Ethernet through powerlines? Anyone tried this?

ThePensioner on 06/04/2012 - 10:56

hey guys, i'm thinking about trying ethernet through powerlines out rather than using wireless for sending files from one side of the house to the other. on one end will be my PC and on the other side will possibly be a NAS with backup hard drives. the PC will be sending data to the NAS for the purpose of backing up. i thought it would be more secure because nobody could access the powerlines compared to wireless where it's easily accessible.

will this work? What's the cheapest place to buy ethernet through powerlines? i'm not worried about speed.

i made a thread earlier that explains my situation:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/67343

thanks

Computing

Comments

  • sane on 06/04/2012 - 11:41

    Homeplugs

    Faster and more consistent than Wifi (can stream HD content OK), but to really get it to work you need to be on the same loop, and they can on occasion get confused and stop working via power spikes.

    Security-wise I wouldn't say they were more secure, the signals can leak outside your mains connections, and although they do some handshaking, it is possible to eavesdrop.

    Cheap enough to give it a try though.

  • andy19363 on 06/04/2012 - 12:20

    I play xbox live over powerlines…… generally works well….

  • morphio on 06/04/2012 - 14:43

    Bought the WD Livewire for my uncle couple weeks back. Works immediately and was fast enough to stream his shows from his upstairs router to his downstairs living room.

  • c64 on 06/04/2012 - 15:09
    +1

    what's wrong with a 25m cat5 cable?

    and why does it have to be on the other side of the house? what advantage is this offering?

    • snorbert on 06/04/2012 - 22:30

      [edit: meant to reply to original post, sorry about that]

      I've used HomePlug 1.0 (14Mbit/sec raw) and 1.0 Turbo (85Mbit/sec raw) adaptors. I was surprised to see that the 85Mbit/sec adaptor worked over about 40 metres between the ISP uplink (wireless Ethernet WAN, so fixed antenna and awkward to relocate) at the very end of a power circuit, and an outbuilding on a separate breaker board (but still behind the same meter board). I didn't benchmark it, as it was only required to run as fast as the 1MBit/sec ISP link. In practice that ISP was usually the bottleneck, sad to say. :^/ So, it can work over quite long distances, but I can't say how fast the newer HomePlus AV 200Mbit/sec adaptors would move data for your backup workload.

      The HomePlug AV standard uses AES-128 crypto to prevent eavesdropping and intrusion from other people's HomePlug units; it's probably about as secure as WPA2 wireless, for what that's worth.

      The hardware is not always made really well - I had to replace the switching power supply capacitors in each of the 85Mbit/sec units after a couple of years of continuous use, but that's not what most people (would like/ought) to have to do. :-) It's important to keep the units well ventilated, which can be a problem if they are sitting on carpet.

  • [Deactivated] on 10/04/2012 - 15:00

    i used to use EoP (Dlink adaptors) and it worked a treat. It was a lot more reliable & faster then wifi.
    If course it'll depend on the wiring circuits being the same. But I was getting constant speeds between upstairs & the garage.

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