Reply to: Wifi Adapter Or Socket Adapter Choice

[kaiser78]

Thanks for responses everyone. I will try the wifi dongle this weekend due to ease of set up and if any issues will look at the pass-through option.

[Boo]

I know it's not recommended but both of mine are on power bar extension leads, no problems at all.

Yes, I know they do work on power bars because I tested them but I believe the bit rate may be lower and I'm not sure whether they are compatible with things like anti-surge protection and.or those self-switching-off ones etc.

The pass-thru ones are not much more expensive and worth considering IMHO.

Boo2

[VectraMan]

Exactly. Most people have more than one thing in front of their TVs these days and if you go WiFi for everything you could be spending a lot on manufacturer specific dongles. Or if you buy a different TV you might not be able to use your Samsung one.

[gingerjedi]

He did say his son has an xbox so TV, xbox and a wireless access point in his room could be handy... you know what teenage boys are like!

[northernladuk]

The two white boxes can be used to network other things, which your dongle can't.

But then how does he use is TV? It's not worth buggering about switching network cables for the cost of another set for £30. If he does have other stuff to network then he needs to look at a more robust solution with another router or something then.

[gingerjedi]

Or spend a bit more and get a TV with built in wifi.

Off topic but thing I noticed about all small TV's is how shocking the sound quality was, I bought a pair of Logitech USB powered PC speakers which are rated at only 2w and the difference was night and day.

[VectraMan]

The two white boxes can be used to network other things, which your dongle can't.

[northernladuk]

Just going on a slightly different slant on this. Let's assume price is irrelevant here. Wouldn't it be more prudent to go for the nice little dongle that goes behind the TV instead of having dirty great white boxes plugged in all over the place. The Samsung dongle looks like a much tidier solution. Ama

Just for the record I have used TP Link mains things to boost the wireless in the office but not the wired ones.

The dongle is cheaper at Amazon and it gets good reviews.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-WIS1...ss+lan+adaptor

Am struggling to see the benefit of two white boxes with numerous points of failure over a simple plug in dongle.

[gingerjedi]

I've been using the AV500+ Gigabit ethernet adaptors with pass-thru mains facility and recommend them over Wifi for signal quality and reliability. I wouldn't personally buy the ones without mains pass-thru as they're a bit restrictive and I don't have many spare wall-sockets (they don't recommend using them from an extension lead socket).

Boo

I know it's not recommended but both of mine are on power bar extension leads, no problems at all.

[Boo]

...However in John Lewis (who provide 2 year warranty) they suggested the following TP-Link product, which plugs into the wall socket as an alternative option TP-Link AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit.

I have not come across this TP-Link alternative before - can anyone advise if this would be recommended ahead of the wireless adapter solution, or if I should just go with the Samsung solution ?

I've been using the AV500+ Gigabit ethernet adaptors with pass-thru mains facility and recommend them over Wifi for signal quality and reliability. I wouldn't personally buy the ones without mains pass-thru as they're a bit restrictive and I don't have many spare wall-sockets (they don't recommend using them from an extension lead socket).

Boo

[gingerjedi]

I bought a 22" Samsung with built in wifi which has been rock solid, I also run a PC on TP-Link powerline's without problem.

I love the way it picks up DLNA content on my NAS so I can stream all my tv/movies.

[Platypus]

For anyone looking at Powerline adapters, just got this through

Buffalo 500Mbps Gigabit
Powerline Adapter - Twin Pack

[CheeseSlice]

I have 4 200M/bit ones and I have the opposite problem, sooner or later one will drop out and affect the others and as one it the main router to power line connection, that's the lot off. Then it's 30 mins pairing them up again, ask my Son, he's the one I get to do it!

I've got a fairly simple ring circuit that is common for ground and 1st floor. Not sure if you'd need to do anything special if they're separate. Apparently the powerline adapters also work if you've got separate phased circuits but with degraded signal/performance. Could something like this be your problem?

[BigRed]

Do these powerline options co-exist happily with X10?

[stek]

I've got three of the TP-link 200Mbps powerline adapters. They're rock solid and haven't let me down once. No signal problems and no faffing around configuring wifi connections. Once the powerlines are paired together (only had to do this once after purchase and never had to do it again) its just like having ethernet running through your home.

I have 4 200M/bit ones and I have the opposite problem, sooner or later one will drop out and affect the others and as one it the main router to power line connection, that's the lot off. Then it's 30 mins pairing them up again, ask my Son, he's the one I get to do it!

Invested in a new Apple Extreme router, plus a secondhand one, plus two others I had lying around, as you do, placed strategically around the house - zero probs, zero dropouts.

Apple might be locked-in syndrome, but there are nice lock-ins....Hic...