Imagine hardware that works immediately when you plug it in. Imagine not needing to install any drivers. Imagine world peace. Impossible?
ioGear's PowerLine network extender is just that. It solves the problem of how to wire your house for networking without having to run wires through walls or down corridors.
The Powerline carton contains two small black boxes that you plug into the nearest wall outlet, typically near where a wired network connection is needed. Plug the network cable (two are included in the box) between the Powerline device and your computer or router. It starts to work
What about wireless? Sometimes wireless just doesn't work well.
In my case, the wireless networking router is in my office, which is in the northeast basement corner of the house. We have a Roku Internet radio in our bedroom, located in the exact opposite corner: southwest upper floor. Between is the furnace and its metal ductwork, reducing the strength of the wireless transmission.
Our problem was that the Internet radio would keep cutting out, because the signal was too weak. I found the Powerline solution at Wal-Mart for CDN$80 (US list is $130); no electronics outlet seems to carry it.
The one problem I did have is that the Powerline is strictly for wired connections. It does not transmit wireless networking, something that is not clear from the box. Adding to the problem is that the Roku Internet radio is wireless only; no ethernet connector.
So, under our bed, I have:
-- the PowerLine connected into the wall outlet.
-- a short ethernet cable connecting the PowerLine to an old LinkSys wireless 801.a router that can also operate as an access point.
-- the access point radiates the Internet transmission to the Roku Internet radio, located two feet away.
An access point is a secondary wireless networking transmitter. You have to be careful; most routers are not access points; make sure the box says "Access Point" somewhere. You have to change settings in the router to turn it into an access point. For me, this involved:
1. Installing the LinkSys software on an older notebook computer (the LinkSys software does not work with Vista).
2. Connecting a USB cable from the notebook computer to the router.
3. Accessing the router's internal software, and making these changes:
-- change IP address to one that is unused, such as 192.168.22
-- change mode from Router to Access Point.
And now it all works. The Roku reports that the signal strength has improved from -80 to -36dBA. And it no longer cuts out.
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