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Linksys Incorporates HomePlug Networking
mattyohe writes "It seems that Linksys is one of the first to prepare release for their ethernet router that uses the HomePlug 1.0 spec. Linksys claims the Instant Powerline EtherFast Router performs well by using the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) scheme. OFDM forms numerous signals into a single signal for transmission and then is used again to find and automatically adapt to the specific frequency combination that enables successful communication. This product currently uses 56 bit DES encryption and would be excellent for networking in the home enviroment. Never worry about not having enough rj-45 jacks at a lan party, bring some power strips!"
What happens if you get a major power spike? What is in place to protect my HomePlug card on my computer?
I don't exactly like the idea of feeding electricity into my computer like that.
Now lamp manufactures can make lamps with a cpu inside and we can give them a schedule for on and off.
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
(2) I've always had good success with Linksys hubs, switches, and NIC's in the past; and I appreciate their low cost. I'm sure this will be a good product, too.
Now for a question: I don't fully understand how the electrical grid outside my house works, but what is to prevent my next-door neighbor from buying one of these powergrid devices and "borrowing" my bandwidth?
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Did they choose 56 bits because of export requirements?
Got friends?
What happens on the PC side of the question? Like, do I have to buy a device that takes up a slot internally or is USB? Or can I just plug that device into a pre-existing ethernet slot? Obviously, some type of PC->poweroutlet adapter is necessary, but where are they? [Oh, and less importantly... can I run this through my surge protector?]
IAAL,BIANLY
Is it just me, or is this product useless?
I mean, really. Your average non-savy user won't try to share a connection because they don't know it's possible. The Wireless product makers are cleaning up the partially-savy and geek markets. Hardcore geeks are wiring their houses with cat 5, etc.
Remember the telephone-over-powerline products to give you extra extensions? People just purchased cordless phones instead. Nobody bothers having a ton of wired extensions. And the network-over-a-phoneline? Just about nobody uses that one, either.
If people aren't wiring with the cables the designer intended (power on the power plug, telephone on the phone jack, network on the cat 5, cable on the coax, etc) they'll use wireless.
Gentoo Sucks
In other words, I wouldn't sweat it for audio uses. If it really bothers you, power your audio equipment through a real UPS with a lead-acid battery and inverter. That should brick-wall filter any noise from your mains.
Aren't they basically low pass filters for power? Will the networking signals survive going through them?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
It's not STORM shielded, and the FBI has STORM equipment that can detect RF emissions (as low as a nanowatt in frequency!)
If the FBI is measuring frequency in nanowatts, we've got bigger problems in our educational system than I thought. Watts are a measure of power, not frequency.
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This had to have been designed by somebody as a side-project, then was commercialized when "the higher-ups" heard of it. Really, why would you choose DES, unless you had the code already lying around, or something?
-Mark
He's not talking about coupling through the power supply. He's talking about capacitive coupling.
Yes, he has a valid concern. The power lines carry 60 HZ and a lot of harmonics of it - all low frequency stuff - plus switching noise - higher frequency stuff but more intermittent, except for commutator noise which (as you probably know from listening to AM while running an electric drill) is all over the map. Not to mention fluorescent and other arc lamps and switching power supplies - all over the ultrasonic-to-radio ranges.
The higher the frequency the easier it couples - in direct proportion. Beyond the audio range it can still cause some trouble, but not as much.
This technology is running in the tens of megabits over a noisy channel, so it will be running a goodly fraction of that in bandwidth. The question is mostly whether the LOW end is well above the audio and FM multiplex subcarrier range.
Don't bet on that. The audio range is just as useful as an equivalent bandwidth above it, so unless the designers were trying to avoid hi-fi and telephone interference they probably used it.
I have a few other concerns:
How does it behave in the presence of interference from commutator-based motors (drills, vacuum cleaners, blenders, mixers, hedge trimmers, etc.), switching power supplies (computers, peripherals, compact fluorescents), and arc lamps (standard fluorescents, high-pressure vapor)?
How does it behave in the presence of other similar devices in other houses attached to the same power transformer? (Like X10 it probably won't go THROUGH the transformer enough to notice.)?
Will you need a coupling capacitor between the two sides (or in industrial situations, the three phases) of your feed to get the other half (two-thirds) of your outlets to work?
Will the default configuration share your internet and intranet with your neighbors?
On the other hand, can you feed a neighbor deliberately, to cut a deal to share a DSL or Cable drop?
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I wasn`t able to fathom from the article whether this power line equipment can be made to work in the UK. The UK voltage is 230v at 50Hz; if I use a UK to US transformer can I plug this equipment into the UK mains ?
I have, at various times, considered getting a high-speed network connection for the grilfiend. I had two problems: first, good DSL service in her area is unavailable (distance from the CO coupled with going across the 'Hooch). So that left cable, but the single cable outlet in the apartment is diametrically across the living room (well, no, it's not a circle, but you know what I mean) from the computer.
And, of course, it being her apartment and not mine, running cat5 across the room is not an option. So I thought wireless, but I'm not willing to throw an extra $300 at the problem (yet.)
This, on the other hand, might be a solution. So my big question is: How much? When you figure that Linksys's WAP + routerator is a little less than $200 at the local Best Buy, and I can get a PCI or USB wireless card for the PC end for $100, can IP-over-110vAC really be much cheaper?
-JDF
So, will this technology have any problems with devices communicating between each other if the two devices are on opposing "legs" of the split 220V line?
I.e. the line comes into your house as 220V, and is split into two 110V legs before being distributed throughout the home. Device #1 is in a circuit powered off the first 110V leg, and device #2 is on a circuit powered off the second 110V leg. Can the two devices communicate?
This is often a problem with simple X10 devices, and can require the installation of a "bridge" device to allow X10 signals to pass between the two 110V legs. Seems like powerline networking would suffer from the same problem...