How does homeplug ethernet adapter work

This means you can maximize your powerline ethernet adaptor and your electrical network to deliver fast and reliable Internet to various gadgets. This is a good solution if you need to set up an office in a room far away from the router. Are you looking for an alternative to an unreliable WiFi connection at home without laying out tons of new cables?

You should consider installing powerline ethernet adaptors at home. The best solution is to try it out at home and compare speeds between your existing ethernet, WiFi, and a powerline ethernet connection.

Only then can you be sure that it meets your needs. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. July 18, Do we know? These are the possible advantages of this connection: No more laying of ethernet cables Faster and more reliable connection compared to WiFi Setting it up is very easy and uncomplicated, requiring only a few minutes Does not use up a lot of electricity A good option if you need to connect a few devices in one room far away from the router However, there are disadvantages that might make this a not-so-feasible solution for your home: They need to be plugged in directly to the wall outlet and not on an extension cord, which is not good if you have a limited number of plugs at home In some cases, the electrical grid may be too complicated or not ideal for a powerline ethernet connection The adaptors themselves are quite bulky and take up space, even covering other plugs The best solution is to try it out at home and compare speeds between your existing ethernet, WiFi, and a powerline ethernet connection.

Lisa Hayden. Simple Answer! You may also like. November 5, October 31, October 27, October 26, What is a Self Winding Watch and How October 24, How Long Does a Monitor Last? This means that, for your powerline devices to be useful, one powerline adapter needs to be connected to your router. Basically, you can think of powerline adapters as an extension of regular Ethernet cables. Connecting one computer directly to another isn't going to be useful.

The router is what grants internet access to the computers. Setting up powerline Ethernet couldn't be simpler. The devices are almost always plug-and-play.

Plug them into the wall, connect the Ethernet cables, and generally you're good to go. Some devices include security functionality that requires you to press buttons at the same time to "sync up", but exact methods vary depending on the specific devices. Unless you plan to remodel your house soon, running cables through your walls usually isn't practical.

Browse the reviews of any powerline Ethernet device and you'll see a few people complain about random disconnects and slow speedsthough you'll also see a lot of 5-star reviews raving about an easy setup and great speeds. In some cases, this may be a defective device. A lot of the time, however, the electrical wiring in the house just isn't ideal for powerline Ethernet. Maybe there's too much distance between two plugs, or maybe there's interference on the line.

It's almost impossible, without consulting an electrician, to know how well powerline internet will work for you. Even if your house is ideal, the result probably won't be as fast or as stable as plugging straight into your network with an Ethernet cable.

As an alternative, consider upgrading to a router with longer range. Worried about security? Most powerline devices offer some form of encryption, so make sure you use that. But in most cases, the signal won't make it outside your home. If you own your own house and pay your own electrical bill, know that your neighbors can't use your connection even if they buy a compatible device. This is because the signal from powerline adapters is scrambled by transformers, and there is almost certainly one between your house and the outside world.

If you live in an apartment, however, there's a chance your neighbors could pick up a signal, so make sure your adapter supports encryptionand that you turn that functionality on.

Surge protectors can protect your computer, but they also scramble powerline signals. Plugging a powerline device into a power bar with surge protection will severely limit your potential speed, if not stop the device from working altogether.

For the best possible connection, plug your powerline adapters straight into the wall. It is important to be aware of the different standards because of potential inter operability issues. See Wiki- for more detail. You will probably face inter operability issues when you need to add another adapter to an existing network or replace a faulty adapter.

Generally homeplug 1. Note: Coexist means that they do not interfere with each other when plugged into the same mains wiring system. Having a basic understanding of how the powerline network works is crucial to troubleshooting problems, and for building,repairing and upgrading them. This means that in a neighbourhood of houses that all use powerline adapters there is a potential security risk.

To overcome this powerline adapters form logical networks based on a security key or password called a NMK Network Management Key. Normally you buy adapters in pairs, and the manufacturer will normally ship each pair with a common NMK.

This means that when you plug them into your mains socket they will establish a connection between themselves, and form a logical network. The basic idea is that you put one of the adapters in a receptive mode where it listens for another adapter trying to establish a connection.

You then do the same with the other adapter. The two adapters should locate each other and agree a shared key. Note: the adapters will remember this key even if they are unplugged from the mains. This means that adding adapters to an existing network is easy as the new adapters have the same NMK as the ones already on the network. This assumes that you have purchased the adapters as a pair.

In which case just plug them into the mains socket preferably close to each other and they should pair. If one of you adapters goes faulty then you can replace it. However you should be aware of the following. To pair the new adapter to the existing one use the same pairing procedure as covered above, If pairing is unsuccessful then see troubleshooting section.

For example to add two new adapters C and D to an existing network with adapters A and B then proceed as follows:. The adapter will generate a new random password which places it outside the existing logical network. Homeplug adapters can also come with built in wireless access points which allows you to easily and quickly provide Wi-Fi coverage in other locations.

You should receive a DVD with your adapter containing software that you can use to mange your powerline adapters. The tpPLC. However the best feature is the network map which shows you all of the discovered adapters and the line speeds and an example is shown below. Just like WiFi there are published speeds for each powerline standard.

These speeds are theoretical maximum speeds and you will no get them in practise. In addition because all powerline adapters share the same medium mains cable the number of devices that are connected also affects the throughput speed. If you look at my diagram taken form my network you can see that the maximum line speed is much less than the theoretical speed and that distance also plays a role.

A good rule of thumb is to half the theoretical line speed so for a Mbps adapter expect around Mbps. There is an interesting table on this forum page showing live test results for adapters under different load conditions. However generally the speed for even the low speed av adapters is much quicker than the Internet connection speeds Mbps.

The line speed is the actual bit rate on the line. However because this line is shared by other devices the speed of each device throughput is less than the line speed.

These are very difficult to measure as they work by transferring data between two computers at either end of the connection.