Ethernet over mains

Nomad suspected that the wireless connection between his media player and PC was not always adequate, particularly for very high definition video. In order to fix this an ethernet cable would need to be run somewhere. The route of this cable was the subject of much head scratching. For safety reasons it could not run alongside power cables. For aesthetic reasons it could not trail across the floor. In any case there was always the possibility that a future redesign of the lounge would require the cable to be re-routed. In any case Nomad is extremely lazy and the idea of drilling holes and suchlike caused constant postponement of the project

There is, however, a technology called ethernet over mains which solves these problems by using the power cables in your house to transmit data.

Nomad tried to order Belkin units from DABS but this delivery went from 3-4 days to 2-3 weeks to 6-7 weeks to order cancelled. He then ordered a Maxvalue (never heard of them either) 200Mbps Home Plug double unit pack from Amazon for £56.

The units come with utility sotware that lets you control privacy and also tell how fast your link is running. According to the software the link runs at 168MB. Obviously the Ethernet router only runs at 100MB so 168MB is an entirely theoretical number.

Once the link units were installed, the wireless link on the media player was turned off. Tests using very high definition video (around 50MB/minute) show that these files now play perfectly. I have found a couple of files which still have a problem with sound, however the picture seems to be perfect. I suspect this is a file format issue rather than a network problem.