Survey: Homeowners Installing Networks Split On Implementation Plans

While 43 percent of people who already have home networks installed their own systems, 39 percent relied on some kind of service provider to do the deed, according to new research from The NPD Group, Port Washington, NY.

Of those relying on an outside provider for installation, 14 percent used their phone company, 13 percent used their cable provider and 5 percent used their ISP. Rounding out the list, 4 percent used some kind of "other" independent consultant, 3 percent said the network was built into their home in its construction, and 1 percent relied on consumer electronic stores such as Best Buy or CompUSA.

Eight percent of survey responders said they bought the equipment themselves but relied on a friend or colleague to install it. Ten percent specified "other" when asked who installed their LAN.

The survey also found that the urge to share digital music and films throughout the home is the most potent driver for the expected wave of home networks.

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Forty percent of those surveyed said that sharing "personal media"--which includes personal photos and video, music, movies and TV--was their main impetus for installing a home network. One-third of current home network owners cited the same motivation.

For the survey, the analyst firm invited 20,000 people to participate by e-mail and got responses from 9,795 of those invited.

Respondents were segmented into three categories. First, 2,535 respondents already have home networks. Nearly 500 (478) hope to install such a network within 12 months. And 6,140 have no such network and do not plan to implement one.

Other findings:

Among brand preferences, most respondents associated the concept of home networks with PCs and leadership with popular PC brands. Dell was cited by 49 percent of those with networks as a leader and by 56 percent of those who plan to install. Microsoft was cited by 47 percent of network planners and 54 percent of those planning. Planners also listed Hewlett-Packard (50 percent); Gateway (35 percent); Sony (35 percent) Apple (31 percent); Compaq (27 percent) and Cisco (23 percent) as significant home networking players.

However, consumers still need education on home networking. Despite the need for a router or hub in most home networks, only 6 percent of respondents planning to install a LAN cited the need for such a device when asked what products they expect to order.

The top expected uses of planned networks were "PC Centric jobs" (79 percent); file-sharing across PCs (67 percent); accessing printers, scanners and other devices (66 percent) and sharing broadband Internet access (57 percent.)

Among those with no plans for a network, nearly half (49 percent) said they don't own enough PCs or other devices to make it worthwhile; 79 percent said they don't see an immediate need or benefit, and 29 percent said networks are too expensive.

Wireless Wi-Fi networks are gaining on their hard-wired counterparts. Forty percent of those planning to install networks plan to go wireless, compared with 22 percent of those with networks now. Twenty-one percent of future planed home networks will use Ethernet, down from the current 58 percent, NPD said.

One additional item came in loud and clear in the survey. A large percentage of currently networked home users really do use their networks. Three quarters said they're on their network every day. Another 8 percent said they're on four to six days per week. Fewer than 5 percent said they use their networks once a month or less.