Powerline HomePlug networking

Jacquesb · 06-01-2007, 13:21

Maplin have a pair of 14Mbps homeplugs on sale offer at ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£49.99 which seems to be as good a deal as I could find at present. I purchased a set; worked straight out of the box, the only issue I had was with MAC address filtering on the Belkin wireless router but when I added the Ethernet card's MAC to that list it was fine.

I am a bit confused about speeds though: I have 2Mb unlimited broadband from ntl coming in to a cable modem with a Belkin 54G (54Mbps ?) wireless router providing wireless internet access to a tablet, a couple of laptops and a desktop with wired access for another desktop and printer. I plan to use the powerline setup for one of the desktops (as the router is being moved and the signal will only get worse) but it is rated at 14Mbps. Will I have any speed / access issues, for example, watching videos on YouTube or Google or on file downloads.

What file download speed should I expect with 2Mb BB ?

Thanks in advance
J

06-01-2007, 13:24

No as your internet is only 2 meg shared. The 14 meg will relate to data transfers between computers on the network.This is quite slow seeing as newer pcs have a gigabit ethernet and older ones have T base 100 but if you dont intend to do a lot a file transfering it will be fine

TheNorm · 06-01-2007, 14:28

Like Mr Zinglebarb said, plus the only way to acheive maximum speed is via a direct ethernet cable link.

Well done on your purchase, a very wise move in my opinion!

07-01-2007, 10:58

Any chance of a link Jacquesb ?, wouldnt mind have a look at these myself.

[EDIT] I found 'em.. Im assuming then with something like this, you wouldnt need to run ethernet cable between each point ?

07-01-2007, 11:04

50 quid a pair is about the going rate http://www.homeplugshop.co.uk/acatalog/14Mbps.html

http://www.homeplugs.co.uk/acatalog/...HomePlugs.html

http://www.shopmagenta.com/category/383.aspx?refer=2001

---------- Post added at 11:04 ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slyder

Any chance of a link Jacquesb ?, wouldnt mind have a look at these myself.

[EDIT] I found 'em.. Im assuming then with something like this, you wouldnt need to run ethernet cable between each point ?

thats right the mains does it

TheNorm · 07-01-2007, 11:44

If you want more speed, Solwise have some 85 Mbps devices at ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£32.39 each - see http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline.htm. The same page also has the results of an interesting comparison (Homeplug vs 54g Wifi test).

07-01-2007, 12:06

interesting link

I wouldnt recommend going faster than 14Mbps unless your gonna move big files

TheNorm · 07-01-2007, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

...I wouldnt recommend going faster than 14Mbps unless your gonna move big files

Why is that? Are you afraid of "dual-core meltdown" or something?

07-01-2007, 12:30

cuz its a waste of money lol

Jacquesb · 08-01-2007, 09:26

Here is the link to Maplin's Homeplugs - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...meplug&doy=8m1

---------- Post added at 09:26 ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 ----------

Hi Slyder

You need an ethernet cable from the PC to the power socket and another from the router/mode/whatever to the power socket. The saving is not having to run a cable from the router to the PC. But that's what WiFi does ? yes, when you can guarantee a decent signal !

Cheers, J

08-01-2007, 10:29

The maplins price is not particulary cheap though

Salu · 28-10-2008, 19:50

I've got a pair of these..

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/741012

Transferring files back and forth though is very slow. Vista tells me that it's 2mb/s. I wasn't expecting anything near 85MB but would have hoped for a bit better than this. I've set it up correctly I think, ie not using extension cords or surge protectors. The config utility doesn't work on Vista....It's on the same ring main.

Any ideas?

TheNorm · 28-10-2008, 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salu

I've got a pair of these.. ...Any ideas?

This review article says they work as they should:

http://www.pcchecker.co.uk/forum/vie...f=55&t=56&p=84

Perhaps one of your units is faulty?

Salu · 29-10-2008, 10:10

What's the best way of measuring the speed? I copied a large file and then clicked on "more details" in Vista's copy dialogue....(both PCs are Vista SP1 as I am aware of the filoe transfer issues before SP1)

danielf · 29-10-2008, 10:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNorm

This review article says they work as they should:

http://www.pcchecker.co.uk/forum/vie...f=55&t=56&p=84

Perhaps one of your units is faulty?

That's odd, because as far as I know, the 85 Mbps rated units don't give you a effective throughput of 20 odd Mbps due to the high overhead of the homeplug protocol. Mine don't anyway

2Mbps seems very low though...

Salu: Are you sure that the units you have are 8Mbps, and not the cheaper/earlier 14 Mbps units?