Point-to-Point wireless ethernet solutions

[Steerpike]

My TV sits in the one place in the house that has no possibility of running an ethernet cable to it (to a client computer placed next to it, that is) - hardwood floors prevent under-carpet hacks, and the room location - other rooms below, vaulted ceilings above - prevents easy 'through the floor/ceiling' hacks. Being 40+ feet in the air prevents a simple 'through the wall' hack also! The house was pre-wired with cable/coax, and power ... but no ethernet.

So ... I've tested using standard wireless solutions (a linksys wrt54g access point, and 802.11g client), and gotten 'ok' results. Video viewing over this wireless link 'can be' quite good, but it's just not stable/consistent.

So I was wondering ... an "access point plus wireless client" is a general purpose solution, supporting a client 'anywhere' in a big circle around the WAP (and a large number of clients). Are there more dedicated 'point-to-point' solutions, that would offer more stable results? I've seen some reference to wireless ethernet bridges, but they seem to be high-end devices. I don't mind spending $100 on something, maybe even a bit more, since solving with with a wiring contractor will cost a lot more!

[peterjb]

I have a similar issue in my house and have made use of a pair of Netcomm NP285 Turbo Homeplug devices in an effort to address it. These simply use your existing electrical circuit to create a network to which you can then simply plug adapters into your electrical outlets. In my case I've plugged one adapter into the wall socket where my LAN/Server reside and connected it to my switch. I've then plugged another adapter into an outlet in my living room where my TV is located.

My client pc then happily talks to the rest of my network and makes use of the available SAN facilities that store my media. I have a fairly new house and ( fingers crossed ) get an 85 Mbps on pretty much all of my power points. These devices have got a bit of bad press of late ( see http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/0..._adapter_round ) and are too expensive which is probably why adoption of this technology is poor.

I'm not running any HD content across it at the moment, but I'm pretty happy with it as it appears to work better/more reliably than my Wireless network ever has!

Of course your mileage may vary!

Cheers

Peter

[Steerpike]

Are you located in Australia? All the sites selling the product you reference seem to be there. I saw prices around $200+ - does that sound right?

Anyway, I thought about that type of device, and have one concern - my house has two phases coming in (220V) which is split into two main sub-circuits in the house, each half providing the standard 110V to outlets, with a few 220 V circuits spanning both lines for things like the furnace, the dryer, the oven, etc (typical US setup, basically). I'm guessing that both powerline adapters would have to be on the same 'half', which I can probably make happen. But do they also have to be on the same circuit breaker?

Each 'half' of my power distribution further feeds about 10 breakers, which feed the various outlets, lights, etc. In order to get a direct path from an outlet in one room, the signal would have to travel to the circuit breaker, through the 'bus' to the second circuit breaker, and then back down to the second device. I doubt that's an issue, but am not sure.

I do have clear "line of sight" from the TV location to my router location (about 45 feet) ... so near yet so far ... and my 54mbps 802.11g current wireless test is not far off ... so I'm just hoping there is some kind of "direct" device that will satisfy my needs.

[peterjb]

Yes I'm in Oz, probably should have mentioned that - Oops.. The NP285 is actually OEM'd for Netcomm by Aztech (http://www.aztech.com ) in Singapore. Fom their website ( the HL105E ) they appear to manufacture for the US Market so you might be able find a cheaper version.. From the Tom's Networking article, Netgear make a similar device ( the XE104 ) based on the same Intellon Homeplug chipset as the HL105E & NP285.

In my case, I do have two Power circuits in my house. Luckiliy for me both locations I need are on the same circuit. Plugging the adapters into power points on different circuits drops throughput significantly ( @ 19 MBps ) and results in a very unstable connection. This may be due to the HomePlug limitation of your entire power grid being less than 200 metres in length. This can be worked around by bridging the adapters across the circuits to extend the range. I have a mate who did this, but the downside is that you need 4 adapters instead of two ( still cheaper than cabling though ).

There's a good FAQ for the HL105E at ftp://ftp.aztech.com/sgp/Homeplug/HL...105E%20FAQ.pdf which is worth reading if you are considering this option.

Cheers

Peter