Homeplugs help

[nintenjo]

Hopefully some of you have some experience with homeplugs networking and could advice me on a proposed setup at the parents house.

At the moment they have broadband to a WRT160N wireless router, but there house appears to be made of lead and has the most appalling wireless blackspots. (Ive tried other router makes with little joy).

So i have been looking at an alternative setup. I was thinking of using homeplugs to my brother bedroom (currently a very poor signal) and also homeplugs to get a wired connection in the garage (about 30 meters down the garden)

So my question is.. Are homeplugs reliable over this kind of setup and do longer distances greatly affect signal quality / line speed?

The Newlink NL-HP200 seems to be a reasonable price per plug. and claim 200mbps.

 

[manic_man]

I have a fairly basic Homeplug setup. Personally mine are all TP-Link TL-PA201's, however this is the first thing to know about Homeplugs.

Homeplug and Homeplug AV (i.e. 2.0) are standards in the same way that WiFi is (B/G/N etc.), so assuming something is marked as being Homeplug (80mbps) or Homeplug AV (200mpbs) then they should all inter-connect regardless of brand. SOME manufacturers, such as Belkin and Netgear are pushing their own standards, these will NOT inter-connect with a proper Homeplug normally. Proper Homeplug AV adaptors will typically be the same inside bar the plastic casing. Most of em use the same chip-sets internally, as such they get provided with the same (rubbish) setup software and even use the same LED flashing schemes! So really, unless the plastic casing and potential warranty support bothers you, go for the cheapest you can find that meets the correct standard.

That said, the next thing to consider is how your house is wired. In my case I live in flats at the moment, these normally have a single ring main meaning that all plugs I use are on the same "network" without passing through the break/fuse box. Larger properties such as houses often have more than one ring main, for example your garage might have its own, in which case the signal will need to pass through the fusebox in order to reach other Homeplugs on other rings. That is not say it won't work, but often this is a major reason why people find they don't work for them.

Aside from that, other degrading factors include other electrical equipment on the line (for example very noisy appliances like kettles have been known to have an effect) and of course, distance.

In my case, I have an adaptor in my boiler room, where my master socket and therefore router is, this is in its own socket and not on an extension (this is important) and plugs into one of the ethernet ports on my router. I then have four more around the property. One in each bedroom, and one in the lounge for the PS3. To show how wiring can be unusual, the weakest signal (rated at 60-80%) between adaptors is between the two with the shortest physical range, the one in the lounge and the one in the boiler cupboard.

Unfortunately, it's very hard to say whether they will work for you, and being honest, my only suggestion has ever been, make use of the distance selling act! Buy a 2 piece kit, try all the cases you want to work (i.e. one into your router then try the other in every other location you want) and if they work, buy some more.. if not send em back!

When they work, they are really very good, currently I transfer things around on my network at a constant 7Mb/s, not far off what I would expect from a proper ethernet network, and the whole thing is utterly stable. Your experience may vary!