Firstly, yes, I know this should probably be in the hardware section, however, it would seem that this forum gets a greater number of people, and I would like as much feedback as possible.

Secondly, let me preface this with outlining my current network, and what I aim to get.

I currently run an ADSL wireless router, connected to my PC with CAT5, this is in my study/computer room about 20 metres from my lounge.

In my lounge, I have a laptop, an XBOX360 and PS3, all of these are currently using wireless, which shows about 50% signal strengh, which is good enough for the laptop, general surfing etc, but it struggles with the games consoles, as the signal seems to vary at different times.

I know that running a CAT5 cable from my router to my lounge, but I live in rented accomodation and I am loathed to drill holes in the ceilings etc.

So I have 2 options, either think about getting a more powerfull wireless router, would this make the signal better?.

Or, look into powerline networking, basically, something I know very little about, something like this > http://www.ebuyer.com/product/109683.

Any thoughts?

Apparently they work quite well, but I'd guess that would depend on the quality of wiring in the house anyway. I was considering trying them in the house I'm in atm, as I get rubbish wireless stability in my room, but they are damn expensive (and the wiring in this house is ancient anyway) so I decided not to.

Why not run coloured network cable stapled to the ceiling-wall-corner---in-between-thingie? That would keep it out of sight quite well I think.

About the powerline ethernet... Ummm... do you get higher pings and lag if your fridge thermostat turns itself on in the kitchen?

I'd rather not have the cable visible, if it were just me, it wouldn't be a problem, but my missus wouldn't like it one bit!!!.

As for speed and pings, the 85mb one I am looking at apparently gets very good pings, and it's reasonably priced at £66 for a pair of plugs.

There were a few competing standards for the same tech, but generally speaking they're all affected by the same issues. Whether or not they've been standardised yet I don't know. To be honest, I've only used it once or twice and I've found it very hit and miss, although it was several years ago now so it might be worth taking my experiences with a pinch of salt.

However, the performance you get from the units will highly depend on how your house has been wired up, although any point on any circuit connected to the same meter should work relatively well in a residential environment.

It's worth noting that your communication will "leak" out of the house and that you should aim to buy units which support encryption and you should use it, much like you would with wireless. However, because homeplug only works on single phase, and residential neighbours tend to use a different phase from their neighbours (I believe, if anyone is an electronic engineer or electrician may want to correct me?), the chance of someone picking up your communication, or picking up cross talk from another homeplug setup, is rather low.

There is, of course one major benefit over wireless, and that is that you're not broadcasting packets all over the place, which if you're concerned about security is a bonus.

hi,
i have powerline networking, unless you buys some good ones ,the connecting aint fast, download wise.
the connection is great lfs wise etc
but download not unless you buy highspeed ones
yes i think its a good alternative to wireless since its my alternative to wireless and i'm happy

Have you considered the fact that maybe all the electrical devices near the PS3 and 360 are hindering the signal coming from the wireless? I mean, I'm no expert, but wouldn't electronic interferance cause an unstable signal?
~Bryan~

yes, but only if the power cord is in, olso your tv and computer itself affects the signal, concrete walls olso, armoured concrete too and offcourse distance

I got a pair of Comtrend PLN units with my BT Vsion Box and tried them with my LAN. I found they just chewed up packets, meaning anything bigger than a few KB (mainly downloads, but it affected pictures in web pages too) would be corrupted and unusable. Torrents were the worst, as I'd get hashfail after hashfail until the entire swarm I was connected to had been banned by the torrent client.

You may have better luck with different brands.

You can run an RS232 cable between two computers.

Quote from wheel4hummer :

You can run an RS232 cable between two computers.

Huh?

We run THESE where I work, the only thing you have to make sure is the 2 outlets are on the same ring main. They work very well, and we stream full screen video over them, so no problems with speed at all (0% packet loss until some numpty switches one off!)

Quote from danowat :

Huh?

A null modem cable, as used back in the day for 4 player Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge on the Amiga

Quote from Bean0 :

A null modem cable, as used back in the day for 4 player Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge on the Amiga

Yeah, I know what an RS232 cable is, I just wondered what it had to do with my question.........

If I could run a cable (which I can't really), I would CAT5 it, not bother with an RS232

Hey Dan, i basically had the same problem (distance, rented apartment, low signal) and didnt knew anything about this power-line networking. I didnt experienced any disadvantages in my daily internet life which it. In fact my connection was better as with my wireless adapter. As i had some issues before. If i would have known of this before, i would have used that in my old apartment as well instead of having a looooooooooooooong cable in the whole apartment
i'm running these

Cheers all, looks like I am going to go for it and try these powerline thingys, will let you know how I get on!!!

Got in a bit late here, but this is what I feel about wired networking through powerlines.

These systems work fine from my understanding. depending on the quality of the unit you buy will depend on the bandwidth which ranges from about 6Mb/sto above 120Mb/s which makes it much faster than wireless, and more secure for less money IMO. You are limited because you still must be wired into the unit, but for people that want to network their house, and have wired capability, without any drilling or alterations to run cat5 it's a great option, especially for us renters out there =)
http://www.more-shop.co.uk/ves ... erline-adapter-p-342.html

Like TAA said they are single phase and don't effect power transmission to any big degree as most electronics have filters that will filter out this communication and because of the limited amounts of power being used these filters can easily handle what the filter will perceive as 'noise' on the transmission line which is usually present to a certain degree anyways IIRC, just more than likely not in an intelligent signal form and literally just noise =)

Saying all this the last time I really delved into any type of electronic theory and signaling was a few years ago so I could be off the mark =)

http://www.more-solutions.co.uk/shop/homeplug.html - For some general information on wired networks through powerlines.

Quote from danowat :

Cheers all, looks like I am going to go for it and try these powerline thingys, will let you know how I get on!!!

Let us know how you get on chap, as this would solve alot of our problems in work and at directors house ( he has basement lined with lead and wonders why no signal down there )

I plan to order some this week, I m a little confused weather to plump for the cheaper 85mb/s ones, or spend double on the 200mb/s ones.........I would imagine pings would be similar for both units, but the 200mb/s ones would just have a higher throughput

I used some fairly cheap 11mbit/sec powerline networking thingies, cant argue at the price which was £22 for a pair a couple of years ago, and they did the job fine. They only got used for web browsing and email on that site but it worked fine and without problems.

As far as I can see the concept works very well, I dont know what speeds you can get now but at 11mbit/sec it's sufficient for most things, it's not exactly dial up slow... Just not as fast as wireless.

As for wireless networking, i've given up with PCMCIA and USB adapters now, they're aweful. If a machine doesnt have built wireless then I use ethernet, built in systems seem way more stable and have better range as far as I can tell.

Quote from danowat :

In my lounge, I have a laptop, an XBOX360 and PS3,

My god are you rich. That will be well over a £1000 in hardware.
Inquire with your land lord if you would be able to drill holes for your router.

Quote from spankmeyer :

About the powerline ethernet... Ummm... do you get higher pings and lag if your fridge thermostat turns itself on in the kitchen?

when that turns on my DFP turns off

To answer my original question, yes, certainly a good alternative to wireless.

Got my plugs today, spent about 5 mins plugging them in, straight up and running, and I get 3mb download and full upload using the PS3 browser, downloaded a 500mb in no time at all, and had a good few completely lag free sessions on both GT5p and Forza 2.

So to summirize, bloody brilliant way to do it, and all for £40

Cheers Dan I think we might give these ago at our remote locations, as you said, good alternative.

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