Powerline networking tested

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

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After having moohoosive problems getting a decent wireless signal for my nephews 360 using the wireless adapter I thought i'd try the powerline plugs.

He's had problems with the wireless dropping for days in his bedroom and it was getting frustrating.

So after reading and talking to Gord I got him the 85 meg solwise ones to try. When you consider the price in store of a 360 wireless adapter it aint that much more.

Plugged them in and was literally all there was too it. Installed the software on the main pc just to see what strength they had. 80-82 meg. Literally little or no drop at all. This is in a 70's house so not brand new wiring.

In fact it was so good I cant see me bothering with wireless myself for much longer and what could be more secure.

Big thumbs up from me and solved a problem for a tenner more than the wireless adapter. :)
 
marmalade said:
No reason why they should not drop in price too!
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I didn't think the price was that bad. As I said I got two plugs for £32 each add postage and it was only marginally more expensive than a 360 adapter. The plugs have far more use as well. I imagine soon they will become cheap enough that wirelless won't even be that much of an option.
 
in a new house

this is quite easy if you have plaster board on stud walls to hide the cables behind.

unfortunatley in older houses it is nigh on impossible to hack out a channel in the plaster, bury the cable in that, and plaster over and still have it looking good.

unless you have a 90s house with stud walls, its not an option really.
 
Well, im renting.. so hitting the walls with cat5 wasnt an option for me.

I got the HD 200Meg ones, which seems to have bitten me in the bum a bit because your getting similar speeds to mine on yours.. i range from 120 to 80 Mbps. But still, i think having the constant reliable connection there is much better than wireless.. i hate wireless!
 
Caged said:
Cat5 in the walls is easy though :p

But messy.
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i have literraly JUST run cat5 around my house, after decieding 85mbits may not be enough and 200mbit is too expensive.

Well it only cost £25 including all tools (18v cordless hammer drill, long 8mm drill but, cable, rj45 ends,crimper and cable holder thingymagigs) so at least i am quids in.
 
gord said:
Well, im renting.. so hitting the walls with cat5 wasnt an option for me.

I got the HD 200Meg ones, which seems to have bitten me in the bum a bit because your getting similar speeds to mine on yours.. i range from 120 to 80 Mbps. But still, i think having the constant reliable connection there is much better than wireless.. i hate wireless!
Click to expand...

Well i'm about 10 feet above my wireless router using the 360. With the wireless adapter. Full signal strength, yet still its logged me out twice today.

When I get some free cash myself I will buy the 200 meg plugs or test the 85meg ones I got my nephew in my house.
 
Cat6 for the win ;)

Less flexible which means its not likely to kink and therefore fall fowl in speed.

To be honest, I could run a network of cat6 in the house (even though I just built the damn thing) but I can't see the need as it's a small bungalow and I have 1 laptop on wireless.

Suppose more and more things will go networked, but as Caged said.. if you have stud walls (which I do) then it's a simple case of tying one end of the cable to a piece of sting and pulling it down behind the plaster then terminating the ends ;)
 
Obvious question perhaps but if you want to connect multiple PCs to say a router, would you need 2 adapters and plugs for each computer, or could you say plug in one ethernet connection on the router, and then plug 3 other computers into thier own jack, and they'd all get assigned different IPs etc but would share the bandwidth of the one router jack, as though they were connected to a hub/switch?

Also, is this comparable to wired in terms of latency, reliable (low signal loss, no signal droppage) etc (obviously the bandwidth is lower).
Sorry about the questions, the final one, is ofc, how does the throughput compare of 85/200Mbps Homeplugs to 54Mbps wireless (which seems to have pathetic throughput) in Real world use?

The reason Im interested is:
A) Im using Belkin Wireless router and lets just say the own brand stuff is pretty pap, the 125Mbps cards are slow and have pathetic range, my current Buffalo 54MBps beats them hands down {I still connect to the router placed in the garage with 24-48MBps and average to good signal, the Belkin card in my dad's pc which is CLOSER cant even FIND the network to connect}
B) The master socket for my ADSL connection in the garage is capable of syncing at 4700-5200 Kbps, whereas once I add the extension cables, due to signal loss, its invariably down to 3400-3900, and I'd rather not lose 100KBps of download rate, as the 4700 minimum gives me a 4.5Meg line, whereas the extensioned version varies between 2.5-3.5, bit of a difference when its being used by several PCs at once.
 
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Don't forget powerline networking is susceptible to compromise by other households on the same circuit. So remember the encryption.
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Obvious question perhaps but if you want to connect multiple PCs to say a router, would you need 2 adapters and plugs for each computer, or could you say plug in one ethernet connection on the router, and then plug 3 other computers into thier own jack, and they'd all get assigned different IPs etc but would share the bandwidth of the one router jack, as though they were connected to a hub/switch?

Each device needs its own plug, so the router only needs one, i believe they share bandwidth just like any network thats using a central hub, if you're streaming Hi-Def video down one computer it'll affect the speed of the nwtwork as a whole.

Also, is this comparable to wired in terms of latency, reliable (low signal loss, no signal droppage) etc (obviously the bandwidth is lower).
Sorry about the questions, the final one, is ofc, how does the throughput compare of 85/200Mbps Homeplugs to 54Mbps wireless (which seems to have pathetic throughput) in Real world use?

I've used it for over a year with 100% reliability, using 85Mpbs plugs i get a steady rate of around 50, not sure how that compares to wireless in reality, i just know that my gf sits in the same room on her laptop and complains at least twice a week that the wireless has disconnected, while i sit there enjoying my uninterrupted bliss :p
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Thanks for the answers there, Chimaera. If anyone can give any sort of indication to throughput in comparison to wireless that'd be highly helpful :)
Divx, mp3/file sharing, and internet/gaming is the only really useage it gets, so 40-80mbps solid reliably should be more than enough, especially if the throughput is at least 2/3MBps :)

Thought of one more questions (sorry), but do these things need thier own wall socket, or do they run just as fast/reliably on an extension
(ie the 2m cable 1 socket to 6 adaptors)?
 
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