Regarding HomePlug Networking

[masterbuilder]

Hi,
I'll be moving house in a few months and have been pondering how I'll handle networking when I get there. For a while I've been minded to install a wired ethernet network and may still do that. However, I've started to wonder whether using homeplug devices may be a cost effective alternative. However, I've not used homeplug devices at all, have minimal knowledge of the technology and so have some questions that experienced users may be able to help with...

First, a bit of background regarding my plans and expectations. Aside from general computing use and gaming I anticipate most of the upstairs bandwidth being used by high definition video running to TVs and audio streams running to Sonos devices, ie. the main network use case will be to server entertainment. My existing network infrastructure is an ASUS RT-AC66U router and a self built NAS which stores my music and blu-ray collection. I also plan to look into home automation (lighting, heating, security et.al) which will benefit from wired connectivity, depending on the approach taken.

First of all, homeplug seems to have come a long way and appears to offer decent performance. However, the use cases and deployment architecture aren't clear to me. For example, homeplug devices are sold in pairs. So, if I were to homeplug connect a minimum of 4 bedrooms does that mean 4 homeplug adapters will be needed to interface to the router? I presume not, but given that all connected homeplugs will be connected to a common bus network (the ring main) what are the bandwidth implications of connecting multiple homeplug devices to the power network and back to a single adapter connected to the router or switch?

Secondly, I may elect to rent out a room. Can I use homeplug to isolate any lodger from the rest of my network? Is it suited to that?

In short, how does this technology perform/scale in the real world? Or is it really a niche add-on/extension to existing networks which means I should just go with installing cat-6/7 and be done with it? And is it secure..?

I look forward to benefiting from your enlightment


Regards,
Dave

 

[thiggins]

If you have a choice, good old Ethernet is always best.

Homeplug requires one adapter per device. So one to connect to the main router / switch, and one for each device you want to connect. Note you could attach a switch or access point to the Homeplug adapter to connect more devices.

Homeplug adapters don't listen to VLAN tags AFAIK.

 

[coxhaus]

The Netgear homeplugs I am using are working with VLAN tags. In fact I have a trunk with tags between 2 Cisco switches crossing 2 Netgear homeplugs.
For the price of the homeplug you can probably install an Ethernet drop. The Ethernet wire is a much better solution. I hope to go there this fall when my DirecTV contract is up. I am going to pull out a coax cable and pull a Ethernet cable in it's place.

 

[thiggins]

The Netgear homeplugs I am using are working with VLAN tags. In fact I have a trunk with tags between 2 Cisco switches crossing 2 Netgear homeplugs.

How are you setting the tags?

Maybe you could do a DIY Ethernet drop for $80. But an electrician visit to fish cable, forget it!

 

[coxhaus]

The tags are set by my Cisco switches. I have SG200-8 switch on my media center connected to my SG300-28 layer 3 switch. I have a trunk port defined on both switches so I can extend my guest network and my regular LAN network to my media center where one of wireless Cisco WAp321 is connected to my SG200-8. I have 2 SSID defined to 2 VLANs one being a guest. So 2 VLANs are feed to the SG300-28 master switch one being my guest VLAN. I decided it would be nice to plug the DirecTV into the guess VLAN as well as the wireless guest. I had to turn on the VLAN tags on the Netgear homeplug software as I don't think it was defaulted that way. I can't remember.

My buddy talked the DirecTV guy into installing 6 Ethernet drops for $300. I don't know if it was a side deal after hours.

 

[thiggins]

I had to turn on the VLAN tags on the Netgear homeplug software as I don't think it was defaulted that way. I can't remember.

I'd think you would have to have the adapters themselves listen to the VLAN tags. Just assigning a switch port to a VLAN and plugging the Homeplug adapter into it wouldn't do it. Any other Homeplug adapters on the same circuit would join that VLAN.

Creating separate Homeplug networks with different security codes should work just as well and be easier, yes?

My buddy talked the DirecTV guy into installing 6 Ethernet drops for $300. I don't know if it was a side deal after hours.

Nice deal if you can get it.

 

[coxhaus]

I think the Netgear homeplug software makes an adjustment so the homeplugs pass 1518 bytes packets instead of 1500 the same as a switch passing VLAN tags. Just a guess.

You would not need a pair of homeplugs for each VLAN because the packets have VLAN tags for which VLAN they belong to.

 

[Samir]

I've tested the Netgear homeplugs with vlan tags and they pass them fine. Our apartment sends out tons of multicast traffic on a vlan for our direct tv over ethernet and I was able to use the powerlines--which would have not been possible if they didn't do vlans.

 

[coxhaus]

Yea, I mainly use my Netgear homeplugs for shipping video to my TV from the internet. It also handles the wireless traffic on one end of my house.

 

[masterbuilder]

I'm not sure any of these responses have directly addressed the question in context. But never mind...

 

[thiggins]

I'm not sure any of these responses have directly addressed the question in context. But never mind...

What has not been answered? I answered the question about how many adapters and OPs have answered the traffic separation question (use VLANS),

 

[thoma]

Dave, your bandwidth needs are relatively high because you are streaming HD video. Wired Ethernet would give you a lot more headroom to work with.

HomePlug is a nice option when it is inconvenient to run Ethernet wiring. Because of the bus topology, though, all HomePlug units will share the same total bandwidth.

HomePlug uses AES encryption. The devices usually ship with a generic network key. You must follow the instructions to pair the units or change the key.

 

[masterbuilder]

Yeah, from my own reading it's become clear that homeplug isn't something that I can use other than in specific edge cases. Thanks...