I was thinking about buying a Ethernet quad powerline adapter.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/27943293?wmlsp...52&veh=sem
How do they work though? Like can I plug one next to my router and one up stairs or do they have to be on the same circuit? I do know they cannot be plugged into power surges or power strips. That's all I know about them.
They work. They're never near the speeds they claim, but the latest ones (500s) are no issue for HD.
In my experience reliability is a big issue for them, never had a set last more than a year or so, so eventually just bit the bullet and ran ethernet.
What about 802.11ac adapters? I have a 802.11ac router.
Dunno - never had a lot of luck with wireless - for really steady streaming...give me a cable every time
I believe for optimal performance they should be on the same circuit, but on different circuits should still work. Depends a bit on the Powerline spec being implemented as well.
Smallnetbuilder is a great place to start for decent info and tests on different Powerline adaptors.
Just like bossanova808 said, they do work, but reliability is the biggest issue. I have 4 Ouyas throughout the house as xbmc clients all using Netgear Powerline adapters. The main one is a 500, with another client using a 500 and the remaining two using 100's. When I first set them up a little over a year ago, everything worked perfect and I was completely happy with them. Over the last month, several of them have started having severe buffering issues when trying to play 720 or 1080 from my NAS. Not even the Advancedsettings cache tweaks have helped enough to resolve the problem. I've finally got fed up with it and bought a 1,000ft spool of CAT6 to run through the attic and drop to all the rooms.
Needless to say (4) 100mb and (2) 500mb Netgear Powerline adapters will be up on Ebay soon.
I've read that you use powerline for distance and wireless for speed.
I have powerline adpaters running to the kids room for the Raspberry Pi. 720p works fine, 1080p struggles and blu-ray has no chance.
I restart them every week which helps with buffering issues like most of my network equipment.
You can plug them into powerstrips but they perform better directly into the wall.
Seems like I'm one of the lucky ones...I've been using Devolo 250 power plugs for about 3 years, streaming 1080p with no problems across floors. They've probably been turned off maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and never because they're not working properly. I'm talking power-cuts or needing to shuffle electrics around.
The quality of the power cabling in your house counts for a lot with these things, plus proximity to other cabling which can cause interference...you kind of need the perfect storm to get the best out of these things.
Having said that, with '4K' incoming, I would replace the lot with CAT6 eventually...as and when they blow.
I tried powerline adapters once, pretty sure they were Netgear. I didn't find them very good. I've also tried AC and it's OK, but I prefer to run cable through the building.
I think you have to try them to see... my experience is more like Piers', in that the Devolo ones I tried really didn't work at all well and were very slow. It's very dependent on your house's wiring, I think - age, condition, what else you have on that circuit, what else may be generating RF on that phase including neighbours, etc.
I ended up using wired connections for all permanent HTPCs and then decent wireless for everything else. I could only suggest checking the returns policy (Walmart's pretty good, isn't it?) and giving them a whirl.
Ive used powerline adapters for several years with no major issues.
The bandwidth I get is unimpressive but at least for me they're more stable and hassle-free than wifi.
The ones you've linked are older 500Mbps AV units. If I was buying today i'd look at 600Mbps AV2 or even the new 1200Mbps AV2 units. The speeds you'll get are not even remotely close to the number on the box but the newer units tend to have better performance, deal with interference better etc.
Definitely buy from a store with a return policy because how well they work is hugely dependent on your wiring, breaker types, interference from appliances (lightbulbs, wallwarts etc).
I'd like to add to the above poster's comment: If you're in the EU/UK then you are allowed to return items for up to 14/28 days after purchase without giving a reason and get a full refund.
With Powerline adaptors you just have to try them and see if they're suitable for your premises. If they are, they can (temporarily) save the cost of cabling.
The main reason for wanting to be on the same circuit is that if you're crossing a circuit, you're almost certainly going over much more cable, which leads to reduced performance.
Another thing to note is that if you have 3 (or more) adaptors working together, the ones at the ends are negatively impacted compared to if they did not have another adaptor between them. You'd think that having another adaptor between them might boost the signal, but it doesn't.
(2014-12-15, 12:41)JesusOnEez Wrote: [ -> ]Seems like I'm one of the lucky ones...I've been using Devolo 250 power plugs for about 3 years, streaming 1080p with no problems across floors. They've probably been turned off maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and never because they're not working properly. I'm talking power-cuts or needing to shuffle electrics around.
The quality of the power cabling in your house counts for a lot with these things, plus proximity to other cabling which can cause interference...you kind of need the perfect storm to get the best out of these things.
Having said that, with '4K' incoming, I would replace the lot with CAT6 eventually...as and when they blow.
May depend on the manufacturer of your powerlines!
I'm with JesusOnEez on this one. Devolo's have pretty much performed flawlessly for over 3 years for me. Slowly I have replaced everything almost with Cat6 hard-wired but have a couple of hard to reach areas that are using old electrical wiring circuits and reaching about 195Mbps cross talk, BUT with an apparent 500Mbps system. BUT I don't care, that flawlessly runs HD fine for me on a tablet...... over a devolo wifi adaptor.
Invest in a couple of qualty powerlines would be my advice, try them out, they are impressive, unless you are trying to run an office off them!
The industry name for these adapters are "HomePlug" and are based on the IEEE 1901 standard with the specifications being developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomePlug
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1901
You first need to know that there are several versions/generations of "HomePlug", which each version/generation getting better than the previous version/generation.
So don't just go out and guy any old "HomePlug" adapters as the cheap ones are usually cheaper because they are of an old version/generation.
Similar to WiFi the distance also have huge impact of the speed and performance, and in reality do not expect to actually get something more than between 10% to 40% of the maximum Mbps speed advertised by the manufacturer, and most of them only have a 100Mbps Ethernet LAN port on them anyway.
The older HomePlug AV (AV1) are sold as "HomePlug 200" and only offers a peak data rate of 200 Mbps at the physical layer, and about 80 Mbps at the MAC layer, though some Qualcomm Atheros-based adapters are marketed as "HomePlug 500" still comply with the old HomePlug AV (AV1) specification but employ a proprietary extension that increases the PHY-rate to 500 Mbit/s primarily by using a wider spectrum.
Today I would not get anything less than HomePlug AV2 (often sold as HomePlug 600/650+) or even better an even newer sold as HomePlug 900 or 1200+, and also make sure to get all adapters of the same manufacturer and brand to get best interoperability.
Personally I recommend Devolo adapters, and more specifically their newer Devolo dLAN 1200 / 1200+ Powerline series of adapters and kits. These feature integrated Gigabit Ethernet LAN port have several proprietary improvements on the HomePlug (IEEE 1901) standard, like using the ground wire in addition to phase and null.
http://www.devolo.com/en/Products/dLAN-1200+
If you want something cheaper then maybe look at ZyXEL AV1000 Powerline Gigabit Ethernet series
www.zyxel.com/us/en/products_services/pla5206.shtml