Mains network cabling - mix & match?

**stek** · 5 July 2013, 14:36

Originally posted by d000hg View Post

Our lodger came with one of those mains network cable things - plugs into an ethernet port on the router and then she has a box in her room.

It's not something I know anything about, are there any standards or do you buy in to one product and have to get extra units of all the exact same type?

They don't mix well. Certain speeds won't work with certain other speeds and there are two types of incompatible chipsets.

I have four Solwise 200mbs ones and four Solwise 1gbs ones - cant get them to work together nor will the 1gb ones work with one in the shed...

**northernladuk** · 5 July 2013, 14:55

Agreed with them not mixing. I bought a single TL-WPA281 wireless powerline and it wasn't compatible with the old BT ones I had. Buy as a pair IMO and get extra ones of the same make.

They do work well when it is up and running I have to say. Wireless range was a bit pants compared to a proper wireless router but enough to extend to a room or two.

**VectraMan** · 5 July 2013, 15:23

Homeplug was meant to be the standard. But I think it followed the Bluetooth tradition where every manufacturer has their own interpretation and so nothing ever quite works as it should.

**mudskipper** · 11 July 2013, 05:14

I got two pairs of relatively cheapo Technika units from Tesco, and they're ace. We got the 'passthrough' units so you can still use as a plug socket.

**Freamon** · 18 July 2013, 21:48

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_..._organizations

**gingerjedi** · 19 July 2013, 08:09

I've got a mixture of TP-link and Netgear, no problems whatsoever.

Older plugs may be problematic but anything from the past few years should be fine.

**d000hg** · 9 September 2013, 07:21

Well on closer examination the existing kit we have is a Solwise 85Mbps, which is nowadays classed as obsolete and will not work with newer solwise 200/500/1G kit. However Solwise do say you can have 85 and 200/500 running on the same circuits, they will simply be ignorant of each other. So I think I'll do that and if the lodger wants to upgrade, they can do so easily.

I have a choice of 200/500/1G and I'm struggling to see a good argument to go faster than 200 given that all my PCs are still running 100Mbps network cards as far as I know, and broadband speed is nowhere near this. It's already going to be faster than anything I ever ran before for internal networking! Is this logic sound, or are those 200/500 speeds overrated?

**malvolio** · 9 September 2013, 08:11

Originally posted by d000hg View Post

I have a choice of 200/500/1G and I'm struggling to see a good argument to go faster than 200 given that all my PCs are still running 100Mbps network cards as far as I know, and broadband speed is nowhere near this. It's already going to be faster than anything I ever ran before for internal networking! Is this logic sound, or are those 200/500 speeds overrated?

Depends on your network. I have a shared file server on the LAN across PC, laptops and tablet so updated to 1Gb throughout from the old 100Mb network. It made a significant difference to local file-based performance, especially with two users concurrently. As you say, domestic broadband speed isn't going to bother a 100Mb network

Mains network cabling - mix & match?