1MB or 10MB Phoneline Network System ???

[BigLance]

Hey guys,

Got a slight problem, can't decide. The 1MB Cards are so cheap but are pretty slow, I dont know what to do. Are the 10MB versions really 10 times the speed of the slower cards, granted neither one will function at its rated speed, but you know what I mean ?

It would be mostly used for gaming and ISP sharing... and a tad of file sharing here and there.... What do you guys think, 1MB ok or 10MB neccessary ?

Thanks for helping !

BTW, cards would probably be Intel or Linksys if that matters, and, is there a limit on how far they will work- they would all be on same line obviously but one of the machines would be in a different house like 1/4 mile away..... ?

 

[dawks]

Well, with 10MB (I am assuming 10MBit), It works out to about 1.25meg/sec. Thats under perfect conditions so assume transfers around 1meg per second over the network. Now 1Mbit, works out to 125k/sec.. or under normal conditions, about 100-110k/sec.. Its still pretty fast.. both will work fine for gaming, file sharing, print sharing.. anything you'd probably do.. Its up to you really.. cost over speed.. I broke down the numbers for you, now choose

 

[OS]

I have a 1mbit phoneline network at home and it sucks ass. Consider it unusable for file transfers. It works fine for gaming and ISP sharing (assuming that the 1mbit network is not the bottleneck). I recall tests for 10 mbit showing that they run at speeds very close the the advertised number.

 

[Jeff H]

BigLance, I can only offer you anecdotal evidence. I recently installed a 10mbps phone line kit (Diamond HomeFree), mainly for file and printer sharing. I can transfer a 2.5MB file between machines in approximately four seconds. And, printing from the remote computer is no different, time-wise, than from the main computer. I haven't done any internet sharing, as due to the way I'm hooked up I have some issues to resolve. Nor can I give you any experience re gaming.

 

[rmblam]

For the money why not use 10/100 cards and cat5 rj-45? I suppose if line installation is an issue, but you should be able to work around that. Poke a few holes here and there to run the line then patch em up with wall plates. I am handy (just ask my wife ) so this is no big deal to me. Maybe not to others.

Many 10/100 cards can be had for $15 and rj-45 is dirt cheap all over the net. I have used several NIC's and my latest are the Netgear fa310tx and fa311. I have used the Linsksys and it works just peachy but it has a bad fit into the slot. Try and install one and you'll see what I mean. The dam things are too long by a hair. The D-link is another decent NIC.

All of these are very affordable but you will need to configure them. The Home phoneline kits usually contain Wingate or some configuration utility.

E-mail me and I can walk you though it or post here. There are a lot of very qualified people here to help.

 

[BigLance]

Well I Dont knee help Networking, Im a CISCO student and have been setting up LANs for a few years now, and your right, running a Cat 5 network would be ideal and much faster/cheaper but see I really cant get the cables in the wall now and the biggest problem is wiring my brothers house- we own a total of 80 acres, I have 20, my bro has 20 and my parents 40. His house is almost 1/2 mile away, cat 5 wont go that far :-(

I'm thinking that maybe the phoneline systems will since its all the same line...... ???

Anyway, thanks for your help everyone....

 

[Sukhoi]

Do you and your brother both have the same phone number? Even if you are, I'd be hesitant about the signal running 1/2 mile on a phone line.

 

[Usul]

If you have all those you can afford to go over fiber optics...

 

[Sukhoi]

I dunno where the heck you can find NICs (and even the cable) anymore, but doesn't the special yellow coax stuff go 500 meters or something like that?

 

[LordSandMan]

When your gaming the thing to keep in mind is latency. You should have plenty of bandwidth for gaming with either solution. Also keep in mind that needs change pretty rapidly in the computer world. What if a year down the road you want to start transfering files. I think I would take a closer look at fiber optic or wireless. I don't think wireless is too expensive if your going less than 5 miles. Fiber might be a little bit cheaper, but then you still have to bury it. Also if it isn't quite a half mile thicknet might do it. Ya, I know it's old, but it still works, and you can probably pick the harware up pretty cheap.

Also check out this. You probably already know it though.

Edit-ok, apparently Techweb doesn't want you linking directly. Go to Techweb Encyclopedia.
Search for "ethernet". This will give you the distances different cable types can run.

 

[Eug]

Well, I'm not a Cisco student but I'd be surprised if you get any useful connection with a 1/2 mile run on HomePNA. They're only supposed to be used up to 150 metres. But I'll ignore that for now.

As you know, 1 Mbps is useless for file sharing. But I do get close to that speed as advertised on HomePNA (My DSL maxes out at just over 900 Kbps and I get full DSL speeds.) The review sites are getting about 6 Mbps on HomePNA 2. It's not as if the HomePNA cards cost much more though... only 40 bux nowadays.

 

[BigLance]

Yea, you guys are right, it would be stupid to buy the slow cards now, his house isn't quite finished - just got done paiting it so by the time its finished I'll plenty of green for the faster cards.........besides, I think he needs to buy the one for his machine, any my Mom will buy the one for hers, so that only leaves me with 3 computers to update..............

thanks for your input everyone !