bobpeers -> blog

After getting my internet connection back I’ve returned to my old problem with my laptop. It’s a bit long in the tooth now and although it works fine the wireless is the old 802.11b standard (the original Centrino) so on my home network I’m limited to about 4 Mbps on a good day. Since my Internet connection now runs at 25Mbps this creates an annoying bottleneck in my network.

The other problem is that due to my routers location it’s not so easy to just run an Ethernet cable to my laptop. To solve this in the short term until I upgrade to 802.11n I thought about buying a Homeplug / Powerline system.

After some research it seems the Netgear HDXB101 or Devolo dLAN 200 AVeasy units seem like a good buy. They claim up to 200Mbps but from reviews it sees that 40-50 Mbps is more realistic even under ideal conditions. It also seems that using a power extension affects performance markedly, plus old wiring is not so good. Unfortunately one side of my flat has brand new wiring while the other side is about 100 years old!

Of the two I prefer the Devolo units, partly from reading this PC Pro review but also because they actually advertise Linux support and have Linux drivers available for download from their website. Of course they are also more expensive but I’m willing to pay extra for a product that actively promotes Linux compatibility in their products.

None of this would put me off too much if it wasn’t for the cost. In Denmark the cheapest I can buy a pack of two for is about 950 DKK (about 200 USD), which I think is pretty steep given that new draft-n wireless routers can be bought for less than this plus the technology is not that new.

I might just have to bite the bullet and buy some, but it’s a big risk not knowing what performance they will deliver.