USB/networking over power lines?

[dparm]

Anyone care to explain how this works?

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34&scid=33&prid=541

I'm contemplating doing this at my parents' house. Does this stuff actually work, and how well?

[Amit Budhu]

I didn't feel like logging back in.

Anywho, don't know how it works, but I understand the concept. But I am sure you do as well.

I would say though, if you parents have Cable then why would you contemplate buying that? A Router will work fine if you have cable. If not then I understand why your looking into it :)

Seems like a cool thing, but given that I haven't heard of it, and Jessica just told me she heard it on the radio a few days ago, I'd say this technology is relativley new and as such hasn't been tested. Therefore its advisable not to take the pludge into something that might not work.

Also, I'd figure, since it works off powerlines it would have to be supplied bu your power supplier, and right now I don't think Arizona offers it, so I doubt it would work :)

[dparm]

I think it works to establish a network within your residence/building. Since you have a USB port, you could attach it to a router and hence move the Internet connection to any room.

Anyways, I was looking at this because my parents want a second TiVo for their bedroom, and if you have multiple TiVos on the same network you can get multiple-room viewing. I don't feel like running CAT5 cable through the walls and installing RJ-45 ports in their room. This would just be an easy solution.


Side note: as for receiving Internet connectivity over your powerlines, that is still a few years off based on what I hear. The idea was to run the network traffic on the power lines hence eliminating the need for a separate CAT5 cabling in the walls.

Anyways, I digress.

[fischerm]

From what I've read it seems to work fairly well. One thing you might look into however is putting some sort of 'block' so that no one outside the house on the same grid can tap into the network signals. I've been looking into a lot of X10 stuff, which basically does a similar thing using the power wiring as a network, and everyone talks about putting blocks by the breakers so that the signals don't escape the house. I would immagine this has similar concerns, and security wise you probably want to make sure your neighbors can't get onto your network.

This is indeed different than delivering broadband access TO the house over utility lines (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57605,00.html), that technology still has a ways to go since it has a nasty tendancy to interfere with silly things like police radios (http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/bpl-deployment.html) and the like.

[begay]

I heard about this about 4 or 5 years ago. One drawback is that all devices are proprietary, and you can't mix and match manufacturers. Neat idea back then..... I guess its popping back up.

[reuter]

Yeah, my friend set this up with his DSL last summer and it worked fine. This technology isn't that new