Hi all,
I’m looking for a reliable powerline ethernet solution, and I’m considering the MikroTik devices PWR-Line Pro and PWR-Line AP. However, I see they’re discontinued in Europe - while they’re still available in the US. Why have they been discontinued? Did they exhibit issues?
Currently I’m using a TP-Link TL WPA8631P Kit and it’s unstable - crashes, links lost, etc.
Thanks and best regards
Much more specifically things like devolo Magic 2 LAN DINrail, basically Homeplug/G.hn (Ethernet-Over-Powerline) + WiFi + Mesh (Wi-Fi) all in one go.
Obviously you place all that behind a Mikrotik router… …
however it doesn’t give any reasonable performance without grounded power outlets, which in turn usually come with ethernet (EN 50173), but something is better than nothing…
I used to apply powerlines as well in the past but I’ve changed my mind.
Powerlines are sometimes an alternative (if really nothing else can be used) but subject to influences which you can not always control (read: can become unreliable when you least expect it).
An electric motor starting on the same power phase, a solar DC/DC convertor installation … and your performance is down the drain and nothing you can do about it.
Do try to see if a real cat6 cable can be used somehow.
Or even MOCA using coax.
Powerlines would be my very last resort.
The plastic fiber with the application of manual LC connectors, which do not require fiber welding machinery,
is cheap & easy to use and legal in many states where it is forbidden to insert ethernet into the existing electrical system…
Always, everywhere, everytime, cite reference example urls, at least name specific products or stfu. <3
I don’t advertise, there’s no need high effort to find the material.
And then the distributors that I use would be relevant only for Italy…
rextended I have no clue about what product you are referring to as your statement was overly vague. I dont know if you are talking toys made for children, fibre optic cable what ???
1Gb plastic optical fiber…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_optical_fiber
Very cool! Never knew about this, looks like in home 1gig connection, but still not relevant if a home cannot be wired and one has to resort to power devices ???
The perfluorinated polymer version of 10gigs at 100m seems more interesting!!
The power devices are so fragile… just a switching charger of one iFogne…
Have they actually been discontinued?
No EE… but I kinda would have thought PowerLine work better in 220V countries. In the US, panels are split, so how well it works depends on what side/phase of the breaker panel there on. But guess the have “variable” performance worldwide.
In a lot of EU countries panels are split too in 3 phases.
It used to be 220V per phase, 380V if you use all phases.
Nowadays it is even 230V.
Powerline also sucks in case fuses are the MCB type (miniature circuit breakers), which include a small coil. And coils kill high frequencies. So even if two powerline plugs reside on same phase (or same side of board) but in different circuits (protected by different MCBs), the performance of powerline will plummet. The only hope is if wires, connecting distribution board and outlets, run in parallel for a few meters (10+ feet), then powerline signal can “hop” between the wires due to induction between wires (the same mechanism is “guilty” for interference and signal loss).
Traditional fuses (with melting conductor) are more powerline friendly.
Product page seems to indicate they are.
.
LOL ,fair enough – I must have looked at the US one (despite the subject line here) – why US isn’t discontinued, dunno.
@mkx is exactly right…the wiring/breakers determines how well any of these ethernet-over-power things work. And imagine Mikrotik deals with a lot of returns as a result of that 
.
I’m not sure it a Mikrotik thing here – I’ve wanted the Powerline to “just work” for longer than a decade. I have a box with various TPLINK, Netgear, and now a set of the MT PWR-LINE PRO in that graveyard, none have worked well unless all the electrical things align & even then still never consistently 100Mb+ despite all vendors claims. And often don’t even sync – generally explained by tracing down what breakers things are on. Wi-Fi bridging seems more consistent if you cannot run a cable IMO.
Maybe if you some phase coupled Devolo things in the panel might help , but I’m skeptical on the technology…
Post 4 why I stopped using them.
Cat6 cable solved all those problems.
Those PWRLine EU devices were great in combination with mAPs for quickly and temporarily solving connection problems. I can take two mAPs on travels, connecting one as a client on a spot with good WIFI access and the other one to somewhere else as an AP. I am still using this setup on the go, to extend WiFi coverage. Going through walls with powerline is much better than with WiFi and the tiny setup is barely noticed by anyone.
On the other hand those PWRLine adapters get very hot and 2 of the 5 I have purchased, never worked.
Still I would love to have some improved similar lightweight solution as the mAP+PWRLine combo. No need for high speed, but enough ram+flash for ROS7.
Hello, thank you for all the replies. I settled on a ZyXEL G.hn solution and it seems to work really well so far. ZyXEL PLA6457. Unlike most other powerline ethernet devices which seem very javascript riddled and like they were made by app developers and not firmware developers, ZyXEL clearly sits in the old school programming camp, which probably explains why it’s been stable thus far.
The certificate of conformity also indicates that another brand sells the same product, but targeted for use by ISPs.
I don’t know if the upgrade from AV2 to G.hn made a difference, but the link is more stable. Or maybe it’s that the system isn’t running a flashy web service, just a rudimentary one made up of some html forms. Or maybe it’s that they aren’t doing wifi AP on the same device. But all in all it seems to work well.
I don’t really even care about the link going down every now and then, or the speed getting reduced a little, what really bothers me is if the device itself crashes. That’s something I cannot be having. Yes, if someone hooks up a reciprocating saw to the same phase, then the link will have trouble. Understandable. I don’t mind.