Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Hey all, I'm new here.
Was just wondering if anyone on here uses Homeplugs to network in the home.
Was thinking of trying them to hook up two pc's and the xbox 360 so the question is: Are they any good? What sort of price should i be paying? I've seen a load on line but they vary from £45 - £145, how much did you pay for yours and was it a worthwile investment?
Cheers:confused:

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Welcome to the forum :welcome:

It seems to be you get what you pay for, after reading a review in a Webuser I would be inclined to go for a high speed top end spec set..

Like these..

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Do they have to be on the same circuit? - I was under the impression they need to be on the same ring to work, so if your upstairs sockets are on a different ring main / breaker to your downstairs one, there's no connection? - or am I wrong/stupid?

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Do you really want us to answer that? (Hint: think very carefully before answering) :D

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Hmm... good point...

---------- Post added at 13:23 ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 ----------

Anyone? - as this is what has stopped me getting some of these, and relying on (flaky) wireless - if someone can clarify that would be great..

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Yes, they work brilliantly. I have one near my router, and others in the rest of the house and garage.

I don't think they need to be on the same ring, but they won't work beyond your electricity meter. There is also a degradation of signal over distance, but this is probably only important if you live in a stately home.

A useful article can be found here: http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-intro.htm

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

MLM,
Not used it my self, but afaik this isn't a problem.
eg the Wiki page points out
which implies the signal will go beyond your fuse box.

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

From http://www.im2web.co.uk/Homeplugs.htm:

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Ok, another probably daft question - can I run the network cable from one of these homeplugs into a standard network hub - and run several machines off there - I don't need a 'homeplug' hub or soemthing, do i?

---------- Post added at 15:01 ---------- Previous post was at 14:24 ----------

also how do they deal with powersurges?

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Yes you can mine goes via an 8 port belkin switch without any issues.

No idea not had one and i'd rather not thanks.
Although they don't like the surge protectors they have to be on an unprotected socket

I have a pair of the Zyxel 85mbit/s ones.

Although I might swap them for some 200mbit/s adaptors (which aren't homeplug but some other powerline standard :( ) since i'm thinking of getting BT vision and i think it comes with a couple in the box or so i've heard.

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

ok, all things being well I shall go and get some today.

...and if they don't work as expected, you're all in a _lot_ of trouble :)

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

if you buy them online you have distance selling you can try them and if they do not do as you wish send them back and just lose postage.

Ive set up a few networks using these and think first posted about them some 2 years ago or more maybe :)

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

gonna pop down to maplins see if they have them

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

mlm let me know how that went after a powersurge :) would love to know if this is save cuz then I might be tempted with it.

Re: Homeplugs - Any Good?
 

Someone on the newsgroups at work said they had theirs on a surge protected extension lead and it was working fine.