Broadband Over Powerlines...

[Lee H]

I recall ages ago Norweb we're trialling this with a few local educational places, but as yet I've not seen anymore information regarding this technology.

Has it been canned due to faster technologies on the horizion, as there were trials back in 2002 but then all the trumpeting they we're doing about it beating BT and being cheaper, faster and easier to setup as all the wires are already there ( the general sales spiel ) all of a sudden vanished and nothing else was heard.

If anyone here works in the industry - Any news good or bad would be greatful

[eloquence]

It's been in the offing for a long time, just as the in-home networking via power cables has been around for some time. I suspect that like the in-home version the reliability and cost didn't balance.
At the time the power cables were offering the possibility of a fast data transmission rate compared to modems, but I suspect the speeds don't compare half as well to ADSL2+ 24Mbit connections... although it may be available over longer distances.

[Stoo]

ADSL2+ doesn't compare well to standard ADSL over longer distances either, with the longer lines it ends up being less than a 10% increase.

The "next-gen" powerline broadband supports data rates of up to 200mbit/sec, and the first gen supports up to 14mbit/sec so it's fairly comparable.

[Stoo]

...with a bovine

[Kumagoro]

I think i remember hearing that interference with radio freqs was the problem.

[autopilot]

I think i remember hearing that interference with radio freqs was the problem.

Thats exactly what the problem was, mainly with FM (A house with it could completely ruin an entire streets FM reception). They can get insane bandwidths and speed over good distances (far far better than ADSL over BT's uber lame copper network). But they have made advances recently and there is quite a bit going on in the USA i believe. Not sure how close they are to an actual 'product' they are yet though. Another reason the BT executives have browner than brown pants at the moment.

Voice Over IP telephone calls using the national power grid? BT =

[Stoo]

It would be great, an instant network, a network point in every room, apart from bath room, unless you make a light fitting network adapter

EDIT : Or shaving socket.

That's what wi-fi+laptop is for

[eloquence]

There are products on the market at the moment for using your power lines to network machines together, as opposed to having an ISP over power lines as it were. A couple of the PC magazines looked at them some time ago now, but the actual configuration of your home electricity wiring could affect things, and WiFi pretty solidly shunted it aside.

[Kumagoro]

I saw in the last issue of micro mart an advert for something which creates a network
using your electrical wires in your home. So instead of using a dedicated ethernet network
you can just plug them into your power socket and the into the computer.

It said they run at about 14 Mbps ... sounds like a good idea but i have never read a review
of them. I cant remember the name of the company either but they charged £77 for one
and £22 for every additional one.

[Kumagoro]

Here is what i mean, its called homeplug and the latest one comes in at 85 Mbps.

http://www.homeplug.org/en/index.asp

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline.htm (theres an 85 Mbps one in this one)
http://www.devolo.co.uk/uk_EN/produk...tarterkit.html (another 85 Mbps one)
http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product...b2921d8668893a
http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product...b2921d8668893a
http://www.mainsplug.com/

I found the audio one but no audio and ethernet combined.

heres a review

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware.../q4/devolo.asp

[autopilot]

Here is what i mean, its called homeplug and the latest one comes in at 85 Mbps.

http://www.homeplug.org/en/index.asp

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline.htm (theres an 85 Mbps one in this one)
http://www.devolo.co.uk/uk_EN/produk...tarterkit.html (another 85 Mbps one)
http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product...b2921d8668893a
http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product...b2921d8668893a
http://www.mainsplug.com/

I found the audio one but no audio and ethernet combined.

Delvolo do an audio and ethernet all in one, but i think its a slower speed one.

[limpduck]

thanks for the links looks really interesting, due to being in a very old house and having three floors wireless does not work well for me, so this will somthing to think about.

[Kumagoro]

Im hoping micromart will answer my request for them to do some testing on the things.