anyone using EoP? (Ethernet over Powerline)

techead

techead

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Ive been having a look at various options for wireless. From everything that I have read, the bottom line is that wireless(N) is still carp in most cases with throughput issues, drop-outs and all sorts of interference which is also a factor. Its novel, and a nice idea... but the technology has a ways to mature.

what else is there?

anyone else using EoP? I checked some reviews and these guys look solid! I remember when EoP first came out, and it didnt work that great... Seems they have made some progress though? All three reviews below highly in favour!

techradar
trustedreviews
pcadvisor

what are you experiences? good? bad?
 
I considered it, then ended up climbing in the roof with an Ethernet cable. It too just works albeit with a little more effort :)
 
I have tried it twice.
Once about 2 years ago, and it didn't work as the premises was 3 phase. EoP does nto work across phases.

I purchased a set of TP-link WPA281 units and tried that about 6 weeks ago.
Initially worked great and sold this set to a customer for an upstairs/downstairs connectivity solution.
After being called back 3 times, resetting the units and getting them working again, I took them back and went with a wireless N repeater for upstairs. The wireless solution has proved to be reliable.

I do not know if there was some sort of electrical interference in that premises, or faulty units. I just could not keep going back to support these units.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has had success with EoP here and if they find them to be reliable.
 
I can confirm that wireless sucks when it comes to stability and throughput.

I had to do plenty of research before I found a wireless router that would actually be stable and have acceptable throughput (and it was expensive). I went with Cisco Linksys e4200 (after reading many, many reviews and consulting many wireless range and throughput charts).

Needless to say the wireless units you buy on the shelf (or 90% of them) are not meant for serious use because they are either unstable (freeze up, overheat, etc.) or have bad throughput.

I've heard from others however that the Ethernet over Powerline sucks.

I never tried it, same as nakedpeanut I just wired the entire house and got it over with. It was hell but that day I spent in the roof and laying cables was worth it in the end.
 
I tried to use it at one stage, but yea its very unstable, and having 3-phase power didn't help me much either, I purchased some cat5-e cable from matrix (it was R3.00 a meter at the time) and wired up my house, totally worth the trouble though, and no regrets, I only really use wifi for my laptops and phones, if I ever need speed and stability I just plug in whatever needs to be used into the wifi router's spare ethernet ports
 
I won a Billion set from rpm a year or so ago. When my wifi dongle for my pc ( wife hates cables and router is far away ), I unpacked it and played. Throughput is supposedly 70-120Mbps, actual copying is round about 5MBps. There's a hit of about 3ms latency between pc and router but that's considering its going from pc to power to power ap to router with ethernet cable.

It works more stable than wireless for me but is a much more expensive option as the value of the bundle is about R1.2K
 
Given the stories I hear from electricians about Eskom I'm inclined not to mix communication & power if possible.

I'm with peanut on this one. For anything more than email & maybe browsing, just wire the place & call it a day. Was kinda hoping N standard would fix things, but so far I've not had much luck with it.
 
It works well just get a good brandname ones and stick to that brandname if you decide to expand the network.I have 2 and it's awesome.
 
Hi

Can you PM me and tell me a bit more about which brand to choose? I am considering either getting an expensive wifi router, or the PoE stuff. I have a small d-link ap for email and stuff, but I want to stream media from my server to my PS3 and need higher and more stable throughput.

Pe-Killer said:
It works well just get a good brandname ones and stick to that brandname if you decide to expand the network.I have 2 and it's awesome.
Click to expand...
 
drsmn said:
Hi

Can you PM me and tell me a bit more about which brand to choose? I am considering either getting an expensive wifi router, or the PoE stuff. I have a small d-link ap for email and stuff, but I want to stream media from my server to my PS3 and need higher and more stable throughput.
Click to expand...

Run a LAN cable through the ceiling. Job done.
 
I tried TPlink and it did not work as advertised. after you sync the units they work for a whoile. but i think the issue was that they go in power save mode and then dont come back
no way to disable power save
 
I've recently used a Netgear Powerline AV pair and no complaints for over a couple months now
 
Can the people who say it's awesome maybe elaborate on their usage? Do you game or just download and browse? Perhaps OP should clarify what it will be used for.
 
GhostSixFour said:
Can the people who say it's awesome maybe elaborate on their usage? Do you game or just download and browse? Perhaps OP should clarify what it will be used for.
Click to expand...

I game across it online. Like I said small latency knock but that depends on your cabling and power stability. Otherwise no issues like described here regarding turning off etc.
 
I have this kit (Linksys PLKW400): http://www.takealot.com/computers/linksys-powerline-wireless-network-extender-kit-plkw400,27187498
and it's been working great since I got it about 2 months ago. I'm currently renting, so I didn't want to make the effort of pulling cable.

I use it to connect my Samsung Bluray player in the bedroom to my home network and the internet. Using mainly for Plex and Netflix on the BD player and it's been performing very well.
The built-in wifi access point is also great for using smartphones and tablets in the bedroom, which had a very weak signal from my main access point.
 
I set it up at my dads house. Have not had a single days problem. I used the TP-Links for my old man.
 
Well when I moved into my new room I didn't have internet access, and wiring through the ceiling wasn't an option (flat roof annoying as hell) so I went with wifi dongles that were rated wireless N and it was ok, had a lot of drops and such, and gaming on my ps3 and xbox wifi was also pretty bad...

Decided to try these http://www.takealot.com/computers/linksys-plsk400-powerline-4-port-kit,11010775 and so far I have zero complaints, it's as if I was right next to the router like I used to be...

The nicest thing is multiple ethernet connections so one doesn't need to connect via a switch/hub, and the free shipping made it a helluva bargain considering wifi dongles go for R300 odd...

I use it for browsing, streaming, gaming and so on, the only issue you might get is streaming HD 1080p content to a media player but you'd have an issue with that on budget routers anyways
 
I use the tp link eop and it works for streaming upto hd. Currently use it on 4 devices. Live in an apartment so no space for cables. Im very happy with it
 
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