[Dalewyn]

Powerline ethernet dumps an utterly horrifying amount of electrical noise into both the wiring and the surrounding area. Please don't use powerline unless you have no other solution.

Note: Powerline ethernet should not be confused with Power Over Ethernet which is perfectly fine.

[baq]

I'm using it on two outlets after not having enough prescience to install ethernet in my wardrobe-turned-office - got any reading materials?

[Dalewyn]

Don't have any to link off hand, but the basic gist is this:

Electrical wiring of any sort are all antennas to varying degrees, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals. Most mains electrical wiring is also unshielded, meaning they readily transmit and receive electromagnetic signals.

Powerline ethernet basically puts ethernet data on mains electrical wiring by utilizing the bands that aren't used for carrying power. This data is very, very noisy in electrical noise terms, and because most wiring also acts as an antenna that noise also gets broadcast everywhere.

Simple electronics like your coffee machine or microwave oven won't care, but more sensitive electronics like radios can in turn receive interference from both the power line and the noise broadcast into the air.

[nagisa]

The issue, I think, is that you're extrapolating from the usecase where high bandwidth ethernet is carried over the power lines. Protocols' like X10 bandwidth use and needs are so low (dozens of bits per second) that the interference is indistinguishable from the regular power fluctuations.

[Dalewyn]

I speak from experience. I tried powerline ethernet because wifi signals traverse the house walls very poorly, to say the least. The sheer noise the powerline adapters generated into the line, regardless traffic, was unacceptable.