I got the power! As in Powerline Network

Cables. I don't know about you but at one point in time I had them everywhere. This was in the days when WiFi was not as prominent and wired network was still the main way to get stuff done. I would have wires hanging on the edge of the wall and ceiling and over door frames. It was a mess. I remember when The Wife and I first got married, we had an ADSL modem from AT&T hanging on the wall along with a wireless router not too far off. It was all on the wall. I even had a friend come over and comment that I seemed to have a bomb mapped out on the wall. It was a mess.

The advent of WiFi saved the wires quite a bit and I was able to essentially get all my computers, phone and tablets connected. However, this all went out the window when I found that WiFi wasn't getting the speed I needed to stream media on the Roku media box. So a wired solution was needed again. But the problem is that I live in a two story house now, with the modem/router being upstairs and the TV/Roku being downstairs. There was no way I was going to have cables snaking through the house with two toddlers on the loose.

I needed another solution. Originally I started off with a more complex solution of using an extra wireless router that I had sitting around as a bridge point to bring the cable to the media room. But it wasn't elegant and I still encountered the WiFi issue. So on to looking for another solution. My in-laws of all people suggested that I should try out the powerline LAN adapters as a possible solution. And to get me on the right path, my over zealous father-in-law already bought four extra adapters that he wasn't using at home as he only needed two and found them good enough for him. So I now have four of these things to play with, from two different brands.

I'm not sure where everyone is with their network or wireless vs wired solutions either at home or in the office. But for me, I needed a consistent and stable speed for both the streaming media box and also our file and media server. And with the way the house is, these two things are not always able to be near the router/modem at the same time. For the rest of my devices, WiFi does fine enough. So for me, the powerline LAN adapter is fully for solving the issue of creating network without the need for wires galore and still maintain a faster speed and stable network than WiFi may provide otherwise.

So on to the solution. I was gifted by my father-in-law with a set of TrendNet 500Mbps Compact Powering AV Adapter Kit (TPL-406E2K) and also a Tenda 200Mbps Powering Mini Adapter kit (P200). Being the typical guy, I did not read instructions and decided to just do the plug and play pray option. Surprisingly, it worked right out of the box for me. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be this way or if my father-in-law already set it all up for me (but I doubt it, he is very tech illiterate). And surprisingly, despite the fact that the two sets were of different brands, they were able to work together. It just works.

But the question is, as always, how well does it work. I will say straight up, the speed on these things are good and consistent. However, the issue arises with heat.

The Tenda units tend to overheat easily and just stop working. A quick unplugging and replugging does the trick but can be annoying since it can happen anytime. I have gone for as short as 15 minutes to as long as two days. So it's not what I call a reliable source of plug-it-in and leave-it-be type of tech.

The TrendNet units functioned a lot better. It seemed to have been susceptible to heat only once when we experienced a heat wave and the room in which it was located rose to a blistering 29C/84F. Aside from that one fateful day, the units have been humming along great with no slowdown or hiccups.

Overall, the idea of running your network over your powerline is a pretty decent idea. It gets the job done. It minimizes the mess of wires in the house. It provides a more secure environment compared to WiFi. I would say it is a good mixture of helping to minimize and simplify your house and technology and also allow for better organization of your devices.

I would definitely recommend it to family and friends. However, I would also caution on buying too cheap of a unit as it seems like they are susceptible to heat failure.

What about you? How have you managed to organize the mess that comes with a more digital lifestyle that requires multiple devices? What is your experience with various solutions? Would love to hear about what you have been doing.