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5 Powerline Networking Devices Reviewed
An anonymous reader writes "Most people who can't or won't hardwire for broadband have an obvious alternative: Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, there can be architectural anomalies between floors or even between rooms that can interfere with Wi-Fi signals, resulting in spotty, or even dead, signals. So what do you do? Well, you can try using a powerline device. Computerworld reviewer Bill O'Brien tests powerline units from Belkin, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear and Zyxel, and compares their performance to that of his wired and wireless setups."
They used to be kind of squirrely, and WiFi was just so much better. But with the explosion of interference, it might be time to look again.
Flipped through the article, but what I'd like to know is if they've improved heat dissipation on these things. I tried a few different makes years ago (back when the best you could hope for out of them was ~10Mbps), but after about a month they'd cook themselves to death unless you modded them with vents and fans.
I have a Linksys PLK200 set connecting my living room to my basement router and over that I:
Stream HD movies from Netflix
Stream tons of other content from my media server
Play online games over Xbox Live
Surf the internets
All without a problem. But then again I also use a wireless mouse and an LCD monitor to play first person shooters...
I've also noticed no problems due to microwaves or the dishwasher.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
I don't even worry about encryption. WiFi range isn't 10 acres with the standard antennas
Fixed that for you. You might want to rethink your policy about not encrypting your connection because you are out in the middle of nowhere.
I used to work for a WISP. One day I was out in the field doing tests with a 24db directional antenna. My laptop automatically associated to my home network before I could direct it to connect to the network I was trying to troubleshoot. My house was a little over a mile away and the AP at home had the standard issue dipole antennas on it. Had enough signal strength to surf the web at full speed and transfer files off my server.
Moral of the story: Don't underestimate what someone can do with a high gain antenna. Encrypt your network or don't come crying to us when the Feds kick down your door after someone uses your network to download kiddie porn, pirate software or threaten to kill the President.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
What kind of small office wouldn't be able to run a piece of CAT5?
One in an historic ('listed' in the UK) building where any form of drilling through walls or fixing cables to the structure is not permitted - at least not without a craplaod of inspections and paperwork.
Like my parents' 18th Century cottage.
AT&ROFLMAO
Plastic raceway.
http://cableorganizer.com/surface-raceways/latching.html
I use something similar to run speaker wire to my rear speakers. I have it run up the side and across the top of a doorframe to the corner of the room, then it goes up to the ceiling, and along the ceiling/wall edge to the speakers. It blends in fairly well.
You can also pull up the edge of your carpeting and stuff cable under it (along the walls works well, but I wouldn't do that across a hallway or doorway), or remove your baseboards, cut a cable path into the drywall, run cable through it, and replace the baseboards.
Similar experience here - I have the 200MBit Devolo plugs in the UK. It's a 10y/o house (so modern circuit breakers etc which no doubt help).
Powerline has provided a far more reliable connection for me than wireless, and I can happily transfer HD video to my media box, and access the internet simultaneously on it (which is basically all it needs to do).
Setup-wise, I'd definitely recommend them to non-tech-savvy friends too - no messing with settings, literal plug and play.
Obviously UK and US electrical systems have marked differences, so YMMV.
I'm surprised by all the people complaining about electrical interference but who haven't complained about wireless interference. My boiler (with faulty relay - now fixed) used to be able to disconnect my internet access by upsetting my wireless router with interference alone. I've found the powerline cable to be much more reliable in this regard. Then again NB that UK wiring keeps major electrical items on a different circuit to the main house sockets.
Since the "ground", the third wire, the bare or green wire, properly known as the "grounding" conductor, is, at radio frequencies, somewhat separated from the "neutral", the white wire, properly known in a 120 Volt circuit as the "grounded" wire (it and the "grounding" wire are tied together at the meter base only)(it's only the "neutral" in a 240 volt circuit where you have 2 "hot" wires 240 volts apart and each 120 volts away from the neutral), you should be able to insert a radio frequency signal between the "ground" and the "neutral" and have the "neutral" act as antenna, which would solve the "are you on the same leg or not" problem, since the "neutral" is common to both 120 Volt sides.
Don't know how Underwriters Lab and the National Electrical Code folks would feel about it, though, or whether it might "confuse" Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters.
Anyway, I hope it works better than those NICs that used (or tried to) the telephone wiring--Home Phone Network Alliance, or something like that.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Can't we wait till the interference issues with radio communication are sorted out? See The ARRL site on this issue.