Internet through the electricty grid, is it worth it?

I was wondering if anyone could give me some more info about a new technology,
something called "HomePlug", which allows you to send network data over the electricity
network via an adapter you plug into your power plug and your computer.

Right now we have a DSL connection hooked up to a Wired+Wireless Accesspoint (Intel WAP 2011b or something like that). We have a mixed environment of desktop computers and laptops. Most computers run a version of Windows, my computer and laptop run Linux (dual-boot with Windows used for games and specialty applications).

I have problems because the signal has to run through walls... also the range isn't good enough to, for example, take my laptop and sit on the terrace with it (card just barely receives a signal but won't connect).

So I was wondering if this technology would be useful for our purposes. I found a couple of companies offering such adapters, for example Netgear and Devolo/Microlink.

The nice thing about Devolo is that they offer Linux drivers and installation software/instructions , and that there's an ethernet interface on the adapter as well as a USB one (also with Linux support):

http://www.devolo.com/co_EN/produkte/dlan/...starterkit.html

I'm also not 100% sure what the difference between all the versions of these adapters is...


The Audio adapter seems interesting also... something my dad would probably appreciate very much.

That is, if it works as advertised.


I'm always sceptic about these new-new technologies though, so I thought I'd ask around to see if anyone has experience with it and can advise me if it's useful for my purposes or not.



Anyway, I'll end my rant here and wait for feedback.

 

so this internet through the grid, how is it going to work, i mean is asia and all that connected to america via electric? i think the UK is connected to france as the uk uses some electric from europe too, but i dont understand, pluggin the internet i through a normal electric wall socket :s

 

It works by sending data over power lines at a higher frequency than AC is sent at. This way there is no need to rewire with UTP cable.

Wikipedia has a rather good article on the concept here:

Power line communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

You are dumb lol. No offense.

All data is, is just a sequencing of electricity. Wether it travels across telephone lines, coax cable, fiber optic lines, or through radio waves, it doesn't matter if Asia and us are powered by the same electricity line.

Routers/Switches determine how to get the data from point A to point B. The electric company just needs to direct traffic to a router/switch which is then connected to other routers and switches. And that's all the internet is. Just a bunch of people sending data back to one another across millions of different lines.

 

why when there is a powercut do phones in houses still work, and they must be electric.

 

Hi Wouter,

Electrical power is supplied and distributed around your house at 50Hz. However, the wires are actually capable of carrying a range of other frequencies which can be 'tuned-in' using appropriate equipment. Homeplug technology takes advantage of this unused bandwidth of the electrical wiring in the home.

The Homeplug device plugs into the electrical socket and draws power for the device. At the same time, it sends data signals down the power cord. A second Homeplug device can then be placed on any electrical outlet in the home/office to receive the signal. Now any Ethernet device (internet cable/DSL modem or another computer) can connect to the Homeplug Ethernet port and create a home/office network. Range on Homeplug can be expected to be 100m or more. Generally any circuit working on the same electricity meter will provide a good connection.



Connection is quite stable and fast, tried it myself. And its easy to install to. Actually you dont need drivers for it. Its acting an access point.

 

you mean it works allready, how fast is download speeds?, is it free once you have purchased the thing, also its somthing thats draining even more electric aswell?

 

Phone lines aren't part of the national grid. Im guessing they still work because the power source is from a part of the country which hasnt had a power cut.

Also I dont think vol7ron understood what you meant in his post saying your dumb! I think its simply a way of distributing the internet nationaly. Somehow this homeplug thing must connect to the national telephone exchange which will then communicate internationaly using satellites.
I think there might be a "hard wire" to Europe and there is a disused one to America too. Thats about it for phone lines in this country. Maybe one to Ireland too thinking about it.
I dont know why they cant rewire the telephone lines because out the 6 copper wires going into your house only 2 are used. Why not use all 6? I bet there are islands in Scotland which haven't got a undersea line to the mainland though!

 

hmm if its available now, i dont understand why everyone dont use it, must be expensive, but is it 200mbps for all? i mean its better than the 2.1mbps i am getting now lol.

 

As I understand, there are two things not to be confused with eachother:

1. long range powerline communication: network over the (national/international) electricity grid... unproven, probably not worth it

2. short-range powerline communication: the devices create a network in your house by making use of the electricity network INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE. But you still need a modem (in my case, cable modem) or a router!

Proven to work, so my question here was: does it work for *my* purposes?

If I understand it correctly, the adapters 'find eachother' through the electricity network of your house, and when they do, act as entry end exit points for the IP communication. Please correct me if I am wrong.

So one adapter is attached to the modem (let's say they're both in the garage), a standard 'ethernet cable' (RJ45 or something... forgot) goes from the cable modem to the first adapter. This adapter translates the IP communication and sends out the proper signal along the electricity network of your house.

Then the second one (let's say it's in a bedroom on the first floor) plugged into a power socket receives the signal and translates it back into IP data the computer can understand and sends it to the computer's ethernet card through the 'ethernet/RJ45' cable.

The smart thing in this, seems to be that it avoids the interference from walls or windows you otherwise could have, also the range (in optimal circumstances) is a bit wider than most Wireless access points/devices.

The negative thing is that they're slightly less speedy than 'normal' wireless communication, but speed still isn't bad.


Also someone I asked about this technology asked me what would happen in case of a power surge... does nyone know?

 

hmmm, how much are these things, would be good in the house, and say if i got one, would i actually be able to load a website with it?

 

Linky:

dLAN. The clever mains supply network.

The products from Devolo are between €80 and €100 for one set (set of one pair, since you need two to do anything useful with them...)... other producers I'm not sure, I believe Netgear also offers similar products.

They also offer a "Highspeed Ethernet" product... but what the big difference with the other product is... I'm not entirely sure.

dLAN Highspeed Ethernet


I'm interested in this as well... it looks good, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

 

hmm i aint going to spend £100 on them if i am better off using ADSL still, it would be nice if they could give you download speeds on the net of up to say 100kbps even tho it sounds like there not good for surfing or downloading.

 

This is very amazing, I'm surprised someone didn't think of it before. This may be my biggest shot at actually getting some highspeed access where I live for once!

 

yea, and if its surfing the internet, WOW, one payment, thats it!!!!!!!!!!!!! no monthly crap !!!!!!!!! oh yeaaaaa, say goodbye to AOL.

[ot]we need some sort of smiley on this forum, maybe someone kicking an AOL logo [/ot]

 

Ehmmm... you'll still need some kind of modem and an ISP subscription... the thing only works within your house, by relaying (proper word?) your EXISTING internet connection...

 

oh darn :'( i tottally misunderstood the damnd thing, it should be able to work over the net tho

 

lol... we all have those 'wishful thinking' moments

 

haha lol, i bet it is easilly possible, just dont want to make it possible because if all the big internet names like AOL, and Yahoo etc.. found out, i dont think they would be happy at all!

 

I didnt read it either, I didnt know it was just in the house.

This kind of stuff has been around for 15 years or summit in the form of having hi-fi speakers in different rooms.

It could be usefull if you dont want to spend £50 on a wireless router!