Some advice if you mayyy

tcody

tcody

tcody

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30 Dec 2008
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My house has been linked up with a terrible wireless N network which can barely make it through one ceiling.
I have Wireless G extenders to help but enough is enough as the signal drops and its just a mess really. Must have some serious insulation.

Anyway I now want to try powerline, and although I wont be getting it from OC I was wondering if you could advise me on the best.

The major question I have is, can I plug one of my extenders into one of the powerline adaptors to create a wireless network on each floor?
Or do I have to buy the overpriced adapters that do it automatically.
Also there's no point in getting a 300mbps adapter when I'm going wireless right? Am better off with the 85mbps kit?

Any advice would be appreciated..
 
Yes you can plug any ethernet device into the powerline adaptors.

You would be better getting the faster ones as the power line side of things will work like a hub. Thus the bandwidth will be shared by all access points connected to it. If hosts are connected to more than one access point you should allow for at least 40mbit per access point. 85mbps units would be maxed out to deliver this meaning you have 0 room for expansion beyond 2 access points. The 200Mbps units would be better for you.
 
Ahh perfect, thank you.
Does that not mean though that I can get the 200mbps kit and use 85 adapters. 200 will then go into the electric circuit, as you said, and then Ill be taking 54 out of each (max of wireless G attached). Cheaper than kitting the house in 200 adapters? or will that not work?
 
Nope, you can't mix and match speeds the same as a legacy ethernet hub.

The kits arn't necessarily compatible if they're all 200meg either. there's no universal standard yet for powerline so you're best getting them all from the same manufacturer to ensure they use the same chipset/comms protocol.
You shoudln't need that many as spreading your access points sensibly should give decent coverage. remember to use non-overlapping channels on the access points too.
 
Ah okay, thank you very much, I'll be using one on each floor as the ceilings appear to be lead lined! I will be testing just one for now from the router to the top of the house.
Do you have an opinion between devolo, netgear and belkin? (The three in stock)
Belkin certainly look the best :p
 
I've never used the kit so not really. My experience with belkin networking gear is the consumer grade stuff is poor. however this is based mostly on wireless devices and Switches. Lots of people seem to go for the Devolo ones.
Most reviews on the net are written by muppets who have no idea what they're on about but in this instance you have little choice but to check out the reviews for each.
 
Sorry Skidilliplop forgot one main question. My house is wired so there are four rings connected (A ring per floor), is this likely to cause issues, or is this perfectly acceptable?
Wasn't sure on the manufactures page whether it should all be on one ring, which seemed obscure to me, or commonly like my house, on separate rings all linked.
 
I would think it would be fine. I don't know any houses that have one ring main for everything. Most houses have at least 4, upstairs mains, downstairs mains, and up/downstairs lighting main. I'd have throught if they were that limited they'd be somewhat pointless.
 
Skidilliplop said:
I would think it would be fine. I don't know any houses that have one ring main for everything. Most houses have at least 4, upstairs mains, downstairs mains, and up/downstairs lighting main. I'd have throught if they were that limited they'd be somewhat pointless.
Click to expand...

Yeah agreed, would be pretty pointless.

Thanks again for your help, am off to buy some!
 
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