[sclug] Power line ethernet tips

[Dr A. J. Trickett]

On Sunday 17 May 2009, David Given wrote:
> I'm currently using wireless to allow the two main computers in my house
> to talk to each other. This works, most of the time, but it's unreliable
> and slow and is generally a pain to use.
>
> As an alternative to plumbing in Cat-5, I see that mains ethernet
> widgets are now moderately cheap. They claim to do between 85Mbps and
> 200Mbps depending on the brand, which is way better than the 11Mbps
> wireless networking, and I get to avoid the horror of wireless driver
> configuration (because they all use ethernet to talk to the outside
> world). (I also see that Newlink do a combination mains networking and
> wireless access point, which looks like a rather good idea.)
>
> Does anyone have any experience of these? For example, do you get
> anywhere close to the rated speeds? Are the different brands
> interoperable? Am I going to be broadcasting my intranet to all the
> houses on my street? Any recommended/disrecommended brands?

I've used the Devolo dLAN 200AV units without any problem, work like a charm. 
I believe they had been replaced with the 200AVeasy (or something similar). 
Not the cheapest on the market but they do work.

They are a hub architecture so the 200 connection is shared with every 
computer and in each direction. If you throw in overhead (more with 
encryption) then it's nearly equivalent to 100Mb ethernet between two 
computers. If you have more computers or lots of noise on the mains then the 
bandwidth drops off quite sharply.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Adam Trickett
Overton, HANTS, UK

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
	-- Albert Einstein
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