More on Linksys Powerline Networking

[jeff_duntemann]

Testing of the Linksys PLE200 PowerLine networking technology continues. (See yesterday's entry.) I took my laptop in one hand and a PLE200 plug unit in the other and went around the house, plugging the PLE200 into random power outlets. At every single outlet I very quickly got a connection,

Comments

[chris_gerrib]

That 16-digit password doesn't make sense to me either. Each of those devices has to have a 12-digit MAC address which is unique. Filtering by MAC would be just as secure, IMO.

[whl]

MAC spoofing is not unheard of. More security is not a bad thing.

Is this box capable of being set up through a web interface? While I think I read that the configuration utility has Mac and linux versions as well, I generally prefer to use web configuration via some default IP address. In some LinkSys manuals, the only reference to the default IP address has been in screen shots in one of the appendices.

How secure?

[anonymous]

How well do you know your neighbors? Would they let you try connecting from their wall plugs?

Sam'l B.

Re: How secure?

[jeff_duntemann]

Yes, in fact we get on very well with the guy who just bought the house next door, which is the house closest to us. If I can't see the network from there, I doubt our other neighbors will see it. I'll ask him about it this week, and report back when I have some data.

[unkbar]

Is this the same internet-over-power-wiring that has the ham radio people so worried? Have you noticed that it causes any HF or VHF QRM?

[cutriss]

I believe that's actually the broadband-over-powerlines plans that got them upset.

ARRL.org

[jeff_duntemann]

Yes, it's the powerline technology that has the potential to hurt communications, in large part because power lines are everywhere. Because a BPL system serves many people at once, the system will be carrying data almost all the time.

My experiments have found that the Linksys HomePlug units are silent at RF unless they're actually carrying packets, so it won't be a problem anywhere except when we're looking at pictures on our big TV.

BPL, now, that's a problem.

[forvrin]

I always understood that power line networking was unforgiving of any odd wiring, and considering my house is a bit, shall we say, of a character, which started life as a double wide and was just tacked on and gutted and reconstructed until it only vaguely resembles what was first constructed 15 years ago, I'm a little leery of trying something like that out.

That said, I am a bit of a media geek, and I've found that 54mbits is about good for streaming audio in real time, and 100 Mbits is okay for most low - medium video formats (.avi's and .mpgs), the real holy grail, streaming .dvr mpeg2 files from my HTPC to my office would require full Gigabit to do so flawlessly.

Luckily, this holy grail has lost a lot of importance now that I've moved into this house, what with the no broadband internet and no cable / dish. :P