[SOLVED] multiple powerline adapters in one building

[virxually]

Instead of putting the time and effort into wiring my house for networking, i thought of a cheaper, simpler solution. Just use powerline adapters and switches!
my idea is this:
.........................................PL Adapter - - - - - - - - - - - > PL Adapter -> Switch -> Devices
Router -> switch -> PL Adapter - - - - - - - - - -> PL Adapter ->Switch -> Devices
........................................PL Adapter - -- - - - - -- - - > PL Adatper -> Switch -> Devices

If you are a visual learner, here is a very sketchy paint.net diagram:

https://imgur.com/a/Lqtl3Sl

 

[Ralston18]

Power line adapters are very dependent on the house/host electrical circuits/wires.

How old is the house?

My suggestion is to first buy two "PL"'s and one switch.

Then methodically and extensively test each of the three paths shown in your diagram.

Determine what is workable/viable and what is not.

By workable/viable I mean that the resulting network performance meets your requirements.

= = = =

That said; overall if you have the option and circumstances to install house wide Ethernet connections then do so.

A patch panel and wall jacks may prove much more simple and overall faster network performance.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[virxually]

Power line adapters are very dependent on the house/host electrical circuits/wires.

How old is the house?

My suggestion is to first buy two "PL"'s and one switch.

Then methodically and extensively test each of the three paths shown in your diagram.

Determine what is workable/viable and what is not.

By workable/viable I mean that the resulting network performance meets your requirements.

= = = =

That said; overall if you have the option and circumstances to install house wide Ethernet connections then do so.

A patch panel and wall jacks may prove much more simple and overall faster network performance.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for the reply!

House was built in ~2003, and is single story.
I have no problem with wiring the house, it's just that I'd rather do other, more important projects before that.
If this idea works out then I probably won't even attempt wiring the house, it is jank, but I mean, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
How would i identify if my house is suitable for multiple powerline pairs? I have one pair right now that works like a charm. Looking to put one pair in each bedroom, so I would need 2 more pairs.

 

[Alabalcho]

Power-line adapters I have worked with are not "point-to-point" but "multi-note", meaning all power adapters plugged into same cirquit form one network. So, I'd suggest starting not with two but with three units, and trying to make them work. Check also for PLAs with security features (so that only authorized adapters can form a network).

 

[virxually]

Power-line adapters I have worked with are not "point-to-point" but "multi-note", meaning all power adapters plugged into same cirquit form one network. So, I'd suggest starting not with two but with three units, and trying to make them work. Check also for PLAs with security features (so that only authorized adapters can form a network).

Since they form one network, will the power line adapters know where to send the data? Like the router sending data to a device connected to PLA1 but the main powerline connected to the router sends the data to PLA2, get what im saying? Would i have to get a managed switch rather than a cheap dumb one? Im planning on getting a managed 8 port switch that connects to the router and 3 dumb ones that connect to the PLAs.

 

[bill001g]

A powerline adapter function more like a switch than a router. You can in some ways think of group of powerline adapters as a small switch with ethernet ports in different rooms. In effect every port is connected to every port and traffic will flow directly between them. This is a over simplification since they work more like a stupid hub where every device actually get all the traffic for every other device and only selects its own.

In the end you do not want 3 pairs you want to buy 4 power line devices total and put them all on the same network/encryption key. You can technically run 3 pairs on different encrytion keys and they will more or less function as 3 different network but since they share the same electrical wires the traffic will interfere with each other
You are much better off have them all of them using the same keys so that the competition for bandwidth is more controlled.

Why exactly do you want a managed switch. In general unless you know exactly how you plan to use them you do not need a manged switch. Now I think if you had managed switches on both end of the connection you can pass vlan tags through a powerline network. I have not tried it recently and the use of vlans is not something
commonly done on a home network.

 

[virxually]

A powerline adapter function more like a switch than a router. You can in some ways think of group of powerline adapters as a small switch with ethernet ports in different rooms. In effect every port is connected to every port and traffic will flow directly between them. This is a over simplification since they work more like a stupid hub where every device actually get all the traffic for every other device and only selects its own.

In the end you do not want 3 pairs you want to buy 4 power line devices total and put them all on the same network/encryption key. You can technically run 3 pairs on different encrytion keys and they will more or less function as 3 different network but since they share the same electrical wires the traffic will interfere with each other
You are much better off have them all of them using the same keys so that the competition for bandwidth is more controlled.

Why exactly do you want a managed switch. In general unless you know exactly how you plan to use them you do not need a manged switch. Now I think if you had managed switches on both end of the connection you can pass vlan tags through a powerline network. I have not tried it recently and the use of vlans is not something
commonly done on a home network.

https://imgur.com/a/BmvCb3k

will this setup work?
I was planning on getting a managed switch cause I thought I needed to do some sort of special configuration but guess not. Ill just use dumb switches for everything.

 

[bill001g]

Yes in general it will work fine.

The main restriction you have is powerline units do not have a huge amount of bandwidth. Maybe you get 300mbps total with the best units, all depends on your house wires. In addition there is some overhead added for each powerline unit you add to the network.

It all depends on how much data you are trying to move between the devices.

If you have coax cables in all the rooms MoCA will be a better choice. It works similar to powerline units but the total network bandwidth is 2.5g with the newer units. You can actually get gigabit rates. Having 4 units on the same network does add overhead but it will still be massively faster than powerline units.

 

[virxually]

Yes in general it will work fine.

The main restriction you have is powerline units do not have a huge amount of bandwidth. Maybe you get 300mbps total with the best units, all depends on your house wires. In addition there is some overhead added for each powerline unit you add to the network.

It all depends on how much data you are trying to move between the devices.

If you have coax cables in all the rooms MoCA will be a better choice. It works similar to powerline units but the total network bandwidth is 2.5g with the newer units. You can actually get gigabit rates. Having 4 units on the same network does add overhead but it will still be massively faster than powerline units.

There are coax jacks in each room, but the one that carries the service from my ISP goes to a room with only 1 coax jack, will this be an issue? I havent had a very good experience with coaxial splitters. I'll do some research on moca and get back to you. Thanks for the help so far!

 

[bill001g]

Moca should co-exist with the internet on the same cable. gocoax has nice digrams on their site how you set this up. They also are one of the cheaper vendors of 2.5g equipment.

 

[virxually]

Moca should co-exist with the internet on the same cable. gocoax has nice digrams on their site how you set this up. They also are one of the cheaper vendors of 2.5g equipment.

Got it. I think I'm going to go with MoCA after all, expensive but seems like a more permanent solution. Thanks for the help, much appreciated!

 

[gggplaya]

MOCA will give actual gigabit speeds as well. With powerline, you're typical speeds are 60-150mbps in most houses. In some houses you can get more, but I haven't seen it myself. Also, for powerline, you need to have the circuits on the same pole in the U.S. So depending on where that circuit breaker is in your panel, you may need to swap it over to to the other side of the panel to get it to work.

For MOCA, you need to ensure all your cable splitters are at least 5-2000mhz capable and install a POE(point of entry) Moca filter where your cable line enters the house into the first splitter. Then you can simply just add a MOCA adapter in any coax port in the house, and branch that into a switch if you want.

 

[virxually]

MOCA will give actual gigabit speeds as well. With powerline, you're typical speeds are 60-150mbps in most houses. In some houses you can get more, but I haven't seen it myself. Also, for powerline, you need to have the circuits on the same pole in the U.S. So depending on where that circuit breaker is in your panel, you may need to swap it over to to the other side of the panel to get it to work.

For MOCA, you need to ensure all your cable splitters are at least 5-2000mhz capable and install a POE(point of entry) Moca filter where your cable line enters the house into the first splitter. Then you can simply just add a MOCA adapter in any coax port in the house, and branch that into a switch if you want.

will 5-1675 mhz splitters work..? hope so as i already ordered some...

 

[bill001g]

1675 is the top end you commonly see on moca equipment which is why I suspect splitters have that number rather than something else. The ones that go to 2000 are used for something else can't remember it was either dish or directtv that had something in that range.