Ethernet over the mains supply

Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices

speckled hen wrote:

> Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
> 240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
> Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices

Yes, I used a pair of them at my Son's house where wireless was too
unpredictable, and cabling was not an option.

I used Solwise 14Mbps units. There is a faster standard now, but the ones I
used are OK for his needs. (Extending Internet to a bedroom.) They have
proved perfectly reliable over 12+ months.

Pros:
They just plug in and work. Software to monitor the connection is supplied,
but I never used it.

Cons:
Expensive compared to cabling. Slow if you need to transfer big files. They
will not work from one house to another, even if the houses are on the same
phase.

<pedant mode>

Domestic supply voltage in the UK should be described as 230V.

</>

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On 12/01/2007 in message <0PQph.15433$(E-Mail Removed)> Chris
Whelan wrote:

>Domestic supply voltage in the UK should be described as 230V.

Why? My incoming mains is 239.50 Volts.

--
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those
who don't.

On 12 Jan 2007, "speckled hen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
>240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
>Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices

Two of my friends are using them, bought from different sources.

As has been said, cost is one thing against, but to give it fair
comparison, I suppose it also depends how costly it would be to re-
decorate rooms after cabling is put in via attic (in one case there
were three adaptors to allow internet access to be provided from one
room to two other rooms, where all were on the same floor but there
would be some lengthy cable runs, and it would also have needed to
be changed later, which was not needed using power adaptor method).

In the other case, cable would have been cheap but unwelcome as it'd
have been a run from the bedroom/"home office" down to the room with
the master socket - the dining room.

With the benefit of hindsight, I'd now recommend buying a router
from Solwise (one of the Billion models, I think) which already
has the powerline adaptor on it, as the extra cost is low IMO.

Jeff Gaines wrote:

> On 12/01/2007 in message <0PQph.15433$(E-Mail Removed)> Chris
> Whelan wrote:
>
>>Domestic supply voltage in the UK should be described as 230V.
>
> Why? My incoming mains is 239.50 Volts.
>

The dreaded EU Harmonisation.

http://users.metro2000.net/~purwinc/seec2_2.htm

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On 12/01/2007 in message <jLTph.38842$(E-Mail Removed)> Chris
Whelan wrote:

>The dreaded EU Harmonisation.
>
>http://users.metro2000.net/~purwinc/seec2_2.htm


Bastards, pinched 10 of our volts now!

--
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those
who don't.

Jeff Gaines wrote:

> On 12/01/2007 in message <jLTph.38842$(E-Mail Removed)> Chris
> Whelan wrote:
>
>>The dreaded EU Harmonisation.
>>
>>http://users.metro2000.net/~purwinc/seec2_2.htm
>
>
> Bastards, pinched 10 of our volts now!
>

LOL!

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
speckled hen <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
>240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
>Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices
>


As others have said, they work straight out of the box. But mine only
work at a tenth of the speed of the stated capacity despite modern
wiring and no unusual appliances in my home. This is okay using my
broadband internet connection but hopeless for normal LAN use.

Cheers
--
Kevin

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:53:48 GMT, in uk.comp.home-networking, Chris Whelan
wrote:

>speckled hen wrote:
>
>> Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
>> 240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
>> Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices
>
>Yes, I used a pair of them at my Son's house where wireless was too
>unpredictable, and cabling was not an option.
>
>I used Solwise 14Mbps units. There is a faster standard now, but the ones I
>used are OK for his needs. (Extending Internet to a bedroom.) They have
>proved perfectly reliable over 12+ months.
>
>Pros:
>They just plug in and work. Software to monitor the connection is supplied,
>but I never used it.
>
>Cons:
>Expensive compared to cabling. Slow if you need to transfer big files. They
>will not work from one house to another, even if the houses are on the same
>phase.

You can get faster units though. I take your point, on my wired network
transfer between PCs is very fast. Still, I think I'm going down this
route too, I don't want to cable and I have DECT phones that might
interfere with wireless.

Doug
--
Doug Weller --
A Director and Moderator of The Hall of Ma'at http://www.hallofmaat.com
Doug's Archaeology Site: http://www.ramtops.co.uk
Amun - co-owner/co-moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amun/

"speckled hen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Has anyone tried/used/tested any of these devices that use the home
> 240v wiring. I think some of the names are "powerline and home plug"
> Just wanted to know the pros and cons with using these devices
>
I returned mine after I could not get them to work on different ring mains
in the same house. To a socket a few yards away, fine; but to the other end
of the house, on a different fuse on the consumer unit, nothing. Would have
been great if it worked, but buy from somewhere you can return to if
necessary.

I ended up paying someone to do a professional job of installing a run of
CAT5 cable for not much more than the cost of the units.

Chris R