En-Twyn's En-Compass incorporates Powerline into socket

CeBIT and Powerline seem to have a thing for one another, and sure enough, this year we're seeing yet another firm storm onto the scene in an attempt to advance the flagging technology. London-based En-Twyn set up shop in Germany to showcase its En-Compass, which doesn't require any special wall cutouts and differs from most other Powerline systems by packing its electronics on the backside. In other words, you won't have any unsightly adapters protruding from the front. Beyond that, everything else works as expected -- Ethernet signals travel over your existing home wiring setup -- but unfortunately, the product is still stuck in prototype stage at the moment.

[MearWolf @ Mar 8th 2008 3:54PM]

oooh shiney

[StephenD @ Mar 8th 2008 3:56PM]

Ha - it'll be a laugh when that thing short-circuits! Bzzzzz bzzzzzzzz.

[Lunar Dog @ Mar 8th 2008 4:02PM]

I thinks its a great idea for people like me who live in apts and cant run wires.

i dont like the dorm room look of gadgets and boxes everywhere,

[Matt E. @ Mar 9th 2008 7:06AM]

Yeah, that caught my eye, too. For an outlet, it should have basic symmetry.

[Matt E. @ Mar 9th 2008 7:09AM]

ugh..sorry I hit reply to the wrong person...this was for RazorD below.

[RazorD @ Mar 8th 2008 4:04PM]

I'm sure i'm just being picky, but it really irritates me that those LEDs at the top aren't centered... I'd actually not buy it for that reason :(

[austin @ Mar 8th 2008 4:10PM]

dude, wtf?

[melloncollie @ Mar 8th 2008 4:13PM]

You're an idiot.

[Ed @ Mar 8th 2008 4:16PM]

I agree, thats the thing that struck me about it. Plus, the ethernet sockets look too close to the power sockets - a large plug (or a power adaptor) would block them.

[Joe @ Mar 8th 2008 4:17PM]

Bear in mind it is a prototype hmmm!

[Annun @ Mar 8th 2008 4:19PM]

It still is a prototype after all. Those details will probably be fixed by the time it's ready to hit the market.

[Joe @ Mar 8th 2008 4:20PM]

WANT! Do you reckon the landlord would mind if I installed them everywhere? :)

[les greenhalgh @ Mar 8th 2008 4:43PM]

good idea, BUT the powerline standards are pretty much a moving target, who wants to get an electrician out each time the standard changes to upgrade their sockets?

[Joe @ Mar 8th 2008 4:59PM]

why do I need to change them, won't they always just work?

[dave @ Mar 8th 2008 4:49PM]

@razord - it looks like the three LEDs are centred, it is the reset button on the right side that makes it look odd

I would never feel safe fitting one of these ... would much prefer keeping seperate adaptors

Dave

[mortzz @ Mar 8th 2008 5:11PM]

What is the benefit to this versus just running a good wireless setup?

[Andrew @ Mar 8th 2008 5:44PM]

Security maybe. I wonder if a hacker could put one of these on the same elecrtical grid and access your network.

[w00t @ Mar 8th 2008 5:53PM]

Wired solutions are generally a lot more robust and do not suffer from interference from the many devices all sharing the same 2.4GHz band you get with standard WiFi networking...

Try getting wifi through several thick steel reinforced walls... then try using the power cables that already run through them, and you'll soon see why this product has value! :)

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 8th 2008 6:02PM]

LAG free? Better be!

[Alex Willmer @ Mar 8th 2008 6:05PM]

Forget ethernet over powerlines. I'd love it if that form factor was used with cat5 + 3 core cabling. Anywhere there's power there's network, and vice versa. Alex.

[Matt E. @ Mar 9th 2008 7:13AM]

Um, isn't that the whole point?

[AlphaTeam @ Mar 8th 2008 8:20PM]

So if you're going to be running wires in your home to install these, why don't you just install gigabit or fiber instead?

[Sean @ Mar 8th 2008 11:37PM]

You don't have to run wires through the walls to install these, you can just retrofit an existing outlet. Although if you were doing new build then these would be pointless.

[AlphaTeam @ Mar 9th 2008 12:59AM]

I figured if anyone were to install these, they would be installing them the first time around. I didn't bother to think of them as replacements.

Meh.

[Matt E. @ Mar 9th 2008 7:18AM]

While I'm not completely familiar with the exact technology used here in these devices, in effect, they are basically modulating the ethernet signal over the standard A/C carrier frequency of 60Hz... so imagine a sinusoidal waveform with little waveforms riding along.

[asc99c @ Mar 9th 2008 8:17AM]

Nice. I've just replaced my Wireless N network with powerline stuff - wish I'd seen this a week ago.

My experience is good so far - getting 38 Mbps as a real speed - much better than the 29 Mbps I got from my N network. Also it seems so far to be as simple to set up, consistent and reliable as ethernet. All wireless networks I have tried have not managed this. It will stream HD media flawlessly while still messing about on the net on my laptop and having downloads running on my desktop PC.

I still have a wireless router, but only my laptop makes use of it now.

[Nick L @ Mar 9th 2008 10:32AM]

Great, apart from the fact you couldn't use the AC socket when the network cable is in due to the style of UK sockets...

Fail.

[Eric @ Mar 9th 2008 2:32PM]

Tie it into a Jack PC and you're all set:

http://www.chippc.com/thin-clients/jack-pc/

[patrick @ Mar 11th 2008 11:26AM]

You must keep us updated on this. If this were a US product, I would happily buy. Easy install, rather than retrofitting CAT5 through existing walls. Yep. I'm all about it.