[EricE]

There are phase bridges to ensure powerline signals are on both phases in the typical US house, and phase filters available that filter the powerline frequencies - they were originally conceived not so much for leaking out, but preventing noise from leaking in and interfering with powerline stuff.

X10 users have used them for years - you can find them with vendors that specialize in dealing with the X10 community or home automation; although with the wireless mesh networks like Zwave or Zigbee a lot of the powerline stuff has (thankfully) fallen by the wayside.

Another way to get wired internet without possibly running new cable is with MOCA - ethernet over coax. You can find cheap DirecTV branded MOCA adapters all over the place. Most are 100Mbps but if you watch the newer ones are gigabit capable.

[aksss]

Ethernet over coax? That’s some OG networking. Break out those 10base5 adapters from ur possibles box. I guess this is also the time to bring up the obligatory Ethernet over barbed wire solution: http://www.sigcon.com/Pubs/edn/SoGoodBarbedWire.htm

[phibz]

They're talking about MoCA, multimedia over coax. The standard is from 2006 and runs over regular household rg59 or rg6 coax.

That being said, I've worked with 10base5. Drilling for a vampire tap in an open elevator shaft is its own form of exciting.

[cvwright]

Personally, I've had much better luck with MOCA than with powerline. Full gigabit speeds in an older 1940s house using basic Motorola adapters off of Amazon.