[Hidden-tech] what's the good-bad-ugly on home offfice powerline networks?

[Robert Heller]

At Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:19:50 -0500 "'David Morf'" <davidtoday at comcast.net> wrote:

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> One responder to my earlier query about pulling Ethernet cable for a home
> office mentioned the powerline alternative.  I called a tech shop in the
> Valley and was told (OK, I'm going to compress the feedback here) that
> powerline is a terrible snare and delusion sold by venal manufacturers to
> the unwary.  Just for fun, I glanced at the D-Link site for their Starter
> Kit DHP-303, and of course it looks nifty.  Also, there's some Spanish
> outfit that seems to have a chipset (something like "DS2") that's supposed
> to be pretty fast even after chopping throughput for line noise.  I have no
> idea if that's used by D-Link or by any particular device sold in the US.
> Bottom line-What's been the experience around H-T with powerline for
> throughput, reliability, security?

I have a pair of these things -- it was a cheap and easy way to
connect my laptop in my bedroom in the house to the computer(s) in my
computer shed (the alternitive would probably require like 100' of FDDI
cable, a pair of FDDI cards and at lease one additional machine to act as
a router/bridge -- I *may* eventually go this route once I get some
flavor of broadband internet). It seems to work OK. I have not really
measured throughput, but generally I have low throughput needs (I only
have dial-up internet anyway and don't use a file server).  Seems
reliable enough (I have more 'reliability' issues with loose ethernet
plugs -- I carry my laptop to/from the computer shed and thus
plug/unplug the connectors and eventually the locking clip breaks off).
Security is pretty much a non-issue -- I have the only computers here
in the woods and I am pretty sure the signal dies at the power
company's transformer on the pole (which will act like a very tight 60hz
bandpass filter).

I have a pair of Netgear "85Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Switch" model
XE104. Sold as a pair.  Bought them at BestBuy in the Hampshire Mall.

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> David Morf
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
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