Want to get some Power over Ethernet boxes ...

martinturner

martinturner

martinturner

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... or is it Ethernet over power boxes?!?

Basically, wireless reception is poo in the house I live. I have wireless router in one bedroom, pc in second bedroom and media center downstairs. Also have a Wii downstairs which has a built in wireless adapter inside.

Have seen these netgear boxes on the overclockers site. Do I need one for each PC and also the router, or is this part of a kit?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-111-NG

Any help would be appreciated ... as to what to buy really. Does it mean the router will still stay in play for the Wii?

Many Thanks
 
strictly speaking the technology is known as 'powerline' or 'homeplug' as 'power over ethernet' is something really quite different.

you would need to place a homeplug/powerline unit into a socket next to the router and then connect its ethernet interface to a spare port on the router. you would then need another homeplug/poweline unit next to the pc in the adjacent bedroom and also one downstairs for the htpc. you will also, of course, need a wired ethernet card in those two machines too.

does the wii have a wired connection too, or just wireless? either way i suppose you have a couple of options. netgear do a version of their homeplug/poweline units that have a 4-port switch built into them so what you *could* do is use one of those downstairs in the lounge and have a nice speedy wired connection for the htpc and then either a wired connection for the wii if it is available or alternatively you could buy a wireless access point and connect that to the switch on the homeplug/powerline unit.

lots of possibilities, shout up if you want any further advice.
 
Thats fab, thanks for taking the time to reply.

I may wait a little while as it looks like it may amount up financially. I am presuming I can go half homeplug and half wireless and then get the one for the Media Center at a later date? Just spreads out the cost.
 
So long as you start with a pair of adapters (one to the router then one to each other ethernet device) you can add others as needed mixing whatever wired/wireless ports or connections your router can provide.

Unless you know you want to transfer big files or data streams around your internal netwrk then you should consider the cheaper slower 85 mbps models. They are more than good enough for gaming, internet access and tv in most houses and much much cheaper.
 
Great stuff! Thought that was the case. Also noticed the 85mbps ones are pretty good value. TBH, the main reason for me is that I do want to transfer larger files from main PC upstairs down to media center. I guess I could schedule the transfers and therefore not need the faster speed.

Thanks again guys! :)
 
Also another couple of things to bear in mind:

None of the devices work at anything close to their quoted speeds, the 85mbit ones will give you about 20Mbit or so effective throughput. I have a pair of the 200mbit rated ones and get about 45Mbit effective use out of them - somthing to bear in mind if you want to move large ammounts of data around :)

And AFAIK the Netgear ones use some chips in them that are not actually compliant with the Homeplug Alliance standards, i.e. aslong as you stick to just netgear you will be fine, although as more and more devices are probably going to come out with this stuff built in you might want to consider looking at some of the Devolo or Solwise branded ones.
 
sorry to hijack the thread but I am looking in to home plug system as well.



long story short I think home plug is the way to go. My biggest question really is.. how much latency does it add to your connection? Is it snappy and responsive like ethernet or are we talking add 5-6ms like wireless
 
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