Hands-On Powerline Networking: How Well (Or Not) Are Latest-Generation Devices Working?
by Brian Dipert on September 1, 2011 12:41 AM EST- Posted in
- Networking
- Powerline Adapters
- NetGear
Having previously tested the IEEE 1901-implementing XAV5001 earlier this year, with much better results (both absolute and relative to prior-generation technologies) I'm admittedly baffled by its notable under-performance this time around. I'm sure I'll hear back from Netgear and/or Qualcomm soon after this writeup is published, and I'll post any notable follow-up findings.
Cautious congratulations go out to Sigma Designs, who's proven itself to me as a credible alternative supplier of HomePlug AV silicon. While the CG2110 chipset under-performed its INT6400 competitor in most of my tests, particularly in single-stream configurations, the fact remains that for many applications, its delivered bandwidth has met the 'good enough' metric.
Speaking of Sigma Designs, I continue to await adapter-based samples of the company's follow-on CG5110 chipset, which claims to comprehend both HomePlug AV and G.hn. AnandTech's Ganesh T S and I both saw demonstrations of functional silicon at January's CES; the latest word from Sigma Designs' PR contact is that "G.hn looks like Q3/4." With Q3 more than half over, the company's only got around four months to make good on its (schedule-slipped, originally targeted for March delivery) promises. I'll repeat-extend a similar invitation to Lanqiq, or for that matter any other G.hn silicon supplier; you've been highly critical of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance over the past year-plus, but it's time to put some 'steak' behind your 'sizzle' and show me what your chips can comparatively do.
Bottom line, though, I'll reiterate something I initially said earlier in this writeup: powerline networking technology has matured to an impressive degree. A few routers build powerline networking transceivers directly into their power supplies, therefore enabling voltage/current and packet transfers via a unified AC cord and outlet connection. Standalone adapter vendors should strive to further drop their prices, thereby cultivating additional demand volume, and systems suppliers should also begin to obsolete the need for standalone adapters by integrating powerline networking transceivers.
What was previously a confusing muddle of competing, incompatible pseudo-standards has finally been whittled down to two...and only one of them is shipping meaningful product volume at the moment. Pick and proceed, folks. It's time to simplify.
p.s. Fellow AnandTech staffer Ganesh just gave me a heads-up that he has a Netgear XAVB5501 two-adapter kit in-hand, with a review slated to appear in a few weeks. The XAV5501 is a three-prong powerline networking adapter which reportedly supports Qualcomm's Smart Link technology, the company's conceptual equivalent to the Sigma Designs ClearPath approach discussed in this article. Keep an eye out for Ganesh's writeup; I know I will.
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quiksilvr - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
Have you tried getting a better router and/or perhaps a better wireless card for your laptop?akedia - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
I have a current generation Airport Extreme, which is generally regarded as one of the best wireless routers available, and the built-in WiFi antenna in my Mac mini is not upgradable, as far as I know. My roommate's laptop is an HP dm1z, also not upgradable, and my Droid X is stuck with the antenna it shipped with as well. It's not my hardware, it's my environment. WiFi has limitations, like it or not.bdipert - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
Different tools for different tasks, jigglywiggly. Powerline can make a pretty good 'backbone' technology if, as I state in the article, you want to 'dispense with burrowing through dirty, spider- and snake-infested crawlspaces and drilling holes in walls and floors in order to route Cat5e cable around'. Wi-Fi conversely can be effective across intra-room and few-room spans...and with mobile devices.Paedric - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
Thanks for the article first, that's something I've been interested in for quite some time.However, I have a question; you tested it in a "perfect" environment by disabling interfering devices, to test the potential of the system, but what happen if it is not the case?
Is the performance hit really noticeable?
I don't want to rout a cable across the whole house, but I'm not really keen on turning off the fridge, lights, and unplugging devices every time I want to connect to the internet.
Denithor - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
I have the TRENDnet TPL-303E2K Powerline AV Adapter Kit installed in my home, connecting my wireless router in the living room to my office computer about 50 or 60 feet away. Couldn't get a solid enough wireless signal in the office for any kind of gaming, hooked up this kit and within literally 2 minutes was playing everything just fine.There's no need to unplug or turn off anything. It just works...
gariig - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
I bought my parents the same TRENDnet that Denithor has (crazy coincidence) because their wireless router and extra computer are on the other side of a ~2000 SQ FT house. Works flawlessly for normal computer usage (e-mail, Youtube, etc) and printer sharing. I don't know how well it works for large file transfers but I'd imagine you'll at least get 100 mbpsbdipert - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
It depends. That's the only meaningful answer I can offer. That's why, after much gnashing of teeth and back-and-forth waffling, I decided to do my testing with everything turned off and disconnected. Otherwise, if (say) I had an especially noisy refrigerator motor, my results might have unfairly undershot some alternative typical-refrigerator reality. Obviously, my data wasn't the absolute best case...as I mentioned, I stuck with DHCP address assignments for the two Endpoints, instead of hard-wiring static IP addresses, and I concurrently ran all available powerline networking adapters although only three were in active use at any point in time, and I chose outlets out of functional meaningfulness to me, intentionally ignoring whether or not they spanned multiple breakers, or jumped across phases, in the process. But I also don't think it would have been right to turn on all potential interference sources, then do the tests.With that said, I regularly sling ~20 Mbps Windows Media Center streams (HD ATSC recordings) around my LAN, including through powerline spans, with no problem.
leexgx - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
just would of been nice if you had done an short test with stuff on to see how it is handled them (just 1 page short tests) as you did it with every thing offyou could of had an laptop with you to monitor each power plug speeds when stuff came on, last power plugs I used the speeds stated seem close to bandwidth useable (-50 ish % for overhead)
I found power plugs to be very reliable and how they handle packet loss as well most of the time (last time I played with them)
Joe Martin - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
Does it work for streaming video or not? Very hard to read article.bdipert - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
It's impossible for me to provide a simple answer to such a question without either undershooting or overshooting the spectrum of possible realities. First off, there's the bandwidth potential of any two powerline nodes in YOUR particular setup to consider...only you can measure and ascertain that. Then you've gotta determine what you mean by 'streaming video'...are we talking about a 20 Mbps encapsulated MPEG-2 (ATSC) HD stream coming from a Windows Media Center server, for example, or a heavily compressed sub-1 Mbps H.264 standard-definition video stream? Protocol? Etc...