Thursday, April 21, 2011
I had, in my abode, a problem to solve -- the problem being that my Wireless G signal was too weak to establish a reliable connection with a desktop computer in the house. This particular issue was not at all helped by my neighbours, who kindly left with me a wireless access point count of twenty-four. Good job, population density.
Being unable to lay down Cat5e due to the costs involved or upgrade to Wireless N because the system in question is located in a wireless 'dead spot', I decided to set aside my scepticism and obtained a pair of HomePlugs to fix the home network up.
I count among my possessions now a pair of TP-Link's PA201 HomePlug AV units, exchanged for a mere $70 SGD.
This particular model is based off the HomePlug AV specification, which promises a theoretical maximum throughput of 200Mbps. And do know your bytes from your bits. One is a factor of eight of the other.
Setup was effortless, it's pretty much plug and play. There is zero software configuration needed, but I had to find an Ethernet cable long enough to reach the power socket, since the cables provided by the kit were too short.
The utility program TP-Link provided gave the connection a rating of 60%, with a max throughput of 130mbps. The electrical wiring in the house is ten-years-old and can be considered to be of a good quality.
Further testing with iperf was done.
The units emit no noise and are lukewarm to the touch. They do, however, have blinking LEDs.
I'd say the speeds are acceptable (but clearly slower than a wired connection) and the reliability of the connection, good. There have been no drops in the day since I installed the plugs. The improved reliability patched up the patchy connection perfectly fine, and pleased seems to be my reception of both the technology and the implementation.
Being unable to lay down Cat5e due to the costs involved or upgrade to Wireless N because the system in question is located in a wireless 'dead spot', I decided to set aside my scepticism and obtained a pair of HomePlugs to fix the home network up.
I count among my possessions now a pair of TP-Link's PA201 HomePlug AV units, exchanged for a mere $70 SGD.
This particular model is based off the HomePlug AV specification, which promises a theoretical maximum throughput of 200Mbps. And do know your bytes from your bits. One is a factor of eight of the other.
Setup was effortless, it's pretty much plug and play. There is zero software configuration needed, but I had to find an Ethernet cable long enough to reach the power socket, since the cables provided by the kit were too short.
The utility program TP-Link provided gave the connection a rating of 60%, with a max throughput of 130mbps. The electrical wiring in the house is ten-years-old and can be considered to be of a good quality.
Further testing with iperf was done.
Router: WRT54GL running Tomato 1.28
System 1: Wired laptop running Ubuntu
System 2: Desktop running Windows XP, connected via HomePlug to the router
System 3: Desktop running Windows 7
Through HomePlugs, 60 seconds (2->1)
Interval Transfer Bandwidth
0.0-60.0 sec 138 MBytes 19.3 Mbits/sec
Through HomePlugs, 60 seconds with a microwave oven running for 20 of those seconds (2->1)
Interval Transfer Bandwidth
0.0-60.0 sec 137 MBytes 19.2 Mbits/sec
Through HomePlugs, 60 seconds, with one HomePlug unit plugged into a power strip (2->1)
Interval Transfer Bandwidth
0.0-60.0 sec 80.7 MBytes 11.3 Mbits/sec
Through a wired connection (3->1)
Interval Transfer Bandwidth
0.0-60.0 sec 670 MBytes 93.6 Mbits/sec
The units emit no noise and are lukewarm to the touch. They do, however, have blinking LEDs.
I'd say the speeds are acceptable (but clearly slower than a wired connection) and the reliability of the connection, good. There have been no drops in the day since I installed the plugs. The improved reliability patched up the patchy connection perfectly fine, and pleased seems to be my reception of both the technology and the implementation.