Broadband over electrical network (BOEN)

[beeswax]

For some reason the Guardian Link always seems to appear online about a month after publication, but here's an interesting piece.

 

Overheard | E-learning | EducationGuardian.co.uk

[srochford]

See Edugeek :-)

[laserblazer]

You get the feeling that many schools will soon be looking at their electrical sockets in a new light - will we have to rewrite the networking specs for Building Schools for the Future, I wonder?

 

What do you think he meant by the above. "Here's a great opportunity but I doubt it will be implemented."

[ICT_GUY]

This technology has been around for years, but has never taken off. A shocking lack of foresight really, networking could do with a jolt from a few bright sparks but there's always resistance to new technology. Edited June 24, 2008 by ICT_GUY

[beeswax]

See Edugeek :-)

 

Thanks for that.

[dhicks]

For some reason the Guardian Link always seems to appear online about a month after publication, but here's an interesting piece.

 

Hmm - like you say, interesting, although nowhere do I seem to be able to find any kind of examples of price...

 

--

David Hicks

[Sirbendy]

This technology has bee around for years, but has never taken off. A shocking lack of foresight really, networking could do with a jolt from a few bright sparks but there's always resistance to new technology.

 

Oh DEAR...heh..a joule of a reply, with a worrying frequency of punning there. We're currently testing a pair of these for our headteacher who just CAN'T get his home wifi working.

 

I can see the potential of the kit, it works well.

[somabc]

It does work well, but I would still rather have a building wired with Cat6!

[Andrew_C]

It does work well, but I would still rather have a building wired with Cat6!

But the whole point is that this could span MANY buildings, or "difficult" buildings without additional external wiring. (See other thread for some of the issues involved there)

[somabc]

I know the point. I am just not sure that it would be reliable enough to use either internally or to span buildings and hence I would rather have cat6 & fibre used instead all things being equal. I have used some of this kit before and had to deal to network connections that mysteriously stop working.

[Guest Guest]

But the whole point is that this could span MANY buildings, or "difficult" buildings without additional external wiring. (See other thread for some of the issues involved there)

 

But surerly this is only useful for old buildings. New builds should have proper routes for network cables planned fropm the beggining. Even if this technology lasts for 20 years thats still 30+ years short of the life of a school, and would leave them in the situation alot of us currently are with our 1950s schools.

 

And thats if the technology is equal to cat x and fibre. For all we know in 10 years time the standard might be fibre to the clients. BOEN could hit a technological barrier which means it can only go up to 1gb for arguements sake... Anyway, point is its a technology which should be used to help us with old schools, not relyed upon for new builds.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Guest

[ninjabeaver]

I purchased one of the NEtgear WGXB102 units. £80 later and it arrived. Plugged it in at my router side and one in the lounge where we wanted additional wireless access. Nothing. The two wall plugs could not see each other.

 

After some more research etc it looks like old wiring can / does effect the usefulness of this device. Shame really. It does not work through gang plugs either. I can see how this would work in RL, but there are loads of variables to consider for its application. It would work at its best in a new build of a room / building with up to date wiring.

 

It looks good on paper, but it does need to be tested in situ if possible.

[Ryan]

A shocking lack of foresight really, networking could do with a jolt from a few bright sparks but there's always resistance to new technology.

 

Very good, hehe

[Ric_]

There has been a number of initiatives announced lately using powerline technologies. Most use powerline technology as the last hop and combine it with some kind of wireless. Whole streets and twer blocks can be done in one fell swoop in this way!

 

Free powerline based wireless broadband for council tenants - 21 May 2008 - Computing

[Andrew_C]

The two wall plugs could not see each other.

 

After some more research etc it looks like old wiring can / does effect the usefulness of this device. Shame really. It does not work through gang plugs either.

Can anyone offer explanations of what might cause this? The only issue I can foresee that could cause problems would be having sockets on different phases. Unlikely at home.

[srochford]

New builds should have proper routes for network cables planned fropm the beginning.

 

Steve runs screaming from the building

 

You might think that would be the case but I work in a college with buildings little more than 10 years old which have no such facility! Even the building going up outside my window at the moment is not going to have what we'd hoped for (it's got big service risers - we saw this much of the plans - what we didn't know was that the riser has no floors; this means we can't put cabinets on each floor but will have to run everything back to the ground floor ...)

 

And that's if the technology is equal to cat x and fibre. For all we know in 10 years time the standard might be fibre to the clients. BOEN could hit a technological barrier which means it can only go up to 1gb for arguements sake... Anyway, point is its a technology which should be used to help us with old schools, not relied upon for new builds.

 

I'd agree that it shouldn't be the basis for a new build; I still think it's likely to have value for all the odd things which (even with good planning!) get forgotten. The fact that you can just plug in 2 boxes and moments later you have a network where you didn't have one before is almost magical :-)

 

At the moment, it doesn't look as if you can get more than about 100Mbit on this technology but the twisted pair copper which now delivers "up to" 24Mbit ADSL was struggling to deliver 1200bit just 20 years ago.

[leco]

It does not work through gang plugs either.

 

I bought a pair for my home use - house is over 100 years old, wiring not quite that old. Plugged in - it just worked, much to my amazement. Both ends are plugged into gangs, one upstairs and one downstairs, not on the same ring but must be on the same phase I guess.

 

Whatever I am very happy with it, means I can connect to my main PC or server from the comfort of my arm chair and laptop which was more than I could do when I tried a wifi set up.

[rhyds]

I bought a pair for my home use - house is over 100 years old, wiring not quite that old. Plugged in - it just worked, much to my amazement. Both ends are plugged into gangs, one upstairs and one downstairs, not on the same ring but must be on the same phase I guess.

 

Whatever I am very happy with it, means I can connect to my main PC or server from the comfort of my arm chair and laptop which was more than I could do when I tried a wifi set up.

 

Were they surge protected gangs by any chance ninja? Surge protectors seriously reduce throughput, and if you had one each end then I wouldn't be surprised if it died totally.

[tonyd]

I'm fairly sure that these devices operate as single shared network segment, so will be OK for low bandwidth situations, but rather a lot like a step back to the dark ages of hubs and ethernet 10base-x where all devices connected to a single backbone (I guess I've been doing this too long as I rememeber putting in 10 base-5 and 10 base-2 (thick and thin ethernet) networks ;0) )

 

You're NEVER going to get anything like the same throughput as a well configured switched enviroment. I've a couple of 54Mb home network devices at home, and even then am surprised how often the collision light is lit...