For years, the computer industry has tried and failed to interest consumers in home networking. The major obstacles-high costs, the lack of standards, and difficult-to-use technology-have now been largely overcome, but one major sticking point remains: the lack of buyer incentive. With today's under-$100 prices on printers and scanners, peripheral sharing is not a pressing need; files can be shared via e-mail, and few households need to share applications. There is one commodity, however, that is in high demand: Internet bandwidth.

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