How to set up your HomePlug network adaptors

Generally speaking you can just plug in your ethernet over power adaptors and they will automatically find one another on your home's power lines once you press the setup button on each one to 'pair' them.

Once they've paired with each other they should happily communicate and you can plug in your devices to the ethernet socket on each adaptor and use the network as if it was comprised entirely of ordinary ethernet cables.

Geek tip: the ethernet over power adaptors are actually 'bridges', which means they 'bridge' the change between one medium (ethernet) and another (the power lines). The HomePlug adaptors make the existence of the power lines invisible to the devices at either end of them (i.e. your router and your computer/console/etc), so that they think they are communicating over a normal ethernet network.

Because your operating system (Windows, OSX, Linux etc) isn't aware of the HomePlug ethernet over power adaptors, it means they will work with any computer or device which uses ordinary ethernet networking (which is most devices, nowadays!).

The HomePlug adaptors are essentially invisible to the devices which are connected to them, making them extremely easy to set up.

Security

HomePlug networks are usually confined to the wiring connected to a specific breaker box. Normally each self-contained property in a building has its own breaker box, and thus a HomePlug network will be limited to that property.

This means that your network will only be accessible within your own four walls, which is exactly what you want!

In some homes or apartment buildings, however, the HomePlug signals can move into other areas of the building, and it's therefore possible that another person with an ethernet over power adaptor could snoop on the data being transferred on your network.

If you suspect that's happening, there's an easy solution. Most HomePlug adaptors come with software which will encrypt the data transferred between two paired adaptors, so that any other adaptors which set up to be part of that HomePlug network won't be able to understand that data that's being transferred. This makes your HomePlug network secure.

It's worth noting that if you connect a WiFi router to your HomePlug network, it is still vulnerable to unauthorised access attempts from outsiders. If a hacker manages to get access to your home network through your WiFi router, they will have access to all the devices connected to your HomePlug ethernet over power network.

It's therefore crucial that you ensure your WiFi router is securely configured (at the very least by using WPA, and not WEP, encryption, which can easily be hacked).

Don't use surge protectors or extension leads

HomePlug adaptors' effectiveness is dependent on how 'clean' the signals in your home's power wiring is.

If you have very old wiring, or a lot of very power-hungry devices like bar heaters and hairdryers running, you may find that your HomePlugs run a bit slower than expected (although in general they will still work).

Another thing to avoid is plugging them into surge protectors or extension leads, as the extra electronics in these will degrade signal quality and could affect the speed of the adaptor.

Great offers on HomePlug adaptors