by Charles Miller

When it comes to the subject of home networks or small business networks, and the software, cables, modems, and Wi-Fi hardware that make them work, there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was designed to include self-correcting mechanisms, which means that no matter how bad the condition of a cable or how improperly installed a network might be, the TCP/IP protocol compensates by slowing your internet connection down to a speed the faulty installation can handle so that your connection does not fail completely.

The bad news is also that the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was designed to include self-correcting mechanisms, which means that no matter how bad the condition of a cable or how improperly installed a network might be, the TCP/IP protocol compensates by slowing your internet connection down to a speed the faulty installation can handle so that your connection does not fail completely.

Personally, I never ceased to be awed at the genius and incredible foresight the designers of the internet and the TCP/IP protocols had when they laid the foundations of the internet more than a half century ago. Some say this is apocryphal, but many believe that their thinking during the Cold War was that the new communications system they were designing needed to be robust enough to survive a nuclear war even with large parts of the system destroyed or wrongly configured by survivors of the apocalypse who might not be trained as computer network engineers. The system had to be fault tolerant and idiot-proof enough so that bad repairs or installations done by unskilled workers would not necessarily crash the whole system. That military communications research project from the 1960s is what eventually evolved into the internet we have today.

Of course it is a fine thing that the TCP/IP protocol was designed to be self-correcting otherwise for many users the internet would simply stop working altogether rather than continuing to work at a slower speed. Just imagine how nice it could be if things such as light bulbs worked this way. Rather than suddenly burning out and leaving you in the dark, the light bulb could fail 90% but still provide just enough light for you to see your way without stumbling. And it would still be obvious you had a light bulb that needed to be replaced.

But the downside of computer networks functioning in this way is that when a data network is able to automatically compensate for errors this ability to cope with a certain level of problems invariably obfuscates underlying network problems. The problems can include slow-responding connections to web sites, failed video calls, and/or excessive buffering while trying to watch streaming videos. All that adds up to a less-than-optimum online experience.

A scenario I have seen repeated many times in my professional experience is that when a do-it-yourselfer installs their own home network it does work, it just does not always work very well. It limps along as best it can while coping with all the mistakes unknowingly made by the do-it-yourselfer. They might say to me: "Everything works fine; I just need you to speed it up."

Sometimes the do-it-yourselfer's mistakes are easy to find and correct, and I am always thrilled when that is the case because it makes me look like a genius. But unfortunately, I am not a miracle-worker and so I do not always come off looking like a genius.

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Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

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