By: Mudassir Malik
Submitted: 2010-01-01 17:51:15 | Word Count: 1007
Powerline ethernet adapters are not a brand new technology, but they've come into importance with the necessity for high speed home networking due to gaming systems, cable and dish TV, and voice over IP applications which require fast network connections. Remember though, powerline ethernet adapters speed up your LAN, that is your local area network that involves of your house. They do not speed up the WAN, that is your access to the internet and the Wide Area network. If you have a slow DSL connection, or even worse, a dial-up modem, powerline ethernet will allow your house network to be fast, but will do almost nothing for your connections to the external world.
Powerline ethernet hopes to be plug and play. Ideally, you would simply plug in your first adapter into the outlet, and your second adapter into the second outlet, and connect your network cable to all of these adapters, and you would be ready to go. Fortunately , this does happen some of the time, but there can be issues with interference, different electrical circuits in the home, or some configuration issues if you set up your adapters for encrypted connections. Remember though, this is an end-user product, and the setup should work, otherwise support is available.
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The rate you achieve with these adapters would be between fifteen and 50 mbps. Advertised speeds are between 85 mbps and 2 hundred mbps, though some gigabit powerline ethernet adapters are also being advertised these days. The speed becomes slower as interference or distance becomes a problem. Homeplug 1.0 is the correct standard to use, and though the homeplug coalition claims that manufacturers following its standard will be intercompatible, it would be best to not only select the same brand, but even the same make and model of powerline adapter to be certain additional adapters are compatible. The reason i say this is that some directions on products are discussing incompatibility.
as compared to wireless technology, powerline adapters have some benefits like better bandwidth, and better connections in large spaces. Wireless-N would be the only equivalent technology to powerline connections, and the decision will depend on the categorical situation. Some people will have poor wireless connections due to wireless phone interference, walls or other obtacles and will achieve good results with the powerline ethernet. As far as cost, it appears to me that wireless-n and powerline ethernet are about equivalent. If you've got a portable, or a cell phone that can use the local area network, you definitely want a wireless network.
except for 2 story houses, you can even have a combined approach. You'd need a wireless router downstairs which connects to the dismal, and one of its ports would broadcast the ethernet upstairs using the powerline adapter. Your 2nd powerline ethernet adapter would get this signal, and this would connect to a wireless access point. This would broadcast a wireless network in your second floor, and you might connect both physically and wirelessly upstairs ( assuming your WAP had both physical ports as well as the wireless capability ).
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Author Resource:-
John is the owner of powerline ethernet page - part of a cool site about powerline ethernet adapters
