Powerline Networking

[applesseed]

I'd like some opinions what you think about Powerline Networking. Is it good/bad. Pros and Cons. I'm thinking of connecting my home network via Powerline. Anything to watch out for and what is a good brand to go with. Thanks!

 

[Lord Evermore]

It works. It's expensive. It's slow and Ethernet is better overall. But no need to run new wires. Also look at phoneline network kits if you have jacks conveniently placed.

 

[applesseed]

How about Wireless network. Is that faster/better than having cables going through room to room? I have 2 Desktops and a Notebook all running XP.

 

[rw120555]

Wireless is the most popular choice right now but doesn't work well in all environments. You might consider something like this if you want wireless but can't get good enough reception:

Power-Line Networking Leverages Wireless

 

[cmetz]

People go to great lengths to avoid running wires, and for the most part, in my opinion, it's foolish. You'll spend the same order of magnitude $$ to run cat5 cables and use wired Ethernet as you'd spend to do powerline networking, phoneline networking, or wireless (okay, wireless is getting dirt cheap fast, so the cost really is cheaper now). And for that, you get a slower, less reliable solution that probably doesn't have a future.

You're best off running the cables. They'll carry you quite reliably up to 1000BaseT, which should keep you happy for many years. The alternatives should basically only be used when running cables really truly isn't an option (and sometimes, it just isn't). Among the alternatives, I agree with the previous posters - go wireless. The simple reason is scale - it's easily available, cheap, multi-vendor, and mostly debugged now. That's not to say it's necessarily a technically better solution, but that following the market has some advantages that outweigh a lot of the technical factors.

 

[Pulsar]

Not foolish.

For instance, I have my house wired with cat5 to the rooms that need it. But recently, I had a lan party. What did I have to do? Drag my router from the attic to the basement, because obviously no one room is going to have 15 wall jacks for 15 different computers.

Had I gone wireless (and most all of the computers that were brought had wireless cards already), it would have been as simple as plugging the computers into the powerstrips.

Wireless is FAR more flexible than cat5.

 

[rw120555]

It isn't like these are mutually exclusive choices though. You can add a WAP to a wired backbone. For that matter, there is nothing that keeps you from using ethernet, wireless, phoneline, and powerline all at the same time.

People like me who have no useful skills are attracted to the options which do not require wiring. But, I was very glad when we were able to add a lot of wired jacks when we did some remodeling. If you are unwilling or unable to do it yourself, it may be worthwhile to get an estimate from someone who can handle it. It doesn't matter much for internet, but sharing files between machines is much better with a wired connection. But, wireless is great for laptops, and I still use some of my old phoneline stuff in places where I don't have jacks.

 

[JackMDS]

In general, PowerLine Network is a loser, and there technological reasons for it (problems with the terrible spikes that are generated on the 110VAC lines).

However, when the dream house (ala Mr. Gates) will be prevalent, it will be the way to make the Washing Machines, Refrigerators, and Hair Salons instant Networked (It will be too expensive, and unnecessary to do it with Ethernet).

So the industry tries to keep it alive until the "Dream Machines" become a reality (and mean time takes few suckers for a ride).

P.S. Actually rw120555 is right the phone lines are better as a Wred Non CAT5 solution for LAN (but unfortunately they are dying too).