(FORTUNE Magazine) – Has the time come, at long last, for a home network? A few years ago, the idea of a LAN running from the den to the bedroom was just a techie's fantasy. But now even some regular folks have an incentive to have a home network. The two-computer home is no longer unusual; some homes have three or more. Sensing an emerging market, high-tech vendors are scrambling to deliver simple equipment to help people link their various devices. The latest versions are more user-friendly than earlier products, but there are snags enough to warrant some caution.

The biggest reason to go through the trouble of setting up a home network--besides wanting to keep up with the Bill Gateses--is to be able to share computing resources. That means that Dad in the den can play videogames with Junior in his bedroom; more important, it means that any member of the household can use the one printer that's attached to the network. A home network can also ensure fast access to the Internet for everyone. In many homes, the ISDN line or cable modem is hooked up to just one PC. The network lets everyone share the fast connection.

I checked out two home-network approaches. Symphony Cordless Networking from Proxim in Mountain View, Calif., is a wireless network that connects your computers across the ether with the same 2.4-GHz technology used in cordless phones. Intel's AnyPoint Home Network routes traffic over your existing telephone lines but doesn't mess with phone calls. Both systems save you the inconvenience of running new wires through your home.

To set up Proxim in a household with multiple devices, you need several components: an ISA card that fits inside a standard desktop PC ($149), a PC card for laptops ($199), and a wireless 56K modem ($299) to provide access to the Internet. I first had to open up my desktop PC to install the ISA card. Then I positioned the stubby antenna that gets attached to one of the ports in the back of the PC. After I installed the Proxim software, I designated my desktop machine as the home base. Then I set up my laptop with its own PC Card and antenna.

I was ready to go. I turned on both machines and positioned them at opposite ends of my apartment. They quickly found one another--each machine displayed an icon in Windows Explorer representing the other's hard drive. I could transfer files quickly between the PCs by dragging and dropping a file from one hard-drive icon to the other. I could also print directly to my printer from either machine.

It was time to jump on to the Internet. For a while now, my ISDN line has been connected to my desktop PC via a modem. As soon as I called up the Internet browser on the notebook, the desktop PC dialed my Internet service, and I was browsing Web pages at a snappy pace. As I downloaded my e-mail, the messages poured in faster than they ever had with the notebook's internal modem.

Of course, if everything worked perfectly, this wouldn't be a very interesting column. So just as I was getting jaded, my wireless network crashed, and the icon for the network connection on my desktop turned from green to red. I restored the connection by rebooting several times--and I promptly lost the network again. After several hours of troubleshooting and fiddling, I found a document (gotta read those things first!) that told me that ISDN modems are not supported directly by Proxim. If I wanted to use a high-speed connection, I had to install an ISDN router (a complicated device that allows several computers to share an ISDN connection). Since I didn't think this a choice the average user would make, I tried the 56K wireless modem that Proxim sells; it maintained the connection but was noticeably slower than the ISDN line.

Now I turned to Intel's AnyPoint ($189 for a setup that links two PCs). First I connected the system's central unit, a gray, curved device that looks like a PC speaker without a grille, to my printer port. (Intel says a version that uses your PC's USB ports is in the works.) Then I ran the software and arranged for my desktop PC to function as my home server again. So far, so good, except that my printer no longer seemed to work. Only by finding a software upgrade on Intel's Website (www.intel.com/anypoint) could I solve the problem. I used the upgrade to set up my son's computer; with this new version, printing is no problem. The toughest thing about setting up AnyPoint was that it requires a common telephone line for all devices. In our multiline home, I had to drag phone lines across both rooms to run my tests.

The two PCs quickly found each other and allowed me the opportunity to set up different privileges for different machines, a useful trick if you don't want your kids looking into--and possibly erasing--your hard drive. Intel also provides Internet access on demand, which meant that as soon as my son loaded the Web browser on his PC, my ISDN adapter connected him to the Internet.

Which network is best for you? If you need complete mobility within your home, you may prefer the Proxim system. Intel's AnyPoint requires you to set up near a phone jack and have both computers connected to the same phone number. But if you're an inveterate Net surfer, consider AnyPoint--only Intel gives you easy access to high-speed ISDN or cable modems.