Internet through your power outlets

[Hack&Lube]

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...13843#Overview

Was just looking at Dell's Black Friday days. I'm typically wary of any Belkin products but does anybody have any experience with this or other similar products? What kinds of speed/connectivity are you getting? Any issues?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...13843#Overview

Was just looking at Dell's Black Friday days. I'm typically wary of any Belkin products but does anybody have any experience with this or other similar products? What kinds of speed/connectivity are you getting? Any issues?

a buddy of mine uses network over power to stream movies to his PS3, so i'm thinking the bandwidth is pretty good. i don't know the exact numbers, but he has no complaints with it

[sclitheroe]

Only issue with any of these solutions is that I don't think they interoperate between manufacturers, so once you go with one vendor, you are a little bit locked in.

That being said, I know a couple people that have used similar products, and nobody has ever complained that they have done anything less than work as advertised - it seems like a pretty mature/stable technology, amazingly enough.

[Kipper is King]

I have a couple ethernet powerline adaptors, and I have no problem streaming HD video with them.

[Diverce]

Question... do you need and ISP with this, or is it basically free internet.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Diverce

Question... do you need and ISP with this, or is it basically free internet.

pop open your power outlet and ask the gnomes in your walls what they charge

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by Diverce

Question... do you need and ISP with this, or is it basically free internet.

It's for networking, not for internet service, you still need your regular connection.

[ken0042]

The one caution I have heard is that the two power outlets need to be on the same phase; or on the same side of your breaker panel.

[Flash Walken]

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how this works.

Help?

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how this works.

Help?

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-network2.htm

[Diverce]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

pop open your power outlet and ask the gnomes in your walls what they charge

I didn't know how it works... no need to be a dick about it

[Diemenz]

Think of it as 2 boxes

One takes in the internet from your router/modem in then plugs into the wall
The other one plugs into the wall and puts internet out.

[Kipper is King]

It uses the existing wiring in your home as psuedo-ethernet cable.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

It uses the existing wiring in your home as psuedo-ethernet cable.

More like a phone line and DSL modems really - you've only got two strands of wire to work with and no shielding, so you're converting the network data to an analog signal you can ride on top of the line voltage, and then converting it back from analog to digital at the receiving end.

IEEE 1901: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1901

What's interesting about this, and something I didn't realize in my post earlier, is that if the powerline adapters you are buying are Homeplug compatible (those Belkin ones are), they conform to IEEE 1901, and thus interoperate with units from other vendors.

[Flash Walken]

How does this work in an apartment type setting?

I know my breakers etc are separate, but I'm obviously not terribly familiar with wiring. Is my internet going to bleed through the wall to my neighbour's outlet, or should everything be closed in?

[ken0042]

I think the risk is minimal. Assuming it could transfer over from one apartment to the next (which if you have your own breakers and electric bill I doubt)- the person on the other end would also have to have also bought one of these types of adapters.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think the risk is minimal. Assuming it could transfer over from one apartment to the next (which if you have your own breakers and electric bill I doubt)- the person on the other end would also have to have also bought one of these types of adapters.

They also do encryption at the physical or link layer (ie. the "pipe" that your TCP/IP packets travel in is encrypted):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeplug#Security

My understanding is that the signal can hop across breakers, and travel across different legs of your AC wiring, but at diminished range and throughput, which is why there is encryption built in. Seems unlikely to be an issue in an apartment though - I can't imagine the individual apartments are tied together electrically in any meaningful way other than maybe all the way back at the mains feed to the building.