Daniel Terdiman, CNET staff writer and geek gestalt blogger, describes how he set a network for his Net newbie in-laws, Donna and Tyler, in their mountain-top home.

His in-laws live off the electrical grid in a Northern California house largely powered with solar energy.

Among other things Terdiman recommended Skype to enable Donna to communicate more easily with her sister, setting up Skype on her Mac.

Daniel said: "When I called her new account from my laptop (in the bathroom so as to avoid an echo) she sounded delighted at the service's ease of use.
'That's just phenomenal,' Donna said when I emerged from the bathroom.

Terdiman's mother-in-law was thrilled with her new Net capabilities:
"I'm overjoyed," Donna said. "On a scale of one to a zillion, I'd rate it 999 billion 984 million."