Information needed on networking through a powerstrip

17 years ago

I understand that there are powerstrips you can buy that have an Ethernet jack, and if you run a cable from your router to the powerstrip it provides an Internet connection through your home wiring system. I have several questions.

1) How well does it work?

2) Let's say I have my main computer in a room with a 4-port router and I have a second computer in another room that I want to connect to the Internet. Is it correct that I need two of these powerstrips (one connected to the router, and one in the room with the second computer)?

3) If I have a third computer in another room, would I be able to add it to the network by adding another pair of these powerstrips (one to another port on my router and one in the room with the third computer)? Or can the house wiring only carry one network connection?

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Comments (6)

bpgreen
17 years ago
I think you're misunderstanding what you're seeing.

There are powerline networking kits that allow you to network using the wiring in your home, but they only allow you to network your computers together.

The advantage is that it's easy to set up.

The downside to it is that it can be very slow compared with wireless and especially slow compared with wired ethernet. I think there are newer versions that are faster than the most common wireless, but there are newer wireless versions that are faster as well.

There are powerstrips with ethernet jacks, but the reason for those is to protect against a powersurge going through the ethernet wiring and frying the PC. You connect a cable from the router to one jack on the powerstrip and the other jack has a wire to the PC. I don't think I've seen these on surge suppressors, but I've seen them on a UPS.

To answer your specific questions (assuming you're talking about powerline networking).

1. I think it works fairly well, but it isn't as fast as ethernet or wireless.

2. You still need a way to connect to the internet. If your main computer is connected to the router and the router is connected to the internet, you'd need an adapter to connect the router to the powerline network.

3. You'd be able to connect a third (fourth, fifth, etc).

Personally, I think you'd be better off going with a wireless network. I think the cost is about the same and it's much more common so the parts are easier to find. It's very easy to set up a wireless network. Probably the only part that is even mildly challenging is adding security and there are a number of people who have done that with some help here.
kudzu9
Original Author
17 years ago
bpgreen-
Thanks. That helped some. Let me be clearer. I do have a wireless (with 4-port wired) router with three computers networked to it wirelessly. I also have a computer in a room far away from the router where the Ethernet signal isn't reliable and I can't run a cable.

I also want to use my router to get an Ethernet signal to a different room where my main tv and DVR are located (this would allow me to download "On Demand" shows from my DIRECTV service). I was looking at their various wired and wireless setups, and one option is to use two small adapters which plug-in to wall receptacles in both rooms; you connect one Ethernet cable to a router port and to a jack in the adapter in that room, and another Ethernet cable to the DVR and the other adapter in the other room. However, they also show an alternative setup with an Ethernet cable going from one of the router ports to a powerstrip, instead of to a plug-in jack. It says: "Wallmount Ethernet adapter and powerstrip are interchangeable." If you care to look at it, it's on page 5 of the .pdf link below under the heading "Ethernet Adaptor Setup Guide."

So, basically, I'm asking these questions so I can figure out how best to optimize all of my hookups.

Here is a link that might be useful: Setup
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mikie_gw
17 years ago
At one time I looked into powerline adapters and read lots on them. User reports on amazon, techie evals on webpages and from members at dslReplorts = some had had used powerline flawlessly and others had typical doesn't work at all problems.

The newer ones specs were equal to or faster than wifi-G. The speed is affected by the wire distance and of course interferences on the line. Speed degrades pretty fast, definitely were not good for high speed on long runs best I recall(its been awhile since i looked at them) Plus if you're in a high lightning or poor voltage area, they probably are easily zapped.

I don't know your layout but directional antenna's added to the router and the end device might be workable for you as you said something like; 'far away from the router where the Ethernet signal isn't reliable' I've had great luck with small antenna's here.

You might be able to run Ethernet from the tvDevice to an area where a access point antenna gets a good signal? Might be a viable option.
zep516
17 years ago
Hello

kudzu9,

I was working in a home today and noticed the customer had a device called "Power Line HD Ethernet Adapter (HD 200 mBPS)

Made by "Netgear" I would Google--> "Netgear Ethernet Power line Adapter" see what comes up it may be something your looking for...

zep516
kudzu9
Original Author
17 years ago
zep-
Yes, that looks like one of the options I'm considering. Thanks for the info.
zep516
17 years ago
Well it worked great for the customer, I always wondered about those things and if they actually worked. Now I have seen one working..

Information needed on networking through a powerstrip

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bpgreen

kudzu9
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mikie_gw

zep516

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Information needed on networking through a powerstrip

Comments (6)

bpgreen

kudzu9Original Author

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mikie_gw

zep516

kudzu9Original Author

zep516

COMPANY

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kudzu9
Original Author

kudzu9
Original Author