Home Networking Setup Advice

October 23, 2011 6:17 AM

Hi I have just moved house and the broadband has been installed. There is only one phoneline which is the other side of the house to where I need the rg45 connections. I can scrabble together something that work, but I was wondering if anyone can give me advice for a better setup. I have: Adsl router Slingplayer Pogoplug 2 x Homeplug playon.tv installed on pc The primary use of the pogoplug is to stream music and films to my PS3 and TV - I currently have that connected to the router in the other room away from the TV/PS3 and the homeplug bringing in the wired connection. Any ideas gratefully received. TC
posted by trashcan to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

How about BPL?
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:33 AM on October 23, 2011

If you can access a crawlspace/basement/attic etc. you could string Ethernet cable yourself. It isn't that hard to terminate the cables, is fairly cheap (cable and a terminator tool will be the most expensive parts) and having the network jacks where you want them is a good thing. You'll need a hub of some sort to connect everything to, and to do it correctly you want lines in the wall terminated on both ends with female connectors, using short male jumper cables to connect in-wall jacks to the hub. One line incoming from router to hub and you're all set.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:24 AM on October 23, 2011

or...do what i did, and call up your ISP (or phone company) and throw a fit until they send someone to move it for free. (in my case, dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks roommate allowed them to install the internet in his room (closest to where the cable enters the house) instead of, oh, someplace logical, while I was at work. "we can just run cables willy-nilly all over the place" "oh yeah, not in my decor, buddy")
posted by sexyrobot at 10:49 AM on October 23, 2011

Best answer: Another vote for BPL. I bought two Powerline adapters (they go for £35 on Amazon, so will probably cost $35 in the US), took an ethernet cable out of the router and into one of the boxes and then an ethernet cable out of the other and into the desktop computer upstairs (which was close enough to get a WiFi signal, but a bit too far away to get anything approaching decent speeds).

The result was that my desktop PC went from having the slowest connection in the house to the fastest. It's the same speed as if I had plugged a laptop directly into the router.

(In terms of costs for running, I read somewhere that it costs about 50p - or 80c - per year)
posted by mr_silver at 2:21 AM on October 25, 2011