Powerline networking

[Parapunter]

I've been getting nerdily excited at the idea of these ethernet/mains electrickery gizmos that use the existing electrical wiring in the house to create a network.

I have been after a solution for a while & don't fancy wireless as I will have big lumps of data to shovel around & since my house is a victorian terrace, there's a notable lack of covenient & handy cavity walls to use.

Has anyone used this kind of set up? I have seen a product from Zyxel (no interest on my part) that claims 200mbps & a review that reckoned a realistic 125-150mbps which sounds great if true, but I would be interested in anyone's experience.

Ta.

[green granite]

Yes it works, but remember that anyone else on the same phase in your area can also see what you're sending.

[seanbean]

Presumably some sort of encryption (WPA-2) would solve the problem?

[Saab Dastard]

Yes it works, but remember that anyone else on the same phase in your area can also see what you're sending.

This appears to be an urban myth, debunked recently in a test by Personal Computer World.

It seems that no data can pass beyond the Consumer Unit (fuse box). The only situation that this might be a problem is within a shared office or domestic situation where there is only one CU serving more than one group of people. In the latter situation, then encryption would indeed be appropriate.

There is no harm in encrypting your data anyway, but it would appear to be an unnecessary overhead.

SD

[bnt]

Sir Arthur C Clarke, 1917-2008

Well, Zyxel says that all data is encrypted (56-bit DES). Which isn't that great as encryption goes, but it's not out in the air like WiFi, and you can still encrypt on top of that e.g. SSL (secure sites) or IPSec (between PCs).

[NWSRG]

I was involved in a trial to deliver internet over the power cable network. The plan was to install a hub at each local distribution substation, this would superimpose the comms signals onto the mains cables, and there would be a pickup on the service cable entering each house. At that stage (late 1990's) we could only supply to around 60 homes per substation (when there could have been 200-300 homes supplied their electricity from each), and the range was limited as well...typically 300m from the substation from memory. Of course, if the power network was reconfigured (eg. due to the water service digging up a cable!), then the whole dynamics changed...it proved to be unreliable, and had questionable economics. Then along came broadband over the existing phone line and killed the idea stone dead...maybe it's time to resurrect it though!

[Parapunter]

Very interesting & thanks folks. I think this may be a viable solution for me to create a home based network, perhaps even going as far as a server under the stairs in time!

I'll let you know how it works out

[BOFH]

I've had Zyxel 85s for the last two years. They have been reliable (only three restarts required in that time) and trouble-free. The throughput I get is 16Mbps.

I would examine a few more reviews about the 200AV results. From what I've read 65Mbps is what you can expect. That's not bad, all the same. I haven't bought them yet as I am buying a house where I may lay nice thick conduit. In addition, they are not backwards-compatible, so I'd need to shunt two of them through a router.

Go for it. My mail/torrent/fileserver lives on an NSLU2 in a cupboard with a few disks and the wireless router for company.

BOFH

[Parapunter]

The plot thickens with the discovery of the Linksys dma2100 - the idea overall is to extend media centre in to different rooms of the house. First I must create the network, then I must place a box in each room - I was resigned to having a pc at the end of the network, now it seems I don't have to do that.

Could be a good project this.

[HandyAndy]

It Works!

I have a three of Aztech 85mbps homeplugs and they work great. Can connect laptops or the kids xbox in any room and it was so easy to set up

The set up I have is:
internet
wrt54g router
hard wired toshiba satellite m40
hard wired aztech homeplug in elec socket near router
second/third homeplugs anywhere in the house

I also connect my N95 wirelessly to the router too.

HA

[Saab Dastard]

Andy,

As a service to all, can you try plugging one in around your neighbour's and seeing if you can connect to your network? You shouldn't be able to, but it would be interesting to hear a personal confirmation!

SD

[djawol]

Homeplugs

I've used the Turbo version for a couple of years. I've got three connected, one for the PC, one for a router and one for a network storage drive.
Plug them in, switch them on and they work, simple as that. They do have built in encryption if you wish but I've proven in my previous house that I couldn't see the signal at my neighbours house so it appears to stop at the consumer unit.
They connect to each other at a steady 78Mbps and have never failed me.

I ordered from Solwise, these are the ones I have - http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-pl-85pe.htm

Awol

[airborne_artist]

will have big lumps of data to shovel around & since my house is a victorian terrace, there's a notable lack of covenient & handy cavity walls to use.

The alternative answer is to site a wifi router in the roof-space, as the wifi will happily penetrate the ceilings/floors. I get superb speeds in all rooms in a Victorian house.

[Parapunter]

Yes, given what I want to do, the wifi route may yet work & as I say, the advent of media extenders for media centre looks like a perfect solution - one box acts as a server & the extenders on the network preclude the need to set up a pc at each node. All that remains is to design & install the local wiring for speakers etc.

[Keef]

Originally Posted by Saab Dastard

It seems that no data can pass beyond the Consumer Unit (fuse box).

Sort of. Usually, the wires from there disappear underground, or go for a longish trip overhead. That puts any potential "eavesdropper" out of range.

BUT if you're in a block of flats, I think you'll find it passes through the consumer unit quite happily. Rather as a WiFi setup would.

These "local" mains networks are OK, and do a job.

The original proposal to send broadband via the mains to all subscribers would have been a disaster, in part for users (because of interference), but mainly for anyone who wanted to listen to AM radio, and also for radio amateurs who would have found most of the HF spectrum blocked by it.

I'm very glad PLT got the heave-ho.

[HandyAndy]

SD

Sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately, we don't have any close neighbours as we built the house in a developing area. Our nearest neighbour is about
500 metres away so I don't think it would be effective.

It says on the box that it has 56-bit DES encryption but i think everyone knows that already.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help or the test pilot for this but if anyone else could it would be an interesting exercise.