using powerline adapters to move wireless router
Posted: Tue 05 Aug 2014, 16:09
Here's a problem which is not Puppy-specific, yet has turned up repeatedly in my experience with friends fighting problems with home computer networks.
The usual problem comes from a cable modem installed in some location in the house which was convenient for the cable guy, but absolutely terrible for transmitting WiFi to other parts of the house. A variation on this theme turns up when you live in an apartment where the cable connection is farther away than the next-door neighbors' wireless router. In this environment you can have terrible problems with interfering wireless signals.
One solution is to buy an expensive triple-band router which will dominate the competition, until something fancier comes along. I'm using a simpler and cheaper alternative with wireless routers people already have, or can pick up cheaply, and powerline adapters.
In the past I've used such things as a 100 foot CAT-5 cable to connect the cable modem with a wireless router upstairs. This involved some messy work inside air ducts and/or attics. Powerline adapters make it possible to extend the connection between modem and router by a greater distance using simple units that plug into ordinary wall power sockets.
Here's my current ultimate solution to the powerline method of forwarding a connection from a cable modem to a router, so you can locate your wireless router someplace that makes rf sense.
At this time, I'm using a pair of TP-Link 500 Mb/s Nano adapters, bought on a special. I've also tried the corresponding Trendnet adapters.
Using a computer running some version of the blanketty-blank Windows OS, you install the TP-Link Powerline program on the mini disk found way at the bottom of the package. You should probably disable all your careful antivirus and firewall programs so this can have unrestricted access to network devices. Fortunately, this does not have to take place while you are connected to the Internet.
Important: You must be directly connected to the powerline adapter, even if it can't connect to anything else.
Once you get the program running, and recognizing that it is connected to the device, you then hunt through various tabs for administration to find the one which allows you to change the network name from the default "HomePlugAV". You could just call the resulting network "ModemLink", but this might run into problems if someone else is following these instructions. I recommend using a name more likely to be unique.
(A friend suggested "CthulhuNet", but I haven't heard from him in a while, and will assume no responsibility for terrible consequences of using this name. )
After you have saved this change the device will not connect to anything else. This is actually progress!
You now do the exact same thing with the second adapter. These will then form a powerline network which will only connect the modem to the WAN port on your wireless router. You could set up another pair of adapters with a different network name to connect a LAN port on the router to another desktop computer. I'm currently using an old pair which are incompatible with the 500 Mb/s standard, and definitely do not have the unique network name I've assigned to the link between the cable modem and the router.
Nothing stops you from adding more devices to the powerline network from the LAN port on the modem except limits on throughput caused by collisions. N.B. the powerline link from the modem to the WAN port must have only two ends, like a network cable.
There is always a problem in the vicinity of computer equipment about finding power outlets. These devices will exacerbate this. If you put them on an extension, I recommend you use one you would use for devices like a desk lamp or pencil sharpener, not an outlet strip which is designed for computer equipment. Those fancy strips have rf filters to reduce electrical interference -- like the signal you want to send down the power line. It may work anyway, but the signal will be weaker.
There are instructions with particular devices on simple methods of setting up a private network via buttons for pairing devices, when pushed at the correct times. Instructions vary, but here is a generic tutorial. I've described a method which gives me more confidence the network really is separate and distinct from others in the same building.
If you do have multiple networks, packet collisions will lower throughput. As long as the data rate exceeds the rate delivered by the cable modem this should not be a problem.
The usual problem comes from a cable modem installed in some location in the house which was convenient for the cable guy, but absolutely terrible for transmitting WiFi to other parts of the house. A variation on this theme turns up when you live in an apartment where the cable connection is farther away than the next-door neighbors' wireless router. In this environment you can have terrible problems with interfering wireless signals.
One solution is to buy an expensive triple-band router which will dominate the competition, until something fancier comes along. I'm using a simpler and cheaper alternative with wireless routers people already have, or can pick up cheaply, and powerline adapters.
In the past I've used such things as a 100 foot CAT-5 cable to connect the cable modem with a wireless router upstairs. This involved some messy work inside air ducts and/or attics. Powerline adapters make it possible to extend the connection between modem and router by a greater distance using simple units that plug into ordinary wall power sockets.
Here's my current ultimate solution to the powerline method of forwarding a connection from a cable modem to a router, so you can locate your wireless router someplace that makes rf sense.
At this time, I'm using a pair of TP-Link 500 Mb/s Nano adapters, bought on a special. I've also tried the corresponding Trendnet adapters.
Using a computer running some version of the blanketty-blank Windows OS, you install the TP-Link Powerline program on the mini disk found way at the bottom of the package. You should probably disable all your careful antivirus and firewall programs so this can have unrestricted access to network devices. Fortunately, this does not have to take place while you are connected to the Internet.
Important: You must be directly connected to the powerline adapter, even if it can't connect to anything else.
Once you get the program running, and recognizing that it is connected to the device, you then hunt through various tabs for administration to find the one which allows you to change the network name from the default "HomePlugAV". You could just call the resulting network "ModemLink", but this might run into problems if someone else is following these instructions. I recommend using a name more likely to be unique.
(A friend suggested "CthulhuNet", but I haven't heard from him in a while, and will assume no responsibility for terrible consequences of using this name. )
After you have saved this change the device will not connect to anything else. This is actually progress!
You now do the exact same thing with the second adapter. These will then form a powerline network which will only connect the modem to the WAN port on your wireless router. You could set up another pair of adapters with a different network name to connect a LAN port on the router to another desktop computer. I'm currently using an old pair which are incompatible with the 500 Mb/s standard, and definitely do not have the unique network name I've assigned to the link between the cable modem and the router.
Nothing stops you from adding more devices to the powerline network from the LAN port on the modem except limits on throughput caused by collisions. N.B. the powerline link from the modem to the WAN port must have only two ends, like a network cable.
There is always a problem in the vicinity of computer equipment about finding power outlets. These devices will exacerbate this. If you put them on an extension, I recommend you use one you would use for devices like a desk lamp or pencil sharpener, not an outlet strip which is designed for computer equipment. Those fancy strips have rf filters to reduce electrical interference -- like the signal you want to send down the power line. It may work anyway, but the signal will be weaker.
There are instructions with particular devices on simple methods of setting up a private network via buttons for pairing devices, when pushed at the correct times. Instructions vary, but here is a generic tutorial. I've described a method which gives me more confidence the network really is separate and distinct from others in the same building.
If you do have multiple networks, packet collisions will lower throughput. As long as the data rate exceeds the rate delivered by the cable modem this should not be a problem.