Wireless vs wired vs EoP

[Peeohdoubleu]

I have a two story house, my computer is set up on the second floor and my router is set up on the floor in a room almost below me where my cable line comes in. I'm going to be building a new computer and gaming on it, so with that in mind I've been re-thinking my connection.

At any given time there's 3-4 other devices in my house operating off my same network, plus a wireless home phone. Thus there is a lot of shared bandwidth and a lot of interference, though, I typically run a 54.0 MBPS connection. But, running a wire from my computer to the router is not an option even if it means a better connection.

I've heard of something called "Ethernet over power", where you can essentially get the solid connectivity of a wired connection through an electrical outlet. My questions are:

-Do any of you use this set up?

-Is it reliable, or does the amount of electronic devices being plugged in have an effect on the speed?

-What adapter would you recommend, such as netgear?

-Will it work even with the adapter plugged into a surge protector?

 

[sk1939]

I went the old fashioned way and drilled a hole in my wall for an Ethernet jack. Powerline networking supposedly works pretty well, although you are limited to 200Mbps currently, and if you have AFCI breakers, they can cause issues.

It's relatively reliable, but see above on AFCI's. Also, certain electrically noisy appliances will affect it as well (certain plasma TV's, fluorescent lights, dimmer switches).

I recommend these three:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122360

Sits on the desk or floor and provides 4 ports of Ethernet per adapter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124448

Linksys branded, 1 port on one, four ports on the other.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122360

Netgear, one port per adapter, provides a pass through grounded and filtered outlet.


It should, although sometime the filtering on the surge protector will interfere with it.


Another option if you have cable TV in both areas is something called an MoCA adapter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122243

 

[Peeohdoubleu]

Sadly I only have one cable line in so I guess I'll be trying the net gear adapters. Would you say the interference or rather the potential interference is damaging enough to where it would be as much a burden on the connection as other appliances and devices are on a wireless network?

Or would it be a more negligible impact to where the only really damaging factor is the 200 MBPS limit.

 

[sk1939]

Well the interference would only affect the Homeplug devices, and even then it only affects speed (average of around 40mbps is the normal expected throughout) where interference would drop throughput to maybe half the rated throughput, and the devices ability to sync with each other (for encryption).

You can read more about it here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-basics/31238-slow-homeplug-five-ways-to-boost-powerline-network-speed?showall=&start=1

 

[Peeohdoubleu]

Interesting, looks like there's some other devices you can buy to reduce the noise effect on your line, so I might pick up one of those as well. Thanks for the info, I'll definitely try the power line and see how it compares on average to my wireless with all that goes on in my house.