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View Full Version : An interesting option for computers - powerline ethernet adapters



Frederick Skelly
12-11-2016, 1:55 PM
I never heard of these before a neighbor got a pair, by Brite View, called "Link E Mini". It's a pair of small boxes that plug into the wall and use his house's wiring as a hardline network. He has one plugged into the modem and the other plugged into a computer in a room across the house where the wifi is poor. He paid about $30 on Amazon and the device claims to be rated at up to 500 megabytes a second. (YMMV, of course! :))

He's had it a couple weeks and it seems to work well. He said both boxes have to be on the same circuit, and that you should enable the devices' encryption to protect your data. (He said the circuits in his house connect to the city's power grid, so he felt that opened a weak spot for a hacker. I don't that this device is any more risky or not, but I encrypt wifi, so why not this?)

Has anyone tried this particular gadget or something similar? What do you know about it - it almost seems too good to be true - especially at this price point.

Just curious.
Fred

George Bokros
12-11-2016, 2:55 PM
He has one plugged into the modem and the other plugged into a computer in a room across the house where the wifi is poor. He paid about $30 on Amazon and the device claims to be rated at up to 500 megabytes a second. (YMMV, of course! :))

He said both boxes have to be on the same circuit,

How do you have a outlets clear across the house on the same circuit?

Just wondering

Frederick Skelly
12-11-2016, 2:59 PM
How do you have a outlets clear across the house on the same circuit?

Just wondering

George, I didnt understand that either. But I saw it work.

George Bokros
12-11-2016, 3:22 PM
George, I didnt understand that either. But I saw it work.


Perhaps the outlets do not need to be on the same circuit?? Or perhaps it was truly working on his WiFi??

Frederick Skelly
12-11-2016, 3:39 PM
Perhaps the outlets do not need to be on the same circuit?? Or perhaps it was truly working on his WiFi??

Well George, I think you smelled out something my neighbor missed. I just read the manual online and it doesnt say anything about being on the same circuit. I read a couple reviews and some of those people say it works better that way. Maybe that's what the neighbor is quoting me.

Good catch! You're a better electrician than I am Sir!
Fred

Jerome Stanek
12-11-2016, 3:44 PM
I think they mean the same buss bar or phase

Art Mann
12-11-2016, 4:05 PM
I have a power line network in operation right now. My shop is a stand alone building about 120 feet from the house. I could never get a wireless router to work that far. It works well enough but there is one critical drawback to the configuration. As soon as I run my CNC router, the network dies and won't come back until I reset the computer and adapter.

My personal experience confirms Jerome's thoughts. It doesn't matter if the two outlets are on the same fuse but you need to have it on the same phase.

Mike Henderson
12-11-2016, 4:21 PM
I've used those. The technology is known as "HomePlug (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlug)". When I left the communications field, HomePlug would work but it was slow compared to other technologies. I know they've made advances but I haven't kept up with how it will perform today. HomePlug has been around since the early 2000's

Issues:
1. You have two "phases" coming into your home, and the two are not connected together except through the transformer on the pole. HomePlug can work across phases if you have some 240V circuits in your home because the wire to the 240V circuits act like a capacitor (at the frequency HomePlug operates at) and the signal can bridge the phases. But you'll get much better performance if you can stay on the same phase.

2. When you plug in, and use, an interference generator (such as a vacuum cleaner or any universal motor) the signal can go to pot. The brushes arc to the commutator and that generates wideband noise on the power line. The AC power lines in your home are pretty hostile to communications signals. The wire is not designed for high frequency signals and attenuates them pretty badly, and the overall environment is noisy.

Encrypting the transmission is a good idea. You share a transformer with your neighbors so it's "weakly possible" that you neighbor could tap your signal on the same phase. This is pretty unlikely, however.

My opinion is that HomePlug is good for lower data rates and for devices that can withstand a degraded signal (or even loss of signal) when interference devices are used. For example, I have solar on my home and it reports its performance to a server (so I can see how it's doing). I use HomePlug for that because the data needs are low and it can tolerate loss of signal.

Mike

[I also used them to get a signal to my TV, and it worked as long as I didn't vacuum at the same time. I since changed to a wireless link.]

Matt Day
12-11-2016, 4:25 PM
This sounds interesting since I have a dead spot in my master bedroom. Thanks for the heads up, I'll look more into it.

paul cottingham
12-11-2016, 7:21 PM
Be aware that anyone sharing a transformer (on the pole in your neighbourhood) with you will almost certainly be on the same network with you. There are very few shortcuts with this stuff. We looked at this stuff years ago when it first emerged.

Of course, there may be some way of isolating your network not aware of.

Jim Becker
12-11-2016, 8:50 PM
Powerline Ethernet adapters can be a handy "problem solver". While even the latest, "best" version doesn't have the same throughput as a normal Ethernet segment, they are plenty fast enough for most general purposes, such as getting a network to a place that isn't well served by other means. I have a pair that I keep around for utility. Sadly, they will not permit me to get network to my shop because of the way power is distributed to that building from the meter as a separate feed. For some reason, the meter interferes with the signal and the link will not stay stable, even though the house and shop "technically" are interconnected.

Ken Platt
12-11-2016, 10:20 PM
I have a pair of these to get my TV hooked up; our wifi is at the other end of the house. Easy to set up, pretty much plug in and done. Hook an ethernet plug from the adapter to the TV and the TV figures it out the rest of the way. Ours is Trendnet brand. I think the cost was around $50 for both the unit that hooks to the router and the one "adapter" which plugs in behind the TV. An easy and inexpensive solution if you need to get internet service to a single location in your home which doesn't get wifi.

Ken

Frederick Skelly
12-12-2016, 6:19 AM
Interesting discussion. I guess it's NOT too good to be true, rather it just has limits (like many things). Thanks guys.

Jim Becker
12-12-2016, 9:34 AM
Yes, there are limits to performance, but not a much as a few years ago. And a little slower is better than "no connectivity"...which is the problem this solves without fishing wire through difficult spaces. :)

Wade Lippman
12-12-2016, 3:01 PM
I had a pair maybe 10 years ago; my microwave would interrupt wifi. They worked fine; they didn't even have to be on the same leg. I expected they would have to be, but perhaps they were in close enough proximity that the signal jumped? They just seemed so clunky.

Keith Outten
12-12-2016, 4:45 PM
The power companies will surely work the bugs out of the ability to provide networking capability at some time in the future. Its been on their radar for a very long time. Most power companies have more fiber optic cable deployed than the largest telco's or cable companies. They have been using fiber to control their power distribution for decades and they have financial capability way beyond any of the traditional network providers....big bucks!!!
.

Steve Peterson
12-13-2016, 12:24 AM
How do you have a outlets clear across the house on the same circuit?

Just wondering

Most houses with single phase electricity can be considered to have two "circuits". The breaker position determines which ones are on the "A" circuit and which are on the "B" circuit. Roughly half of the outlets in your house will be on one circuit and the other outlets will be on the other circuit.

Maybe a better terminology would be to say that the outlets need to be on the same phase.

Steve