Build a home network using your electical sockets

More and more homes now have more than one computer and are setting up small networks with their computers in other rooms,although quite easy to set up,unfortunatly the cables can be a bit of a nuisance and unsightly.However you could set up a wireless network ,but problems can some times occur with the signal strength.These days though there is an easier solution,the cable is already hidden in your home,its convienient and easy to install,so what is this hidden source?, it is your electricity supply.

Powerline Networking used to be very slow but new devices can run at 100Mbps they are also capable of carrying High definition video and VoIP network traffic.

Powerline networking doesn't need much hardware,although it helps if you already have a wired network up and running,a good starting point is a computer linked up to an ADSL router.you need a spare network port in the rear of your router,a spare mains socket in th room where the router is and in any other room that you will be including in your network.its's good to remember that powerline adaptors steal a power socket for their exclusive use.

Powerline uses the mains electricity cabling,mains electric is distributed around your house at 50Hz.However it is possible to superimpose higher frequencies that can carry data, Powerline technology takes advantage of this unused bandwidth in electrical wiring to create a network.

The powerline device plugs into the socket and draws electricity for the device whilst it sends data signals through the power circuit,A second powerline device can be plugged in to any other socket on the same circuit to recieve the signal.

Setting up

Setting up a Powerline Network is realy simple,just plug in the powerline adapter into a power socket and connect the adaptor to your router or modem,with a network cable,repeat this in the other room/s where other network outlets are going this time connecting the powerline adaptor to the PC'S network port.Status lights on each adaptor will confirm that you have an active network connectionand that it is worlking well.

Powerline networks can link any network device through your power circuit,computers,routers or Xbox if it has a network port,it can be connected.

You might think that it would be easier to use Wi-Fi,but this can be unpredictable especialy in solidly built houses,it is also not really suitable for the bandwith demands of High-definition video.Powerline does't suffer from fluctuating bandwidth issues and the latest adaptors,which are made around the new homeplug AV standard,are more than able to send high-definition bandwidth around the home.

another good thing about a Powerline network is that you can mix Mac,Windows and Linux PC's on the same network.