Home Plugs - Are They Really Practical ?

Bint Box

Bint Box

Bint Box

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Hi,

I am thinking of getting some home plugs to pipe the broadband around the house. However, in practice, do they really allow good quality video streaming considering all the gadgets that are plugged into power sockets in a normal house.

Do you have to go round and unplug all the stuff that is supposed to cause interference such as phone chargers, microwaves, dildos etc? If all the stuff has to be unplugged in order to get a signal good enough to smoothly stream video then to me its not a practical solution.


Rgds
Binty
 
Not tried much in the way of video streaming with them, but in terms of practicality they're brilliant and for most places, more reliable than wireless over a larger house. My family pretty much chucked wireless after they tried homeplug on my recommendation.

They work great for internet sharing though, and ping times are usually pretty consistant (sub 10ms, unless you have faulty units or exceptionally bad wiring), which is more than can often be said for wireless.
 
the 200mbit ones are fine for streaming 1080p to my tv downstairs. I only have 2 connected though.
 
I like the idea of them and they're great if just connecting one computer to a router or something but I'm having huge problems connecting a hub to a modem with them.
 
The use that I am thinking about is for streaming programming from BBC iPlayer via the Freesat receiver inside my TV. I need a LAN cable connected to the TV for this and the home plug option close to the TV seems ideal.

I use a BT Home Hub 2 for internet, has anyone any feedback using home plugs with this modem/router?


Rgds
Binty
 
From what i've seen they work pretty well. Just consider that even if you lose half the bandwidth of a gigabit kit to interference you're still left with 500mb of good data which is more than you'll ever get on wireless.

BT home hub is a router + cordless phone, powerline tends to go after your router like a switch so the actual router shouldn't matter. Though do note that your speed will probably be limited by the home hub as i doubt they decided to use gigabit ports, usually they're 100mb.
 
there's something too satisfying wiring your own home in copper. Having your Ceneralised Server/Switch! Have all the wires going to one place.
 
I got a 200mb one the other day and it works fine. Not tried streaming but game playing is fine.

I could do some speed tests but on my play station i got 6mb download and 0.5mb upload. I only did one reading though.

On my wired computer from the main socket I normally get 6-7mb download and 0.5to1.3 upload so I couldnt see much difference in speed.
 
I've got a couple of the 200mbps ones, and it's a much better connection than wireless. No difference really to just having a long ethernet cable.

I ran a LAN day the other day, where I was hosting and everyone else was plugged into a switch, which led to the router (with a really long cable), whilst I was direct to the router (via the homeplug). 8 of us resulted in pings no higher than 25-30ms, whilst I was getting as low as 7ms.
 
markop2003 said:
From what i've seen they work pretty well. Just consider that even if you lose half the bandwidth of a gigabit kit to interference you're still left with 500mb of good data which is more than you'll ever get on wireless.

BT home hub is a router + cordless phone, powerline tends to go after your router like a switch so the actual router shouldn't matter. Though do note that your speed will probably be limited by the home hub as i doubt they decided to use gigabit ports, usually they're 100mb.
Click to expand...

My plan is to use one of the 4 x LAN ports out of the BT HomeHub 2 and feed that into a home plug which will then act as the broadband input source to the mains wiring. Then, any other home plugs around the house will be using the broadband input from the LAN port output of the BT HomeHub2.

Is this proposal OK or do I need to set it up differently?

Lastly, would I be better off changing my modem router to something like a NetGear DG834 or an alternative in order to use faster ports? My BT broadband is the 8mb service and in practice, I get approximately 6.5mb to 7mb at best.

Thx for all the feedback so far, it has been very useful to me.


Rgds
Binty
 
Bint Box said:
My plan is to use one of the 4 x LAN ports out of the BT HomeHub 2 and feed that into a home plug which will then act as the broadband input source to the mains wiring. Then, any other home plugs around the house will be using the broadband input from the LAN port output of the BT HomeHub2.

Is this proposal OK or do I need to set it up differently?
...
Click to expand...

What you've described is fine.

Bint Box said:
...
Lastly, would I be better off changing my modem router to something like a NetGear DG834 or an alternative in order to use faster ports? My BT broadband is the 8mb service and in practice, I get approximately 6.5mb to 7mb at best
...
Click to expand...

If you only want the homeplugs to distribute internet, then they only need to be fast enough to transfer the 7Mb yours peaks at. Real-world transfer of 14Mb homeplugs is around 6Mb, so go for 85Mb homeplugs as a minimum. The router has 100Mb ports that can easily do 80Mb+ real-world so no, you do not need a different router. The only reason to look for faster kit is if you want to transfer data directly between LAN devices e.g. from NAS to PC. Even then, the devices would have to both support Gb LAN, and you'd need the latest Gb homeplugs; at that point it would make more sense to simply add a Gb switch plugged in to the BT router, rather than replace the router just to get some Gb switch ports.

For most people Gb homeplugs are only worth it if you need them stream 1080p HD content from a LAN device (iPlayer will always be limited by your internet speed).
 
AVOID! buy a spool of cat 5 and a nice gig switch, about the same price, a bit more hassle to get installed but will never have issues.
 
mast3r said:
AVOID! buy a spool of cat 5 and a nice gig switch, about the same price, a bit more hassle to get installed but will never have issues.
Click to expand...

No way am I stripping off wallpaper and digging conduits in plaster to get internet into a couple of rooms. I do not need it that badly and for the use that I hope to get the home boys will be OK. All I want to do is to connect TV to the internet via a LAN cable in 2 rooms -- end of.


Rgds
Binty
 
I am looking at getting 3 x NetGear 200mbps Powerline home boys to be able to stream BBC iPlayer HD and SD from the internet via LAN cable directly into a couple of TV's, ie, no computer involved.

From replies above, the setup should certainly cope with the BBC SD programming via internet iPlayer, however, will it be OK for HD programming via internet iPlayer?

Rgds
Binty
 
Not wishing to put a downer on things but be aware.....
....I tried homeplugs and they were awful, most likely down to the terrible wiring in my house.

If your wiring is OK then you should be fine. If you like in an 150 year old house with a scary wiring job then you might struggle.
 
PistolPete said:
Not wishing to put a downer on things but be aware.....
....I tried homeplugs and they were awful, most likely down to the terrible wiring in my house.

If your wiring is OK then you should be fine. If you like in an 150 year old house with a scary wiring job then you might struggle.
Click to expand...


Although the house is 100 years old, I think that the wiring is OK as I had it tested in an electrical inspection of the wiring when I bought the house 10 years ago. Here's hoping.......


Rgds
Binty
 
Bint Box said:
No way am I stripping off wallpaper and digging conduits in plaster to get internet into a couple of rooms. I do not need it that badly and for the use that I hope to get the home boys will be OK. All I want to do is to connect TV to the internet via a LAN cable in 2 rooms -- end of.


Rgds
Binty
Click to expand...

Ehh, you dont have too.... under the floor, under the skirting boards if room, 10mm hole in the wall and run it external, you should only ever "need" to chase the wall for newly added light switches and wall mounted TV's.

Be warned mate, HomePlugs will = FAIL unless you live in a new build with decent leccie cables.
 
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