Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
I have some old Powerline adaptors bought years ago when nothing was fast, and do use a few for very specific purposes. For example, I found them useful for devices that end up having to be located away from where I have my IT kit, and don’t need network speed. I have a large-format printer and a similar scanner that I only use occasionally. They’re up on a top floor landing because there’s no room anywhere else, and are out of WiFi range. When I turn on the power to those devices I turn on the Powerline adaptor, and the bandwidth is enough for them. If I was using them regularly, I’d probably run an Ethernet cable to the location rather than use a WiFi extender.
I’ve also used them when I’ve been experimenting with different locations for devices or PCs for specific purposes, where WiFi was not an option. Again, rather than using WiFi extenders, I just plugged in one of my spare Powerline units to try out the location.
And I sometimes had to print things for a job where, for various reasons, it was a requirement not to send any data over WiFi. My main multifunction printer was WiFi connected for most purposes, but also had an Ethernet port, which was connected to a Powerline adaptor with an on/off switch. As long as the switch was off, it was a wireless printer, but if I did need to print something for that purpose, I’d flip the switch on, and the printer would disappear off the wireless network and become a wired unit for as long as I needed.
None of which is to disagree with Mikah. Powerline is slow and can be fussy about other devices, although to be fair I have all the ones he mentioned and haven’t seen any problems. I wouldn’t rely on it for important or day-to-day usage, though. But a couple of cheap units stashed away do add a bit of flexibility for unusual locations or unexpected requirements.
However once something looks like being an ongoing regular requirement, I’m probably going to run flat Cat 6 or 7 Ethernet cable instead, because that stuff fits almost anywhere, and a Netgear switch on the end will give me enough ports.