Convincing a home user to consider HomePlug as a home-network option

Have any of you had difficulty convincing a home user to look at a HomePlug powerline network as part of their home network? This also includes using one of these kits to link a desktop computer, printer, Blu-Ray player, smart TV or similar device to the home network rather than using Wi-Fi wireless whether through integrated Wi-Fi connectivity or a Wi-FI adaptor, for this purpose.

This is more so as I come across a lot of chain stores who sell computer equipment and accessories where the network products lineup in these stores is more about Wi-Fi range extenders and just a handful of powerline network kits including, perbaps one or two kits that have an access point. The powerline network kits are usually hard to discover and customers aren't made aware of these devices.

Personally I am very skeptical about the wireless network extenders because of the reduced bandwidth they offer to ther remote area and there was a situation that I came across where a friend of mine tried one of these devices to no avail and returned it to the store.

I have written an article on my HomeNetworking01.info blog (http://homenetworking01.info/2014/0...erline-networking-in-your-home-network-setup/) about not forgetting about this technology as far as your home network is concerned. Here, I highlighted the reality that consumers face when they want to set up or bring devices on to their network and I pitched HomePlug AV as a complementary measure that can work alongside wireless and, if you have done it, wired-in Ethernet.

Use this thread to open up your experiences with convincing others about integrating this technology in to your home network's technology mix and how they took on the idea and whether they saw it as being successful.

With regards,

Simon Mackay

I would be the first to convince them to not do it with powerline networking kits. But I also feel just as strongly about wireless extenders too.

At least not until every other option has been thoroughly exhausted.

Why would I recommend a solution that makes the network throughput dependent on the way they use other (non-related) appliances, power tools and electronics? And at the same time drops the actual performance to below (and sometimes much below) 50Mbps and in an inconsistent fashion?

I never needed more than a router and a switch to cover every thing in the house and outside patios, garage, etc. You must be talking about a BIGGER than average house. My family lives in fully developed(basement to loft) 2 story house with things on every floor, ~2600 sq. ft. Home theater. weather station, laptops, iPADs, desktops, Macbook, surveillance cameras in/outdoor, Redlink gateway, home alarm system, 2 WiFi printers, Synology NAS. Personally Home plug will not be on my list if I need something to help our network. Try to do more with less is my life time principle, LOL! If my friend tried to use home plug, I'd discourage him with a good explanation and offer other choices. Reason is already mentioned.

L&LD said:

I would be the first to convince them to not do it with powerline networking kits. But I also feel just as strongly about wireless extenders too.

At least not until every other option has been thoroughly exhausted.

Why would I recommend a solution that makes the network throughput dependent on the way they use other (non-related) appliances, power tools and electronics? And at the same time drops the actual performance to below (and sometimes much below) 50Mbps and in an inconsistent fashion?

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I agree with this. I would try a power line network kit before using a wireless extender. Though I think I would probably try a wireless bridge before a power line kit if wireless was a viable option. The big thing to me that I think could help many more people is Ethernet over coax (Moca, Deca, Hpna). I use this technology extensively in my home with very good results. The coax cable environment is much more stable than home power lines (as far as interference goes). My only guess as to why this technology is not as popular is that it can be confusing picking the right equipment based on the type of TV signal used in the home. My preference is hard wired Ethernet twisted pair, coax ethernet, wireless (including bridges but not repeaters), power line Ethernet, and lastly wireless repeaters.

Can't do cat5? Just can't? Not just lazy?
Try MoCA on existing TV coax.
Next to last resort: IP on power line.
Last resort: WiFi repeater/extender.
And antenna gain.

Extending wifi using wifi arent as bad as you think however there are no proper consumer class wifi extenders. Instead of looking at a consumer wifi extender which are badly designed, to extend wifi using wifi you add 2 wifi APs that connect the 2 wifi APs you want to connect using ethernet each and use directional antennas and use 5 Ghz if possible as they have more channels.

It'd end up looking like this (([omni AP]))--[directional AP]))))) ((((((([directional AP]--(([Router with omni AP])) but many people dont realise that this is the only way proper way to extend wifi using wifi when cables just cannot be used and it can be redirected around corners if necessary but requires more APs to do so.

For me, it's always ethernet cables. I won't even look at something else until I'm 100% certain ethernet is impossible.

One thing you dont get in the consumer world, SFP. with SFP you can use fibre optics that have smaller cables and there are those that require only 1 cable instead of 2. You can use other types of cabling too if there are smaller available and the SFP itself is slightly faster than gigabit ethernet. Though pricey using fibre optics means you can go much further than ethernet for the same bandwidth.

Some non consumer wifi APs have SFP

htismaqe said:

For me, it's always ethernet cables. I won't even look at something else until I'm 100% certain ethernet is impossible.

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agree!
You can do amazing cable routes with this
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10208&cs_id=1020814&p_id=9557&seq=1&format=2

under carpeting, behind baseboards, etc.

htismaqe said:

For me, it's always ethernet cables. I won't even look at something else until I'm 100% certain ethernet is impossible.

Click to expand...

This. But after ensuring Ethernet isn't possible, I make it possible. No matter the structure, I've found a way. From Victorian homes, to modern construction to poured concrete block houses. You can ALWAYS run a wire. But I have relied on Wifi as a temporary measure a few times.

Another advantage of flat ethernet cable... fast connector fitting. Love it!

Where do we find RJ45 connectors rated for flat cable?

I have been using a powerline adapter for almost 2 years where I don't have any more room to string Cat5 cable to my media TV. I run a wireless Cisco AP there also. I have a small Cisco 200 switch at the media TV which connects the TV , Cisco wireless , Apple TV and couple of other devices. The switch connects to the powerline adapter with a trunk port feeding a layer 3 Cisco switch with multiple VLANs. I stream HD TV and wireless on this end of the house. I also have a small server connected at the layer 3 switch which backs up my laptop that lives over by the media TV so the backup crosses the powerline adapter every night.
DirectTV has 2 coax conections in the wall which I plan to pull out this fall and replace with CAT5e when my contract is up. If I have DirectTV again then I will locate the box elsewhere and push the TV signal across the CAT5e to the TV.