Powerline networking

The kit I had in operation was using AES256 cyphers to encrypt traffic, so monitoring it is not something you do on a whim. Performance was about 40 MBit/sec, which was a lot more than elan was capable of. You need to be on the same circuit, or transmission will be bad/zero.
 
I use "UPB" (universal powerline bus) at home for controlling lights and such things. This is not powerline networking (there is no ethernet interface), and the internal bandwidth is very lots (dozens or hundreds of bits per second). But it is exceedingly reliable. The technology is a successor to the venerable X10 networking, which was cheap but unreliable. I have perhaps a dozen UPB-equipped light switches and relays around the house, and a computer interface (which hooks to my server via a traditional serial port).
 
Amusing anecdote from when I installed powerline networking at home using Medion (ALDI supermarket brand) "Powerline 500" adapters. A number of different TVs and PVRs started showing up on my network... they were my neighbours. Yes, the connection was encrypted but I'm guessing noone including me had changed the default encryption key :) Other than that it was reasonably fast compred with 2,4G WiFi.

Unfortunately, after changing the default encryption key, the number of dropped packets exceeded 40% and so became unusable. Back to WiFi.
 
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