Powerline Networking.....

[DaveMcLain]

I was just wondering if there will be any articles on the use of powerline networking coming in the future. I have read some from a few years ago where there were many different and incompatible standards/problems etc. But what about now with some of the newer hardware that's available such as the Linksys PLTE200 stuff.

The reason I'm asking is that in one of the networks that I've set up I have a long wireless link between two buildings. It is quite reliable now using an Engenius outdoor AP, a high gain dish antenna and a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT set up as a client bridge feeding two wired computers and a wireless AP. I'm just wondering if a powerline segment might be more reliable. In the past I experimented with some Netgear powerline adapters and they didn't have the range needed to make the link work. It's about a 250ft shot from one building to another through a couple of walls on the far end.

How is the new stuff when it comes to range, speed and reliability when compared to the equipment I have from about four or five years ago? Have advances been made especially when it comes to range?

 

[thiggins]

Walls, etc. don't matter to powerline.

Original powerline stuff depended primarily on conducted signals. So throughput would drop when going between phases on the typical US home split phase 220 service.

Current generation powerline uses conducted and radiated (line to line coupled) signals, so you don't need to worry about phase to phase loss any more.

Homeplug AV 200 Mbps starts out with higher raw bit rate, so you might get usable throughput now vs. with earlier gear.

I haven't specifically tested range, however. What you do need to watch for is AFCI breakers. They will really knock down throughput. Just check your power panel. AFCI breakers are marked as such.

 

[DaveMcLain]

I don't have an AFCI breakers at that location and both buildings share the same transformer. They do not however share the same panel box so it's certainly possible that the circuits I was trying to use were not on the same leg of the service. The boxes I have are older Netgear ones and they seem to work well in my small house but of course it's not a long distance from outlet to breaker box to transformer and back again if the two outlets would happen to be on separate legs of the service.

At the location where I would like to make this work the signal would have to go from building A to the pole and then over to building B crossing about 200ft of yard via triflex overhead cable and about 60ft of inside the building wiring on each end of the link.

 

[thiggins]

Might be a stretch. Only way to know is to try it.

 

[DaveMcLain]

Thanks for the review of the new power line networking equipment. After reading that I think I might try a few experiments with the equipment I already own just to see if I can get some positive results before shelling out $140 on some new stuff that might not do the job. It will be a long reach and I might do best to just bite the bullet and bury some cat5 cable between the buildings.

 

[AlwaysOn_IT]

HomePlug

Did you ever give this a go? I have a client with an outbuilding about 100 yards from his house, where he has his office. He had a phone line running out there that has been eaten by the moles. He also wants to get internet in the outbuilding. At first I was going to mount an outdoor AP and use a wireless bridge, but then I thought about HomePlug, and if it works it could save a lot of trouble. Once I have the data connection the idea was to use a couple of linksys voice gateways to go POTS --> VOIP --> POTS to get his phoneline out there. The only hangup is that the connection would be passing through 2 circuit breakers and I wasn't sure if distance would become an issue. The alternative is burying a cable but the yard looks to be mostly rock, and honestly I'd rather not spend my Saturday that way. Let me know what you think!

 

[stevech]

A pair of these would be plug and play.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=engenius_outdoor-_-33-168-057-_-Product

worked well for me.

 

[thiggins]

The two circuit breakers or even different phases won't be a problem (unless they are AFCI breakers). But the 100 yards could be a stretch for HomePlug.