Hi,

My partner’s laptop (running wirelessly) really suffers from poor response times from our NAS. So I was thinking of getting a two pack of home plugs to boost her laptop’s performance.

These are due to appear in Amazon’s Flash sale later today.

TP Link TL-PA251 Kit

Does anyone have any experience of these? Or would something like this be just as good?

D-Link DHP-307AV/B

And on a more general theme, does the home plug that’s plugged in to the router have to be plugged in to the wall faceplate, or can it be plugged in to an existing power bar?
Cheers,

Andy

[Edit] Apologies – wrong forum, can this be moved please?

Power bar?

I use TP link ones to give me internet access in my workshop at the bottom of the garden, they work fine for general browsing etc.
Also work OK on an extension lead

Power bar – one of those bars that have upwards of four plugs in it. Just want to understand that if the home plug is plugged in to one, that performance won’t degrade.

Cheers for the feedback.

solwise ones seem pretty good IME
here

(having a mains pass-through on the unit is often useful – you might even not need your extra sockets)

homeplugs should be plugged directly into the main socket – however mine is in a power bar and it’s fine.

I think* that’s there’s actually only one manufacturer of the internal gubbins for homeplug technology – so the retail product only differs by brand and maybe a bit of additional modding/firmware. I got mine from Scan. Both the ones you link to are 200Mbps and one is a pass through plug which I guess helps as you can then plug the power bar into it.

I have the Newlink branded stuff
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/networking/homeplug-network-via-mains

and use one of their homeplug wireless repeaters too to get a wifi signal down the other end of the barn.

So one homeplug at the router, one to hardwire the Vodafone Sure SIgnal Box to the network and a wireless one that repeats my signal 30m down the other end of the barn and also hardwires the Xbox media extender to the network too.

Generally runs fine. Couple of glitches to start as I wasnt sure how to set up the DHCP/IP mask and whether to have two DHCP servers or not.

* rash guess

scaredypants – they look pretty good.

Is the encryption utility to stop your neighbours intercepting your traffic?

Thanks Stoner – much appreciated.

DHCP/IP mask? Does this need to be done in any such installation, or was it required by your individual setup?

they come with a setup disc but pretty sure I just plugged ’em in and went for it (I don’t have a password set though)

‘Techinally’ they have to be plugged into the actual socket but I’ve had no problems sticking them onto an extension socket.

My Solwise ones were plug and play. Don’t need to worry about security gubbins really unless you’re running thw wireless repeater.

Thanks scaredypants and breatheeasy.

neighbours can’t access your traffic as the way they work the meter at your house acts as a firewall, so you can’t connect from outside, if you’re in flats then could be an issue (IIRC).

I bought direct from solwise website, was ok. Looking to upgrade soon to GB and wireless repeater.

I’d second the Solwise ones – cheaper than those Amazon ones. I have them plugged into extension sockets and it makes no difference; I use 3 of them to connect various STBs to a NAS as well as an 85Mbps one to a Solwise ADSL/homeplug router so that I can keep the router next to the incoming line socket. Security stuff is easy to set up – most of them just have a button you press. You shouldn’t have to do any DHCP setup unless you have a very complicated network. Pass-through ones can be quite useful but you can always plug them into a 2-way 13A adaptor if there’s space.

All the ones I’ve come across use Qualcomm (Atheros) chipsets.

neighbours can’t access your traffic as the way they work the meter at your house acts as a firewall, so you can’t connect from outside, if you’re in flats then could be an issue (IIRC).

Hmm, I can see you’re not very technical….

A standard mains meter doesn’t have any specific RF filtering, so the signal will propagate to your neighbours, however it is often the case that your immediate neighbour is on a different phase, as they alternate the houses between the three phases to load balance the three phases. Your neighbours, on the same phase, will be able to see your RF signal.

However, if the gadgets use encryption on the physical/network layer, your data will be private.

NB I used to design powerline network systems many years ago when they were state of the art and hold a few patents on the subject…..

I use the top link one, but not the pass through ones as they weren’t available when I bought them. They work very well, I’ve had no issues with them at all. I was amazed that they just worked so easily and so well.

Not sure about using plukked into an extension but if you buy the pass through ones then that isn’t an issue surely.

Ebuyer have a set of non pass through ones for £39.99 at the moment.

You also get a free 5 port switch from ebuyer at the moment. Thats the switch I use and again very good if you want to plug multiple items into the network from one homeplug.

I have the D-Link powerlines (with the socket in the front of them). Seem to be useful for my IPTV box.

Thanks for all the suggestions and additional info. Bought the TP-Link is the amazon flash sale – £37.99.