Longtime readers might remember when I moved the core of our home network (the cable modem and the Linksys wireless router) from the upstairs office down to the living room   in order to accommodate some Ethernet-based entertainment devices (a personal video recorder, some networked media players, etc.).

In the year or so we’ve lived with this setup, I’ve integrated some power line networking equipment, upgraded the router to 802.11g and added Wi-Fi Protected Access security. Now I’ve made a bold move - I’ve switched the physical location of the core once more - back to the upstairs office where this whole adventure began.

It's usually a relatively minor event that triggers a major one - such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggering the beginning of World War I. My situation was much less global, of course, but still significant in that it got me to rethink what I was doing with my home network.

In playing an online game that required a consistent Internet connection, I found that the signal between my Wi-Fi router and wireless USB adapter on my upstairs PC wasn’t reliable. Whenever the airwaves around the house would change (someone walking around, the dog coming into the office, etc.), the signal would sometimes fade and my online game would drop.

Additionally, the original reasons for having the core network in the living room (the PVR, the networked media player) have also changed. We kept the Charter PVR that has horrible search functions but lets us record two shows at the same time. In addition, my wife won a new TiVo box that we installed on a second TV, connecting it to the home network via a combination USB-to-Ethernet adapter and a power line networking adapter. (TiVo doesn't have an Ethernet port and a USB wireless adapter didn't work).

My biggest concern was that disconnecting the entire network and then re-plugging it back in would cause some configuration problems, but in the end everything worked correctly. The gaming PC that started it all now has an Ethernet cable connection, and our second desktop upstairs has a stronger wireless signal. The other wireless links are for the laptops, which we only use for Internet surfing, not heavy-duty LAN transfers.

There's still more moving ahead, as I try to squeeze a television into the office in order to have something ready for future media players and media centers. Do any readers know if data quality degrades when you split a cable line? Let me know at kshaw@nww.com. Stay tuned for more networking adventures…