The Return of Wires???

We're Not Going Backwards...Are We?

I read with interest about the possible resurgence of powerline networking products in the NY Times yesterday.

Back in the Stone Age of home networking, anyone who wanted to play on a computer not hooked directly into an Internet connection had to snake phone lines or Ethernet wires across floors and up staircases.

People talked about a promising idea: using the electrical wiring already in the house to move data from room to room.

The article traces that networking began with wires, and then transitioned to wireless networks. The technology of powerline networking, never quite caught on. Affordable 802.11b routers, later supplanted by faster g gear, and the built in wireless on most notebooks (and now even handhelds) sent powerline networking to the off ramp of the information superhighway.

But did it permanently? The article focuses on a few possible advantages:
- Faster transmission speeds.
- Ease of setup
- No wireless deadspots

Now, in my opinion. I don't see powerline networking making any inroads here. The current wireless gear is quite good, and can provide reliable 100+ mbps bandwidth within most households. The recent introduction of "draft n" equipment promises to increase the bandwidth to over 200 mbps, with top speeds of 300 mbps. Powerline won't be able to match that in the current iteration.

I don't know what the difficulties he's talking about with setup. When I setup my last router, it took less than 10 minutes. Connect the wires, insert the disc, and it was all configured. 'Nuff said.
The issue of wireless deadspots and interference does plague some users. I haven't personally experienced these issues. If you have WiFi deadspots, there are a plethora of options to overcome them: wireless repeaters, antenna signal boosters, and good ol' ethernet cabling come to mind. The point is that it's not an insurmountable problem if you know what you're doing.

Why am I anti-powerline networking? Because it is expensive, and based on a proprietary standard. In the Times article, they quote a $200 price tag, and that only includes two adapters. The whole system only supports a mere 7 devices. With more and more devices needing to be connected, this is hardly adequate. Netgear is planning to introduce a powerline system for $300, with only two adaptors with additional modules going for $150. This makes the wireless networking gear look quite affordable. The final deal breaker is that besides the cost, none of this gear is interchangeable, and specific to only one manufacturer's standards. That's usually a sure sign that this will be outdated sooner rather than later, and keep prices high by stifling competition.

Alas, powerline networking, you had a lot of potential, but wireless has stolen your spot on the networking food chain on a permanent basis. I'll stick to wireless gear for now and the future. If something is going to supplant it, I'm sure it will be wireless as well.

--Jonas

As always, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.