Network over Mains Supply

My missus works for a large charity organisation, and needed to install a
network of approx 20 computers.
Unfortunately, the big old house is a listed building, so they cannot
install a network using cables.

They decided to use wireless, and spent a large amount of cash, only to find
that due the the thickness of the walls, the signal strength was useless for
many of the computers.

Has anybody installed a Mains Supply network, and if so, was it successful?
Where could they purchase the equipment (router and mains ethernet
converters) to supply 20 computers?

Regards, Darren

"mrjolly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1RPMb.2538$(E-Mail Removed)...
> My missus works for a large charity organisation, and needed to install a
> network of approx 20 computers.
> Unfortunately, the big old house is a listed building, so they cannot
> install a network using cables.
>
> They decided to use wireless, and spent a large amount of cash, only to
find
> that due the the thickness of the walls, the signal strength was useless
for
> many of the computers.
>
> Has anybody installed a Mains Supply network, and if so, was it
successful?
> Where could they purchase the equipment (router and mains ethernet
> converters) to supply 20 computers?

Try www.solwise.co.uk. They sell the kit and are pretty helpful.

Rgds

Andy R

"mrjolly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1RPMb.2538$(E-Mail Removed)...
> My missus works for a large charity organisation, and needed to install a
> network of approx 20 computers.
> Unfortunately, the big old house is a listed building, so they cannot
> install a network using cables.

I live in a listed building (only grade 2) and rewiring/cabling etc has
never been a problem. Are you certain they can't use a wired network, I
wouldn't have thought running trunking on the walls would cause any
problems. Maybe commercial properties have to meet different standards

As for wireless, I have problems with it here too (walls about 3 foot thick
stone in places). As they have already invested in wireless it could be
worth looking at extra APs, and just cabling between them.

It all really depends on the layout of the office

In article <bu20al$cno3i$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...
> "mrjolly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:1RPMb.2538$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > My missus works for a large charity organisation, and needed to install a
> > network of approx 20 computers.
> > Unfortunately, the big old house is a listed building, so they cannot
> > install a network using cables.
>
> I live in a listed building (only grade 2) and rewiring/cabling etc has
> never been a problem. Are you certain they can't use a wired network, I
> wouldn't have thought running trunking on the walls would cause any
> problems. Maybe commercial properties have to meet different standards
>
> As for wireless, I have problems with it here too (walls about 3 foot thick
> stone in places). As they have already invested in wireless it could be
> worth looking at extra APs, and just cabling between them.
>
> It all really depends on the layout of the office
>
>
>
We are just about to buy a grade2 listed building for our offices and
wired networking has been put through with no problems.
I'd double check with whichever department deals with listed buidlings
at your council offices to make sure that you can't do it.

Im going out on a limb here (as I know very little about wireless) but
isn't there something thats like a repeater that you can dot around
which just repeats the signal to the next nearest one until it reaches
the desktops???

"Andy R" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<bu0lvs$c66gl$(E-Mail Removed)>...

> Try www.solwise.co.uk. They sell the kit and are pretty helpful.
>

Fascinating!
I did some development on audio-over-mains in the 70's, using a 200KHz
carrier.
It was very difficult to get a decent signal to noise ratio between
adjacent buildings and worse if a sub-station was en route. A 500KHz
carrier faired better, with shorter range, about 50m max. The trouble
is that mains wiring is not twisted, though metal conduits help a lot,
and is full of switching noise which I reckon would cause innumerable
repeated packets to severely reduce the bandwidth.

On the Solwise pages, the "Neverwire 14" claims 14Mb/s on a
"4.3-20.9MHz" carrier with a range of 150ft.
Has anyone any real experience of this?

The 14Mbps is part of the "HomePlug" specification and there are several
manufacturers who make compatible products.
See this page :-
http://www.homeplug.org/products/index.html

Chris O
__________________________________________________ ________________


"Mike Yates" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ...
> "Andy R" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:<bu0lvs$c66gl$(E-Mail Removed)>...
>
> > Try www.solwise.co.uk. They sell the kit and are pretty helpful.
> >
>
> Fascinating!
> I did some development on audio-over-mains in the 70's, using a 200KHz
> carrier.
> It was very difficult to get a decent signal to noise ratio between
> adjacent buildings and worse if a sub-station was en route. A 500KHz
> carrier faired better, with shorter range, about 50m max. The trouble
> is that mains wiring is not twisted, though metal conduits help a lot,
> and is full of switching noise which I reckon would cause innumerable
> repeated packets to severely reduce the bandwidth.
>
> On the Solwise pages, the "Neverwire 14" claims 14Mb/s on a
> "4.3-20.9MHz" carrier with a range of 150ft.
> Has anyone any real experience of this?

"Adam Davies" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
> In article <bu20al$cno3i$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> says...
> > "mrjolly" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:1RPMb.2538$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > My missus works for a large charity organisation, and needed to
install a
> > > network of approx 20 computers.
> > > Unfortunately, the big old house is a listed building, so they cannot
> > > install a network using cables.
> >
> > I live in a listed building (only grade 2) and rewiring/cabling etc has
> > never been a problem. Are you certain they can't use a wired network, I
> > wouldn't have thought running trunking on the walls would cause any
> > problems. Maybe commercial properties have to meet different standards
> >
> > As for wireless, I have problems with it here too (walls about 3 foot
thick
> > stone in places). As they have already invested in wireless it could be
> > worth looking at extra APs, and just cabling between them.
> >
> > It all really depends on the layout of the office
> >
> >
> >
> We are just about to buy a grade2 listed building for our offices and
> wired networking has been put through with no problems.
> I'd double check with whichever department deals with listed buidlings
> at your council offices to make sure that you can't do it.
>
> Im going out on a limb here (as I know very little about wireless) but
> isn't there something thats like a repeater that you can dot around
> which just repeats the signal to the next nearest one until it reaches
> the desktops???

Cheers for the replies everyone.
My first thought was to get more access points, but given the apparent
diabolical performance, they would need them all over the place.
After further talks to the missus, it sounds more like somebody was keen on
the idea on wireless, and used the 'Listed Building' excuse as an excercise
in experimentation.
Looks like they may get some cables laid pretty sharpish.

Regards, Darren