Has anyone had any experience with this piece of kit?
There doesn’t seem to be any actual reviews detail how much real-worl difference it is likely to make at the centre of a G.Hn based network.
I can’t go wired networking here, as it’s rented property, so i’d get this if it makes a big enough difference compared to just socket adapters. Would also be more reliable to connect the server rack to something that can’t be unplugged.
That is a weird webpage. It talks about home stuff a lot and then it is a 3 phase device meant for 200-250v input. Do Europe or UK homes really have 3 phase power typically? I always thought I heard they used 250v line to neutral single phase voltage at homes.
If your rental property meets the power requirements Im sure it will work fine. You wont get 2.4gbps on it though. I believe most “AV2000” devices get around 150mbps real world, so expect somewhere 150-200mbps Id guess.
edit:
So looks like it is always powered single phase, but has the capability of 3 phase wiring to get the maximum speed on the extra phases. I still dont think UK homes normally have this though so the extra speed it is supposed to get through “phase coupling” wont actually work without the extra phases.
It looks like it’s just a normal “2400 Mbps” (you will never even get a tenth of the claimed speed) powerline networking adapter, but it has network connections across all three phases so that the single phase receptacles on different legs of the three phase power system all have network access. Basically it just ties the different phases together with network.
There’s a pretty big downside of having to install this in your circuit breaker box though, as opposed to in a conveniently located receptacle.
Yeah, its about as common as two phase power in the US, it’s just not exposed on the common receptacles (but different receptacles might be on different legs of the three phase). If you go leg to leg you’ll get the 400v on a three phase where exposed.
Actually, the 3 phases in older European houses are connected slightly differently: each house has only a single phase, but in multiple-dwelling buildings, the 3 phases are distributed across the building in such a way that for the most part, loads for each phase is roughly equal. Having said that, in case a home has an appliance that requires a 400V 3-phase connection (like a cooker or heater) that house gets the full 3 phase power connection from the street and the regular outlets may be rewired across the phases for that house alone.
As far as I can tell, it’s only single phase, as it’s a small detached house, with older, but still fairly modern, electrics. The install instructions are for 1, and 3, phase. No idea if there is an difference in performance though. And UK is not Europe, in so many ways. I think we do it out of spite for our continental cousins.
I’ve had AV600 adapters for a few years, but the first one has failed now, and with 4k video and massive games being normal, I need to upgrade the whole network anyway.
I’m just trying to weigh up whether it’s worth me going for the 2.4G system (I know that’s not even close to throughput max), or if I lay flat CAT6 patch everywhere, and try to hide it and avoid trip hazards, and cats, dogs, and ferrets chomping on it.
Is fibre an option? I think a couple of the rack switches have fibre uplink ports, that i’ve never needed to use.
Ive seen lots of people use white ethernet cables and use single nail wire clips every few feet (or a meter) to secure it to the baseboards right at the carpet line. When going by a door they go up, over, and down the door frame. To go through a door just go around the doorframe at the bottom and secure it well on both sides so it hugs tightly. It stays out of the way well and isnt really a draw to pets since it is so close to the walls.
I can use sticky ducting in the rooms. Problem is going between rooms. The cable has to go through doorways, and the doors need to shut.
So, it’s under the door and cover with duct tape or something, or over the top and hope it doesn’t get pinched too much. It’s an older house, so most of the doors have some wiggle room around them.
For older homes connected on only 1 phase, are they still only on a 63 Ampere service like the homes that receive the full three phases? I’d never actually encountered one and was curious.
going with wifi might be the easiest solution, the modern stuff has gotten better with range than in the past, at least at a given speed.
The WiFi is already choking. All the handheld devices use it, as well as the laptops, and I need to be able to handle a couple of 4k streams, shuffle data around, and have 4 gamers online at once minimum.
I think I need a crash course in modern networking and fibre.
Only the one sat or aerial cable going into one room, from the roof somewhere. We don’t watch TV, so it’s never been used. Might have a length of 10base2 somewhere though.
Looks like an interesting tech to remember though, thanks!
Maybe look into mesh routers? Get ones with a dedicated backhaul radio so they dont get bogged down with traffic. If you have 3 mesh units it would cover everything and allow less devices per point. The top end units have some good real world bandwidth too.
Maybe the Eero 6+ or Pro 6e?
edit: looks like they just came out with the Eero 7 so you could be on the new latest and greatest wifi. Might be a little early to jump on though.
or the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 3-pack looks like a good option.
Wow! I really am out of the loop. I’ll have to go and look up some tests and reviews on the new gear. That stuff could leave me with just having to run a single CAT6 for myself, and everything else over those. Doesn’t even need to get a quarter of those speeds to work.
I haven’t recently looked at my main network fuse box, but the ones I can access are 16A each. My system should be rewired as it’s still using the old colours for the wires, including a new and expanded electrical panel, but that’s rather costly as well as requiring me moving out of the house for the duration of the upgrade. Unfortunately, the housing market here is in such disarray that finding affordable living space at all is rather a challenge.
I’m a bit late to this party but just took a look at the German instructions at devolo.de because I’ve found that the English translations are never as technically useful as the originals.
The device can be attached for native 3-phase OR native 1-one phase installs. The idea being that IF you have a 3-phase install and you wanted powerline-networking everywhere including the garage with your 3-phase tools, then this will do it.
Edit: forgot to say that page 25 of the German install PDF was what I felt the most useful bit of info: 1-phase install should work but for optimal datatransfer they recommend connection of all 3 phases, Neutral and Protective Earth. (That’s directly translated from the German).
It does note that the electrical installation must be performed by a qualified electrician. I’ve always been paranoid about toeing the line in rentals but the other aspect is that your electrician will know what your phases are and install accordingly
Having used power-line networking in 2 rental properties in the UK and to provide my parental units with networking on the ground floor where wifi from the 1st floor did not reach. That was a 1980’s new build in Germany, 45cm brick walls, concrete poured floors and “it worked” for letting the parents read their email and use the iPad.
For myself, I had to use it for several years when renting and as noted, an average of 100Mbps (megabits per second) is likely. I seem to recall getting 75-ish on a 1970’s build UK rental and 100-ish on another which had been fully refurbished in 2018 (we were the first tenants in).
So YMMV, I’d say it works fine for casual internet use but downloads are slow - I often used to schedule this via the NAs overnight. What is convenient is that it broadly “just works” if there’s no other options.
These days I’d try a mesh system too and one with a dedicated radio [channel] for the backhaul so you get max bandwidth for your use as @EniGmA1987 notes.
Some other thoughts which may help:
Remember in that case that your use devices - phones, tablets, desktop - have relatively small antennae compared to the relatively large antenna on the mesh radio. So positioning can make a huge difference.
Consider also: can all your devices support the newest radio standards offered by your chosen mesh radio device? Having ax-capable radios with 80MHz channels does not help the IOT devices so you can save money by - for example - going to an Eero 6+ rather than the 7.
It helps if you use something like the free version of Netspot to scan your wifi surroundings. It’ll give you a precise idea of signal degradation over distance which allows you to plan better (2 mesh radios? 3? 4 ?! etc).
If you have you any way to “cheat” using thin Ethernet cables hidden behind furniture or attached using those easy-to-remove 3M branded stickers or hooks, then that too can help (e.g. hook up the xbox or the nearest mesh radio).
Bonus tip: don’t’ buy the no-brand variant, they leave marks on removal.
I’ve bought some used DLAN 1200 adapters to add to the system I have now (Mostly DLAN 500), until I save enough cash for a new mesh system. It’s only DSL in this area, so they are more than enough until civilisation reaches this part of the world with fiber.
I used to install DSL and ISDN In Germany in the 90’s, and here we haven’t progressed past that yet. :-/
The house is quite small, so distance won’t be an issue, just the interior walls.
The mobile devices don’t used the network much anyway, and the oldest is at least ac standard I think. For anything older, I can just set up a dedicated AP and connect it to to the LAN ports if I need to.
I have sticky cable ducting in the rooms, as we need to decorate on leaving, same as most rentals in Germany. It’s just getting network access from one side of closed doors, to the other, that really stops me cabling the whole place.
I’ll probably be back on here looking for advice when it’s time to buy the mesh system!
I had 3 of the dLAN 1200+ adapters in our 1970’s house rental. That was ADSL at 40/1 so like you, downloads being slow wasn’t their fault.
The only other thing that springs to mind is that I had to place one adjacent to a radiator since my rack was in that room.
That particular adapter lasted for 2 years and a few power cuts but at one point it failed to come back after another power cut. I recall it was always far warmer than I felt comfortable - think laptop power brick running near the max - and it linked my room to my NAS devices and the router. Since I always had NFS and SMB shares open and streamed music in the background it was also heavily used throughout the day.
I guess I’m saying that keeping them cooler might help extend their lifetime
