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Thumbs up for powerline networking
Posted 04-12-09 at 03:53 PM by Ian
Tags lan, networking, powerline, wifi
About ten years ago I can remember first writing about a new networking technology that used electricity cabling instead of conventional network cables, or even wireless transmission. It has become known as 'powerline' networking.
I can hear some of you mumbling; I have wireless, so why would I need powerline networking. Well, I was of much the same opinion. Of course I recognised that wireless wasn't always going to be a suitable solution to all; especially people with large houses or in dwellings where the walls are very thick, blocking out the normal performance of wifi networks.
Our house is not large and nor does it have especially thick walls. But for historical reasons, our broadband connection comes in via an upstairs room at the front of the house, pretty much as far as you can get from where most of us need to receive our wifi signal, at the other end of the house. Most of the time, we had no problems, but just occasionally the wifi used to get in to sulky periods and everything got rather flakey and un-cooperative. We also have a wireless connected printer. With two daughters desperate to print their homework, a temperamental wireless network is no help at all.
So what has this to do with powerline networking? I certainly wasn't going to trade in our wireless LAN for a powerline one. Far from it. Instead, and inspired by a powerline solution at Julia's parents' place, I realised that a simple powerline point to point bridge could enable me to relocate our wireless router to a central location, downstairs. The cable modem remained where it was in the upstairs room, but the wireless router moved downstairs, connected to the modem through our mains electricity wiring, courtesy of a pair of powerline ethernet bridge adapters.
I installed everything today and it has transformed everything. The network is now much more resilient. The wireless printer works first time, every time, and I can now even browse and watch Internet TV when I'm in the kitchen, cooking
. Our kitchen is actually an extension and there were two hefty walls in the way of the signal when the wireless router was upstairs. Now there is only one wall, but the router is a good 20 feet closer, and I get 4/5 bars even in the kitchen, as opposed to 1/5 before.
At Julia's parents' the problem was slightly different. They have two desktop PCs, but they are at opposite ends of the house (which is larger than ours). The modem router was sited between the two, connected to the master phone socket via an extension. To cut a long story short, phone line quality problems for several years were finally diagnosed by BT engineers as an old and rather illegal installation of the extension that the modem router was connected to. The extension had to come out, and the solution was to move it to where the master phone socket was situated, next to one of the PCs, as it happened, then connect that Pc directly via ethernet cable to the router, and the second PC was connected using a powerline ethernet bridge. In this case, there was no more need for the PCs to be wirelessly networked at all. However, the wireless aspect of the router remains so that visiting friends and relatives can use it if they need to.
So the moral of the story is, if you have some networking issues in your home or small office, powerline networking could be a surprisingly useful catalyst to an improved LAN.
I can hear some of you mumbling; I have wireless, so why would I need powerline networking. Well, I was of much the same opinion. Of course I recognised that wireless wasn't always going to be a suitable solution to all; especially people with large houses or in dwellings where the walls are very thick, blocking out the normal performance of wifi networks.
Our house is not large and nor does it have especially thick walls. But for historical reasons, our broadband connection comes in via an upstairs room at the front of the house, pretty much as far as you can get from where most of us need to receive our wifi signal, at the other end of the house. Most of the time, we had no problems, but just occasionally the wifi used to get in to sulky periods and everything got rather flakey and un-cooperative. We also have a wireless connected printer. With two daughters desperate to print their homework, a temperamental wireless network is no help at all.
So what has this to do with powerline networking? I certainly wasn't going to trade in our wireless LAN for a powerline one. Far from it. Instead, and inspired by a powerline solution at Julia's parents' place, I realised that a simple powerline point to point bridge could enable me to relocate our wireless router to a central location, downstairs. The cable modem remained where it was in the upstairs room, but the wireless router moved downstairs, connected to the modem through our mains electricity wiring, courtesy of a pair of powerline ethernet bridge adapters.
I installed everything today and it has transformed everything. The network is now much more resilient. The wireless printer works first time, every time, and I can now even browse and watch Internet TV when I'm in the kitchen, cooking
. Our kitchen is actually an extension and there were two hefty walls in the way of the signal when the wireless router was upstairs. Now there is only one wall, but the router is a good 20 feet closer, and I get 4/5 bars even in the kitchen, as opposed to 1/5 before.At Julia's parents' the problem was slightly different. They have two desktop PCs, but they are at opposite ends of the house (which is larger than ours). The modem router was sited between the two, connected to the master phone socket via an extension. To cut a long story short, phone line quality problems for several years were finally diagnosed by BT engineers as an old and rather illegal installation of the extension that the modem router was connected to. The extension had to come out, and the solution was to move it to where the master phone socket was situated, next to one of the PCs, as it happened, then connect that Pc directly via ethernet cable to the router, and the second PC was connected using a powerline ethernet bridge. In this case, there was no more need for the PCs to be wirelessly networked at all. However, the wireless aspect of the router remains so that visiting friends and relatives can use it if they need to.
So the moral of the story is, if you have some networking issues in your home or small office, powerline networking could be a surprisingly useful catalyst to an improved LAN.
Total Comments 5
Comments
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Thanks for this feedback Ian. We have problems at home even though we only have two desktops not a million miles apart. Mine is hardwired and John's, is wi-fi via a router. His seems to have real problems staying online with any consistancy. Maybe we should look into the powerline option more seriously. Do you know if there are several manufacturers and any pros/cons between them?
Cheers,
joPosted 04-12-09 at 05:26 PM by jojo 
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Jo, how far is John's computer from the wireless router and are there any walls in the way? Is it a laptop of a desktop PC?
Posted 07-12-09 at 10:12 AM by Ian
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About 15ft across the room and one floor up (directly at the top of a straight up staircase). We both have desktops and the router is a Netgear 108 mbps Super Wireless. John's computer drops its connection constantly.Quote:Originally Posted by Ian
Jo, how far is John's computer from the wireless router and are there any walls in the way? Is it a laptop of a desktop PC?Posted 09-12-09 at 07:02 AM by jojo
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I once stayed in a posh house in Germany that had granite floors, even upstairs! But if your house is fairly UK-conventional, with wooden floors and joists, I can't see that the arrangement you have between upstairs and downstairs challenging the wireless comms. It's possible that the wifi adapter on the PC upstairs is faulty. I have had a couple go wrong in the past, usually USB ones. What make and model of wireless router do you have?
Posted 09-12-09 at 04:52 PM by Ian
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Very conventional. Circa 1860!Quote:Originally Posted by Ian
But if your house is fairly UK-conventional....
Netgear 108 Mbps Super Wireless ADSL Modem Router DG834GT - does this help?Quote:Originally Posted by Ian
What make and model of wireless router do you have?Posted 09-12-09 at 05:01 PM by jojo
