Homeplugs

[Tarnished13lade]

Hey all,

I currently have a nice long ethernet cable running up the stairs, around doors e.t.c.

It's fine at the moment, but after the summer there'll be 6 people in the house so someone's bound to trip over it..!

Therefore, i refuse to use wireless, so i'm looking into getting 2 homeplugs, obviously one at the router-end and one next to my PC.

Has anybody had any experience using them? There seem to be 2 main specs, the 85mbps ones and the 200mbps ones, obviously the 200 would be faster, but how much so in real-world usage?

Also - i presume that speed could drop a little bit if i put it on an extension lead (My PC is plugged into a big extension that stretches a bit round the wall to a plug socket, but i could always put the homeplug in there and stretch a cable round), has anyone done this?

No Rush on this really, i'm just going to look into which ones to get, i've got the money ready for when a special offer pops up..!

FYI - found these on Scan, they're v.low budget so not sure on build quality but they look OK i suppose..

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/29Newlink-NL-HPDUAL-85mbps-Ethernet-Homeplugs-Twin-Pack

Cheers, Rob

[JLH]

used them a few times (both 85 and 200)
can't remember real world speed of the 200, but the 85 (devolo make) went at about 15 mbit through a 20 meter single circuit ring main
speed will drop the further you go, best to use a real mains socket where possible
upstairs-downstairs will usually require the signal to go back to the circuit board and then on to another circuit, this will reduce it somewhat
also it depends on the quality of the wiring used

all you can do is try it!

[Tarnished13lade]

wow! quick response!

Cheers, i've been reading a few reviews online, interesting about the upstairs/downstairs thing, i think judging by what you've put above, if i'm used to 100mbps ethernet, then i'd better go for the 200mbps..

I can't see the sense in splashing out on this:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Belkin-F5D4076uk-Gigabit-Powerline-HD-Starter-Kit-(Twin-Pack)-Special-Offer
Looks like typical belkin mumbo jumbo

[JLH]

i have only used devolo and netgear

where possible, run a network cable (via the outside of the house if possible for upstairs-downstairs)

[Shadowsoul]

I use a pair of the cheapest homeplugs i could find at my house in york, as the router is downstairs and i refuse to use wireless. They're 85mbps i believe, and the speeds are very good, in terms of internet usage there is no difference between the homeplugs and a direct ethernet link (as in i still get a decent full speed 20mb connection). Both homeplugs go into 6m extensions aswell (even though it warns against this). I think the pair cost me about £40, money well spent. I'd highly recommend them.

[emip]

I use the 200MBit/sec HPAV kind to get to my fileserver. They achieve an actual speed of about 5MiB/sec or 40MBit/sec for internettards. This is about good enough for watching media but a bit slow for bulk transfers or storing live photo libraries on.

[Matt]

I used some back at home (need to pick them up soon) I had problems plugging them into my surge protector so make sure you have a spare wall socket. I prefered them greatly from using wireless such i suffered for years of loosing connection/overheating usb and random uses you get with them.

It works very much as ethernet speeds, but i guess that depeneds on which you buy, one thing which i thought i may of had a problem with was the fact my home power is on 2 rings, upstairs and downstairs.. i thought this would be a problem and it might well be, but i didn't suffer luckly.

They are abit more expensive than typical wireless solutions but if you really want the advantages of wired and illusion of wirless it's worth it.

[Bigman]

I've been using three Zyxel 200mbps ones for about two years now. I recommend them as they seem fair more reliable than wireless. The speeds people have been reporting sound about right in my experience.

It is important for them to be plugged in to a wall socket directly or in a strip without switch-mode power supplies (like Xboxs or laptops and the like). My experience was they started to drop packets / not work properly when they were sharing strips with Xboxs etc.

[Tarnished13lade]

I've just bought some Zyxel ones - they seem to be the reputable brand to go for..

Had a bit of trouble with inteference in 1 wall socket (god knows how)

One plug was taken up with a wire that goes to my big extension lead that powers all my computer equipment e.t.c., the other was free so tried that and the speed would slow to a crawl, like 0.5mbps with lots of lost packets..!

So, i moved it to a socket on the other side of the room, pulled out one of my many many ethernet cables (of varying lengths of course) and it's ended up to be just as fast as my ethernet (for the internet that is).

Ping seems to be the same 30-70ms is standard i suppose, and haven't tried anything over the network yet but it's looking good..!

Now when the landlords come to inspect next week they can't complain about my big cable trailing up the stairs!

Cheers for the advice all, Rob

[emip]

Zyxel? Yuk.

I have Cisco
They work on any kind of multi-adapter, even on a separate RCD'd circuit. YMMV though.

[JLH]

so linksys then?

[Aelred]

tbh, the zyxel ones I have work much better than the linksys ones I had before them.

[Matt]

Never being a fan of linksys myself, always had problems.

[emip]