Powerline networking question - multiple devices

TheVoice · 4 Nov 2012 at 13:48

Hi all, I'm moving house soon so I'm starting to think about how I'm going to be able to connect all my devices up that are in different rooms.
I've been looking at Powerline networking kits, but I need a bit of help working out what I need. The router will be in the kitchen, the TV/Sky box, PS3 and Xbox will be in the living room, and my PC will be in a spare room.

I've seen Powerline/Homeplug kits that include adapters with multiple ports (such as this Cisco Linksys one) which would do the job nicely for the devices in the living room, but I'd still need another adapter for the PC in spare room. My question is, would I be achieving the same thing if I simply connected an inexpensive switch to the Homeplug, and then connected the games consoles, TV etc to the switch?

Any better alternatives? I know some good old CAT5e would be preferable, but I can't really go running network cables all over the place unfortunately.

Thanks for any help.

Scope · 5 Nov 2012 at 10:13

Yes, a switch will do the same job where multiple devices are required.. I`ve only got single port homeplugs and switch where required. If you are buying new homeplugs I`d recommend going for the 500mb units (or higher).

TheVoice · 5 Nov 2012 at 18:01

Super, thanks. Won't waste any money by going with the multi-port homeplugs then.

Scope · 6 Nov 2012 at 14:36

Not unless space or lack of sockets is a problem.

TheVoice · 23 Dec 2012 at 11:32

Just thought I'd update in case anyone else ever had this query; I went with a TP-Link TL-PA251KIT set in the end, and got a free TL-PA210 adapter as part of a promotion for buying the PA251 set. Got one in the same rooom as the router and NAS, one in this room where the PC is, and one in the living room connected to a TP-Link 5-port switch which feeds the TV, PS3, Xbox and SkyHD box.

All seems to be working flawlessly, just plugged it all in and the homeplugs connected to each other without any intervention on my part. Not sure what sort of speeds I'm getting as for some reason, the TP-Link software refuses to work on my system, but I've got no complaints. Streaming HD content between the PS3 and the NAS certainly seems just as good as it did when I had a direct connection to the router, so I'm very happy.