- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,774
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
I live in a large multi-level home where my wireless
networking has had a certain degree of difficulty with
coverage. I have a router that sits in my office on the
far upper level of my home whose wireless signal
drastically fades by the time I get to the family room
or outside deck located on the opposite lower end of
the house.
For years I have been unhappy with the poor speeds
and overall experience of using a laptop in the areas
I want to use it in the most.
But what was I going to do? I don't have the expertise
to strand 500' worth of Cat5 cable across my home.
A friend at work told me that he was using a Belkin
powerline kit to feed Internet to his computer that
was located several rooms away from his router.
According to this friend, he was getting fairly good
connection speeds.
Now in case you have no idea what a powerline network
is all about, I invite you to read this Wikipedia article that
talks extensively about it. In short, your home's electrical
system is used to transmit Internet data from a transmitter to
receiver.
Powerline networking has gotten a bad rap over the
years --- and rightfully so. Initially it provided questionable
performance. However, over the years, the technology
became standardized and as a result, there are better
performing products now in the marketplace.
Considering to go with powerline networking was my
absolute last choice. However, the more reading I did
over the past week about the technology as well as
the raving reviews that have been posted about some
of the better powerline products, I decided I had nothing
to lose but try it out for myself.
The product I ended up purchasing was the Western Digital WD
Livewire. Recent reviews on CNET and AMAZON have rated this
particular model as the very best available as of the writing of this
review. Mind you, a newer chipset technology has just been approved
this year which means that there will be faster and even more effective
powerline kits being introduced shortly. I was not going to wait. At
a pricepoint of $100 I thought this could very well be the solution I was
looking for.
I have to say up front that I was very apprehensive about buying this
product. From what I read, powerline technology can be hit or miss and
while many people have success with the technology, many see no
results at all. Suffice to say, I opened the packaging very carefully
anticipating I was going to return it to Amazon.
The WD Livewire consists of two 4-port routing units with AC cords and short ethernet cables.
There are several huge advantages of going with the WD Livewire over other
Powerline models. First, instead of being a big bulky unit with a plug directly
attached to its end, the detachable AC cord allows you to move the unit away
from the wall. Another huge advantage is the fact that this is a 4-port outlet
that will allow you to use it as a hub to plug in up to 3 additional devices outside
of the primary Internet connection itself.
Setup could not be any simpler. Simply plug one of the WD routing boxes into
an AC outlet and then connect it to your router via ethernet cable. Then take
the second WD routing box and plug it into the AC outlet on the other side of
your home or in a secondary room within 2 minutes and watch the green connection
light come on indicating that a communication between the two units has been made.
All of this took less than 5 minutes once removed from the box without the
assistance of the supplied directions or Windows software whose purpose is
to monitor current connections and add new livewire modules.
There are two very important things you must know here. First, you should not
plug these units into extension cords or surge protectors. They will absolutely
degrade performance. Also, both AC outlets that you choose must co-exist on
the same power grid in your home. Momentarily, I will talk more about the problems
that will occur if you mix and match AC outlets on different grids.
Now let's see if this powerline kit really delivered the goods....
First, I took my Macbook Pro and ran speed tests to show its performance,
without the powerline, directly wired to my network.
This is what you would consider my normal wired connection speed to
my Verizon Fios network.
Here are the results after plugging my laptop directly into the powerline
router via cable at the opposite end of my house. As you can see I did
not lose much signal here. I found this to be highly encouraging for what
I was about to do next.
Since I wanted to expand the overall WiFi coverage at the opposite
end of the home I plugged in my Apple Airport Extreme to the newly
created powerline Internet connection. I placed this combination near
the family room that I wanted to provide a stronger signal to.
For kicks and giggles, if you want to see all the advice I received
on accomplishing this task, please read my exchanges in this thread.
Really have to thank Bob Timmons for helping me out with this.
Now mind you, you can easily plug your laptop or networking device
directly into the ethernet port in the back of the WD Livewire for maximum
signal strength.
This speedtest shows how bad my WiFi coverage usually is in
the family room.
After establishing a powerline connection and using my Apple
router to extend it wirelessly, you can see how much the signal
dramatically increased. It more than doubled.
The Apple iPads are notorious for having bad WiFi. Unless you
are close to the source of the signal your iPad will exhibit a minimal
amount of signal bars.
Prior to hooking up my router to the powerline I was getting 11.50MB/s
download speed with one indicated bar of coverage. After the powerline
addition it dramatically increased to full bars of coverage and 22.50MB/s
download speeds, very similar to the tests shown above.
A few moments ago I warned about using powerline networking with
AC outlets that are not on the same grid. About 15 years ago we had
an extension put on our home that included the new family room I have
been trying to cover wirelessly. A new addition means new wiring. All
the electrical outlets associated with the addition are on a separate fuse
box.
The top box shows speedtest results from the WD powerline connected to
an AC plug that is on the same grid as the transmitter in the office.
The bottom box shows what happens if you plug the powerline into an outlet
that is not on the same grid. You can see the dramatic signal loss.
[SIZE= 18px][COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 128)]CONCLUSION[/COLOR][/SIZE]
I am really amazed here. I did not think I would obtain the dramatic results
that I did. I have effectively been able to expand my wireless coverage,
more than doubling the signal strength without having to use cable.
Of course, a few questions still remain. Will the powerline provide consistent
signal strength or will it fluctuate due to line noise caused by appliances or other
electrical interference? I haven't really had time to test the new coverage
extensively to figure that out.
Another concerns is power outages. We go through several such outages
a year and I suspect that the powerline will have to be manually reconfigured
each time electricity is lost. All that means is replugging both units into the
wall to establish a connection. It sounds easy, but somewhat annoying when
you consider your home Internet resets itself.
All in all, you can bet that I am one happy camper here. I am hoping this
technology will work equally well for those of you with same coverage problem
I have. I would suspect just about everyone does.
networking has had a certain degree of difficulty with
coverage. I have a router that sits in my office on the
far upper level of my home whose wireless signal
drastically fades by the time I get to the family room
or outside deck located on the opposite lower end of
the house.
For years I have been unhappy with the poor speeds
and overall experience of using a laptop in the areas
I want to use it in the most.
But what was I going to do? I don't have the expertise
to strand 500' worth of Cat5 cable across my home.
A friend at work told me that he was using a Belkin
powerline kit to feed Internet to his computer that
was located several rooms away from his router.
According to this friend, he was getting fairly good
connection speeds.
Now in case you have no idea what a powerline network
is all about, I invite you to read this Wikipedia article that
talks extensively about it. In short, your home's electrical
system is used to transmit Internet data from a transmitter to
receiver.
Powerline networking has gotten a bad rap over the
years --- and rightfully so. Initially it provided questionable
performance. However, over the years, the technology
became standardized and as a result, there are better
performing products now in the marketplace.
Considering to go with powerline networking was my
absolute last choice. However, the more reading I did
over the past week about the technology as well as
the raving reviews that have been posted about some
of the better powerline products, I decided I had nothing
to lose but try it out for myself.
The product I ended up purchasing was the Western Digital WD
Livewire. Recent reviews on CNET and AMAZON have rated this
particular model as the very best available as of the writing of this
review. Mind you, a newer chipset technology has just been approved
this year which means that there will be faster and even more effective
powerline kits being introduced shortly. I was not going to wait. At
a pricepoint of $100 I thought this could very well be the solution I was
looking for.
I have to say up front that I was very apprehensive about buying this
product. From what I read, powerline technology can be hit or miss and
while many people have success with the technology, many see no
results at all. Suffice to say, I opened the packaging very carefully
anticipating I was going to return it to Amazon.
The WD Livewire consists of two 4-port routing units with AC cords and short ethernet cables.
There are several huge advantages of going with the WD Livewire over other
Powerline models. First, instead of being a big bulky unit with a plug directly
attached to its end, the detachable AC cord allows you to move the unit away
from the wall. Another huge advantage is the fact that this is a 4-port outlet
that will allow you to use it as a hub to plug in up to 3 additional devices outside
of the primary Internet connection itself.
Setup could not be any simpler. Simply plug one of the WD routing boxes into
an AC outlet and then connect it to your router via ethernet cable. Then take
the second WD routing box and plug it into the AC outlet on the other side of
your home or in a secondary room within 2 minutes and watch the green connection
light come on indicating that a communication between the two units has been made.
All of this took less than 5 minutes once removed from the box without the
assistance of the supplied directions or Windows software whose purpose is
to monitor current connections and add new livewire modules.
There are two very important things you must know here. First, you should not
plug these units into extension cords or surge protectors. They will absolutely
degrade performance. Also, both AC outlets that you choose must co-exist on
the same power grid in your home. Momentarily, I will talk more about the problems
that will occur if you mix and match AC outlets on different grids.
Now let's see if this powerline kit really delivered the goods....
First, I took my Macbook Pro and ran speed tests to show its performance,
without the powerline, directly wired to my network.
This is what you would consider my normal wired connection speed to
my Verizon Fios network.
Here are the results after plugging my laptop directly into the powerline
router via cable at the opposite end of my house. As you can see I did
not lose much signal here. I found this to be highly encouraging for what
I was about to do next.
Since I wanted to expand the overall WiFi coverage at the opposite
end of the home I plugged in my Apple Airport Extreme to the newly
created powerline Internet connection. I placed this combination near
the family room that I wanted to provide a stronger signal to.
For kicks and giggles, if you want to see all the advice I received
on accomplishing this task, please read my exchanges in this thread.
Really have to thank Bob Timmons for helping me out with this.
Now mind you, you can easily plug your laptop or networking device
directly into the ethernet port in the back of the WD Livewire for maximum
signal strength.
This speedtest shows how bad my WiFi coverage usually is in
the family room.
After establishing a powerline connection and using my Apple
router to extend it wirelessly, you can see how much the signal
dramatically increased. It more than doubled.
The Apple iPads are notorious for having bad WiFi. Unless you
are close to the source of the signal your iPad will exhibit a minimal
amount of signal bars.
Prior to hooking up my router to the powerline I was getting 11.50MB/s
download speed with one indicated bar of coverage. After the powerline
addition it dramatically increased to full bars of coverage and 22.50MB/s
download speeds, very similar to the tests shown above.
A few moments ago I warned about using powerline networking with
AC outlets that are not on the same grid. About 15 years ago we had
an extension put on our home that included the new family room I have
been trying to cover wirelessly. A new addition means new wiring. All
the electrical outlets associated with the addition are on a separate fuse
box.
The top box shows speedtest results from the WD powerline connected to
an AC plug that is on the same grid as the transmitter in the office.
The bottom box shows what happens if you plug the powerline into an outlet
that is not on the same grid. You can see the dramatic signal loss.
[SIZE= 18px][COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 128)]CONCLUSION[/COLOR][/SIZE]
I am really amazed here. I did not think I would obtain the dramatic results
that I did. I have effectively been able to expand my wireless coverage,
more than doubling the signal strength without having to use cable.
Of course, a few questions still remain. Will the powerline provide consistent
signal strength or will it fluctuate due to line noise caused by appliances or other
electrical interference? I haven't really had time to test the new coverage
extensively to figure that out.
Another concerns is power outages. We go through several such outages
a year and I suspect that the powerline will have to be manually reconfigured
each time electricity is lost. All that means is replugging both units into the
wall to establish a connection. It sounds easy, but somewhat annoying when
you consider your home Internet resets itself.
All in all, you can bet that I am one happy camper here. I am hoping this
technology will work equally well for those of you with same coverage problem
I have. I would suspect just about everyone does.
