I'm thinking of getting a "BT Mini Wi-Fi 500 Home Hotspot Power Adapter Kit" to get wifi coverage in the back garden & shed (yes, I know that's kind of goofy, but it's not just for me). Has anyone else tried this product or anything similar? If so, with what kind of results?
(One of my friends in the US uses "powerline" (network over the mains wiring) stuff & is quite enthusiastic about it.)
I use powerline ethernet to connect streaming devices back to upstairs partly because I only have one Cat5 cable running the length of the house. It works pretty well but you will get various radio Hams along shortly telling you that this technology is the spawn of the devil.
FWIW I can't see any effect on my RF scanner with or without it. A very badly designed phone picks up mains hum if held really close to a node.
BTW A Wifi repeater might more accurately do what you say you want. (old redundant routers can often be configured to do this job)
Provided that they are all on the same ring main it works very well.
I'd recommend TP link or similar. BT badged ones likely to be overpriced. I think these are the descendents of mine:
I think it is worth reading about these claims, and then making up your own mind. If somebody does indeed come knocking on your door complaining, you will know what he/she is talking about. If nothing else, reading the anti-Homeplug website is amusing for the apparent histrionics of the writers, if only I could find it. Maybe they have taken it down.
Also, avoid any extensions with surge suppressors, they can block the signals. Best to find a wall socket.
Just bung a switch on the end of the cable for the multiple remote devices. Unless you are streaming lots of things at hefty bit rates the 100 Mbps "bottle neck" of the cable won't be a problem.
The OP isn't clear if the "remote" end will be in the shed. If it is the shed supply should not be directly connected to any of the house rings. It should be a seperate supply from the CU. At the very least it needs to have a RCD in the circuit, which may degrade the HomePlug signals.
I'd second that. When I switched to BT fibre, my old router became redundant. So situated it at the top of the house close to a window and the signal from that goes nicely to the end of my (not large) garden.
Gigabit switches are dirt cheap nowadays and the Cat5 will probably work at 1000Mb/s quite happily.
I use powerline all over the house and just used an old router as a secondary wifi spot.(old cottage = thick walls)
As a true repeater, or just an additional wireless access point?
I would say that comparatively few redundant routers will do the former, but they all should do the latter.
Probably an additional wireless point. You have to select it on the computer.
H obviously does not have close neighbours trying to use short wave radios then. These devices, in many peoples oppinions should be banned in their current form. After all mainswiring is not very good at lossless movement of rf signals so the devices tend to use a high power to get it through, and in so doing radiate basically from medium wave op to 30 mhz of nasty spiky hash, ticking noises and buzzes all over the close by neighbourhood.
Brian
I idly wonder how many people do, relative to the number using powerline networking.
"Many" is stretching it. And just look at the websites supporting those people's case - whether they have a case or not, they really don't help their position one bit by coming over as shrill conspiracy theorist loons.
I used it here a bit a few weeks ago. Does it work? Yes. Except when it doesn't.
Unexplained 2-3minute dropouts.
TP link AV500 stuff.
Local arc welder kit or similar? That's the only thing that takes mine down for short bursts.
A pond pump plugged into the same socket as a wi-fi hotspot adapter of ours seemed to stop it working. Turning off the pond pump restored the connection.
Tim
My thoughts too. The percentage of folk using short wave radios relative to the number of folk using powerline adaptors must be pretty tiny.
Whilst it may be interfering with some folk's hobby, is it having any economic effects?
Tim
I was planning to put the remote in the dining room (with window facing the back garden & shed). But even so, it would be on a different circuit from the "base unit" connected to the router.
I dunno if there are any ham radio operators in my neighbourhood. Would they still be identifiable by special antennas on the outsides of their houses?
Maybe so, depending on the kind of repeater. I guess those keep things simple by using the same SSID, whereas the kind of kit I've been looking at would provide a different one --- is that right?
I've read that some (many?) wifi extenders (maybe not true "repeaters"?) halve the overall wifi bandwidth available from the main WAP because they use it up relaying onward.
I'll take a look, thanks.
They can and do affect FM and DAB transmissions, theirs a BBC engineering report on them if you want it..
That isn't always a problem.
I have a couple of powerline networking devices talking to each other quite happily despite being on different rings - there's even a second, daisy-chained, RCD'd consumer unit in the way.
We receive FM quite happily. One radio is right underneath one of the powerline units, another is pretty much right above the other.
We don't have a DAB receiver, yet, but borrowed a neighbour's recently to check if it would work here - and got an excellent signal.
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