Wayne Stallwood wrote:
Get a homeplug kit (the netgear stuff is pretty good and I have used the solwise stuff as well)
We resell the Solwise plugs and I have to say that they are very good and we have very few problems with them. One of the PC rags recently had a review of several of the newer "AV" (200Mbps) homeplugs and found the Solwise ones to be the best and handling noise etc. Although to be honest they're all in a different league from wireless in that regard!
I'm also surprised they're not more commonly used. Sure wireless is convenient when you don't want any cables at all but it is really the wrong solution for anything where cables would be better but you just don't want the upheaval of installing new cabling. (The homeplugs sell on the apt "no new wires" strapline.)
A slight downside with the older Solwise plugs is that for Linux use you can't change the default encryption keys that are used to encrypt the network traffic, as the software to change that is Windows based (I haven't tried it under Wine). From a security perspective this is only an issue if you are concerned about someone buying a unit off the shelf and plugging it into your mains to get onto your network (again, these are in a completely different league from wireless when it comes to security[*]). However newer units allow the setting of the key using a push button on the unit so this ceases to be an issue. I don't have experience of the units from Devolo, Netgear, etc to know how they differ in that regard (although they all meet the same interconnectivity standards, I believe).
Of all the products we sell, Homeplugs are the only product I can think of that routinely generates "what a great product" and "it just worked" emails to our after sales people.
NB: Where wireless is appropriate there is a homeplug wireless adapter too, which means you can get your network onto the mains then plug the access point anywhere in the house where it gives the best results, rather than locating it near the ADSL router (for example) and hoping the signal is good enough to reach the laptop at the other end of the house. You can typically have up to 8-10 homeplug units on the same mains network (the specs allow for more but performance starts to suffer).
Re-reading the above it sounds a bit like an advert, for which I apologise - that wasn't intended. I just like these units and don't understand why they're not mainstream.
[*] Homeplug signals will not cross electrical phases, which in laymans terms means they won't go through your incoming supply out to your neighbour who will almost certainly be on a different phase of the 3-phase supply in your street. This means you can't use homeplugs to share your network with your neighbour (which is usually a good thing, of-course). You'll likely be on the same phase as the person three doors down the street, but the signal won't carry that far. But I'd recommend creating your own encryption key anyway, as a matter of good practise.