Powerline vs Ethernet vs Wireless

[Deleted]

Powerline adapters are fine, im using one now and am getting 70% of my internet's full connection compared to ethernet. Wireless is horrible for me, its only a wall away but the speed is awful. Obviously ethernet is the best above all but powerline is also ok.

[Flatspriest]

Why not just get a wireless router and a wireless dongle for your computer so you don't have to constantly keep unplugging it and rolling up your cable?

[christarp]

just get some wifi my god

[n0cturnal]

What is the speed of your internet connection? If it is something slow like 20Mbit or so I guess wireless could work.

[Deleted]

in spite of powerline being vastly inferior to CAT ethernet cable, it doesn't cause problems, if a powerline adapter can cause a huge block wide EMI problem, then turning on a blender would cause aircraft to fall from the sky, sure there is a small amount of EMI leakage from using powerline, but nowhere on the level you are saying

It can and does, hell it can easily take out FM and DAB radio too. Not sure why you are comparing it to messing with aircraft? Radio transmission is very, very delicate stuff. You need a high level of tech skill, not to mention a license from the government to do it, and a fair amount of expensive kit. All to be stopped because someone down the street got a PLT. It's sickening that they are allowed to sell them, and could cost lives.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04..._plt_response/
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/mar...s_with_plt.htm

Frankly it's a well known problem, but as usual it's big business vs a small group of hobbyists (who often are needed in emergency, see previous post), guess which side gets the government support?...

[Moon-Man]

Powerline adapters are fine, im using one now and am getting 70% of my internet's full connection compared to ethernet. Wireless is horrible for me, its only a wall away but the speed is awful. Obviously ethernet is the best above all but powerline is also ok.

Its not that wireless is horrible, its just too early for today's technology... Wired or powerline are more reliable these days...I had wireless, I could NOT stand it, bad connections 24/7, and it was the top (as in how advanced it was). And it was a garbage, so I went back to wired connection..so much better

[Masark]

in spite of powerline being vastly inferior to CAT ethernet cable, it doesn't cause problems, if a powerline adapter can cause a huge block wide EMI problem, then turning on a blender would cause aircraft to fall from the sky, sure there is a small amount of EMI leakage from using powerline, but nowhere on the level you are saying

Does the word "frequency" mean anything to you?

Here's a fine example of powerline networking equipment shitting all over the shortwave bands.



Jump to 1:11 for the demonstration.

[Cyanotical]

Does the word "frequency" mean anything to you?

Here's a fine example of powerline networking equipment shitting all over the shortwave bands.


Jump to 1:11 for the demonstration.

you might want to learn how things work first, running powerline networking is not going to suddenly make your house a giant EMI generator anymore than any other electronic device, it seems more like you are using powerline networking as a scapegoat,

nobody is arguing that EMI doesn't exist or that powerline adapters are not going to alter the EMI output, but to claim that they are having huge drastic effects is overboard, a blender, dryer or florescent light generate more EMI by orders of magnitude, in fact they generate so much that they effect powerline networking, and thats why powerline is only a "if you have no other choice" setup

btw, i can use technical words too, how about attenuation, its why small devices that generate EMI are not a concern, if you're a HAM operator next door to someone who generates loads of EMI then that sucks, but they are not going to outlaw powerline adapters because an extremely small group of people are complaining about something, every time a solar flare happens there are problems on radio frequencies and random bugs occur in computers, perhaps we should ban the sun?

[Masark]

you might want to learn how things work first, running powerline networking is not going to suddenly make your house a giant EMI generator anymore than any other electronic device, it seems more like you are using powerline networking as a scapegoat,

nobody is arguing that EMI doesn't exist or that powerline adapters are not going to alter the EMI output, but to claim that they are having huge drastic effects is overboard, a blender, dryer or florescent light generate more EMI by orders of magnitude, in fact they generate so much that they effect powerline networking, and thats why powerline is only a "if you have no other choice" setup

btw, i can use technical words too, how about attenuation, its why small devices that generate EMI are not a concern, if you're a HAM operator next door to someone who generates loads of EMI then that sucks, but they are not going to outlaw powerline adapters because an extremely small group of people are complaining about something, every time a solar flare happens there are problems on radio frequencies and random bugs occur in computers, perhaps we should ban the sun?

1. Yes, it is turning it into a giant EMI generator, on the specific frequency range where the powerline networking is operating, which just happens to sit on the shortwave bands.

2. More EMI, but not on those frequencies and blenders and dryers aren't using tens of feet of unshielded, untwisted, wire to move signals and thus aren't turning that wire into huge antennas.

3. Did you look at the video? It's just amateur radio, it cuts off the BB-fucking-C's broadcasts along with any other kind of shortwave transmission.

4. Great, so the sun messes with things occasionally. Natural disasters wreck things too, therefore I should be able to come over to your house and knock it down because I feel like it. Maybe we should just toss out the ban on damped-wave transmissions while we're at it. We surely don't need any radio stuff to work.

[Cyanotical]

1. Yes, it is turning it into a giant EMI generator, on the specific frequency range where the powerline networking is operating, which just happens to sit on the shortwave bands.

2. More EMI, but not on those frequencies and blenders and dryers aren't using tens of feet of unshielded, untwisted, wire to move signals and thus aren't turning that wire into huge antennas.

3. Did you look at the video? It's just amateur radio, it cuts off the BB-fucking-C's broadcasts along with any other kind of shortwave transmission.

4. Great, so the sun messes with things occasionally. Natural disasters wreck things too, therefore I should be able to come over to your house and knock it down because I feel like it. Maybe we should just toss out the ban on damped-wave transmissions while we're at it. We surely don't need any radio stuff to work.

1, powerline does not operate like wireless, is uses a digital signal on an analog carrier wave sent over AC, EMI output is dependent on the quality and situation of your home's wiring, not the powerline adapter itself, and therefor any EMI that you pick up with a radio is situational, the same as EMI generated by any electrical device

2, you mean like coax, and the millions of unshielded ends in homes and apartments?

3. a hairdryer plugged into my basement bathroom outlet causes a ton of interference on my upstairs radio, the fact that someone using sensitive equipment can pick up EMI is nothing new, and is to be expected

4, my point is that you can't complain about a specific device causing a minor annoyance to a small group of people, when there are literally hundreds of billions of other sources for EMI, just because a few people pick up something does not mean it is a widespread problem, powerline adapters are used all over the place with out problems, even near sensitive antennas

the particular set of circumstances that lets powerline generate predicable and repeatable EMI is so tiny compared to the numbers of people using them that it should not be considered a real issue, just because it happens to be something you consider to be a problem doesn't mean it is, it's like me complaining about the lack of support for the backlit keyboard on my sager np9150 running linux, i may think its a problem, but that doesn't mean it's everyone's problem

[FlawlessSoul]

PowerLine speeds and reliability are good, but ping will suffer. I had a single powerline in use, which added between 50 and 200ms to my latency in various games.

[BruceG87]

To Last Starfighter, in response to your question.

As long as you are on a separate breaker from the other tenants, and your apartment wiring is NOT complete shit, powerline will provide you with a faster and far more reliable connection.

If your house wiring is shit, then take the plunge into wireless territory. Assuming you are sticking with consumer grade wireless products, nothing is 100% reliable.

Personally, I did some research and purchased a D-Link AV500 starter kit for $80 during a sale through Newegg. I've toyed with many wireless setups and products. Nothing came close to my current powerline setup. For damn sure no wireless setup can match new powerline tech in terms of speed.

If all else fails, OP go buy a kit from a place with a good return policy. Give it a test run, if unsatisfied then simply return it and go wireless.

[Deleted]

why as a gamer would u ever take anything else then a steady cable connection? wireless isnt stable and powerlines well u can have problems with that also, i work in a pc shop and powerlines arent as failproof as a steady ethernet cable connection connected at the pc , my cable connection is 120 Mbit, the wireless is only 60 Mbit, the speed of the powerlines i dont know, dont use em, i would just fix the cable away against the wall or behind it

[Last Starfighter]

Gold star.

So you how do I determine if the wiring in my apartment is shit?*Just by trying a power line adapter? And if it doesn't work return it?

[Gravewyrm]

I personally have never used Powerline, and have never heard of it until this thread (lols). In my place, we have 30mbit cable net speeds. Running it through a Cisco wireless N router, and using it set to broadcast specifically in N only. My desktop is using the wireless for my connection. internal Dell 1510 wireless N half-mini PCI-E card. Testing @ speedtest.net shows me at 25-28mbit downloads consistently. Ping in games is between 50-150ms.

Go wireless, and go with any version of the "N" designation. It will work, and give you decent performance. Only thing better, is a dedicated cat5 connect directly to your modem.

~~Grave

[Smurflord]

I have 500Mb/s powerline adapters, works like a charm and prevents me from having to do any DIY work around the house. They use 256 bit encryption between the units and have to be paired up ahead of use. Pretty secure.

I would prefer a proper CAT6e network around my house, but it would be too much work. I've have to dig out channels in the walls etc.

[BruceG87]

I personally have never used Powerline, and have never heard of it until this thread (lols).

I fail to understand how so many people can offer advice on this topic without understanding the thing in question by the OP.

Last Starfighter, if you are really concerned then do as I said.

Purchase a powerline kit or wireless router/adapter from a store with a good return policy. You may have to pay 15% as a restocking fee, and you might not. This could be a local store and not necessarily online. Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Officemax, Fry's, Microcenter.. I'm sure you have options locally that have both powerline kits and wireless routers/adapters.

Find the selection available at the stores with the better return policy. Do a little research into online reviews, then make a purchase.

Give whatever you buy a test run, if not impressed then return it.

[Gravewyrm]

Would you rather I said "LOLZ CUT HOLZ IN WALLZ!"

He may be looking to spend as little money as possible. Pricing for a Powerline might not be something he wished to go after. Wireless is still a very viable option, should he not want to deal with cables. At least I was honest in saying I knew nothing when it came to Powerline, as opposed to other folks in other threads that deal with "techy" stuff. /shrug.

[Djinni]

I'm not sure why you people are arguing over speeds... as long as your LAN speed is higher than your ISP connection speed, it really doesn't make any difference.

[Cyanotical]

I'm not sure why you people are arguing over speeds... as long as your LAN speed is higher than your ISP connection speed, it really doesn't make any difference.

for internet usage yes, but local file transfers are a different matter