Using Power Lines as Network Cables


Back in the day, a home network was a luxury. Today it is a very common occurrence with people gathering together for LAN (local area network) parties and the such. Of course, usually these parties include running plenty of CAT5 network cabling across the carpet for only a short time. Having a permanent network still usually requires wires unless you plan on going wireless or doing a mix and match of both.

0608netgear_hdx101Well, a solution that existed before that never really took off is now back again (a new generation) and with faster speeds – try up to 85Mbps! Around 14 vendors are now offering solutions of using the power lines in your home as the wiring for a network. This is excellent as creating a home network is now as simple as plugging in an A/C adaptor that has an ethernet outlet. Even though it is a bit pricey, it allows you to quickly deploy a small network in as fast as you can plug the adaptors in and connect your ethernet cables!

I remember looking at power line to ethernet solutions when I was building my home network with my dad. Back then, the power line ethernet solution was a meager 14Mbps slow that we opted to drag CAT5 through the ceiling of our house to get our highspeed 100Mbps network up.

Read more about the next generation of power line ethernet in CRN’s in depth article where Lamont Wood takes you through 4 different brands and 2 different standards of power line ethernet.

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