Networking

misspriscilla

Can anyone tell me about a networking system that uses the main electricity supply. I saw it demonstated on a TV Shopping Channel, but I can't remember which one.

Thanks

Mattjimf

I remember seeing this in my local dixons, nothing on their site, best advice to try your local one and see if they have it.

drlight_2

This was tested years ago, using mains electricity as a network but it turned out impossible to control it because the electricity is way too unstable.

It would of meant that the whole country would of had a network allready in place if you had mains electric.
they've gone for upgrading parts of the telephone instead, i havn't heard anything about using it now though?

Rex_Mundi

There are a few different products out there that will let you use your mains to set up a network.

Try HERE to see the sort of product you need. At £50 it's probably not the cheapest, but I'm sure someone can find you a deal.

misspriscilla

Thanks everyone for all your help. I'll probablly stay with the WiFi I already have, even if it drops at times.

gavinp

I bought the Acer "Homeplug" twin pack from Ebuyer (£40.99 inc VAT exc delivery) which works very well:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?&product_uid=72307

Very useful in some situations.

There is some good info on the Solwise web site:

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-specs.htm

Thanks

Gavin

MoneyMachine_2

I saw this a number of years ago - it seemed to me to be an absolutley brilliant idea. Originally the entire broadband network could have flowed along the national grid - whoever devised it must have been a genius and must be feeling very crap at not now being a multi millionaire.
AN excellent idea but there were some flaws which have obviousl held it back - but until this posting I didnt know it was available for home networking - may come in useful for other people - I have already put a wireless network in - but if I hadnt I may have been tempted by this.
If the price of the hardware comes down a bit - this willl certainly be a suitable alternative.

gavinp

Apparently Homeplug is pretty big in most of mainland Europe - the UK and US went for wireless in a bigger way.

I have used Homeplug adapters in two situations which worked well:

The first was in a three storey townhouse where the ADSL router and access point were on the top floor. The signal on the ground floor was patchy and could manage 1-2Mbps at best. Using Homeplug, another access point was put on the ground floor as well (different IP address and wireless channel but using the same SSID network name and encryption key).

Laptops setup to talk to the original access point now connect automatically to the one with the best signal wherever in the house the laptop is being used.

The second use was with an XBox as the latency (including ping time) is much lower than using a wireless link.

There is a review of the Devolo units (using the same Homeplug standard specifications as the Acer units) on the ADSLGuide web site which also makes for interesting reading:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/2004/q4/devolo.asp

Thanks

Gavin