but if you're more of a movie and TV Show fanatic like me, media streaming is a tempting reason for building a home network. I personally find it irritating when I just downloaded something and want to lie back and get right into the episode but instead I have to spend two very excruciating minutes waiting for it to be transferred to my tablet. Why go through the hassle when you can stream media without any sort of delay from the central storage?
Peripheral Sharing:
I still remember those days when I was given the task of moving my printer from room to room every time someone needed to use it. I had to set it up and deal with all the issues that might arise. Call it strategic thinking but a router would have solved all my problems.

Multiplayer Gaming:
From Age of Empires to Counter Strike to Microsoft Paint, playing with your friends when they come over, is rather fun. No lags, no latency, all you need to do is delve in. By the way, there are loads of multiplayer games for mobile platforms that you could try too. Air Wings is a fascinating one. Not always do you need a pricey PC or a console to enjoy gaming.
Screen Mirroring and Remote Access:
Nifty little features that often come in handy. Just remembered that you want to start a download on your PC? Want to run an application from there? Who says you have to leave your comfort zone for that? Want to use your computer from someplace else? You router is at your command.
We hope this intrigues you enough to build your home network. Because if it does- fear not, we'll bring you the basics and walk-throughs of setting it all up, in our next article.