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Powerline PL1200 and PLP1200 on same network
I recently bought a pair of PLP1200 adapters and was very happy with how they performed so I bought an additional two PL1200 to cover the rest of the house. I'm having trouble getting all four powerline adapters to work together though I have sucessfully gotten every combination of two working.
The way my network is setup is as follows:
PLP1200 (#1) - Downstairs connected to cable modem
PLP1200 (#2) - Upstairs connected to router
I'd like to plug in PL1200 (#1) upstairs on the other side of the house and PL1200(#2) downstairs.
I followed the instructions in the quick start guide that shipped with the PL1200s to add to an existing network as well as used the information in the link here:
https://kb.netgear.com/22165/Adding-a-powerline-adapter-to-an-existing-powerline-network
While I've been through the steps several times, I just can't get it to work. Is there anything further I can do to troubleshoot this problem?
Correct. The "client" for the modem network cannot act as the host for the second network. You'd have to create a second powerline network.
As I said, you could get round the wifi issue by using dual-purpose powerline plugs that come with a wifi repeater.
One scenario that I haven't tried is to add a separate wifi repeater on the powerline ethernet network and then to use the repeater's LAN ports to join the network. That would avoid losing the plug's LAN port.
6 Replies
smcrook wrote:
While I've been through the steps several times, I just can't get it to work.It is hard to suggest anything without knowing what you mean by "can't get it to work". For example, what do the lights look like on each plug? How do you know it doesn't work?
The easiest way to set up a network is with the plugs all close to one another and near the "host" plug, the one connected to the router.
Introduce the "guest" plugs to the host plug one at a time, then when you know that it works, with all the lights showing the right colours, move the plugs to where you want them.
The plugs will remember their settings and which plugs they are connected to.
Hi Michael,
What I mean by 'I can't get it to work' is this:
When I plug in a third powerline to the wall (near the router plug as you suggest), after going through the steps outlined in the quick start guide, the three lights on all powerlines are green. However, if I connect a computer to the powerline I just added via it's ethernet port it doesn't have an internet connection. If i turn on WiFi on the same computer, I can connect to the internet on that machine.
Since the first two powerlines are connecting the cable modem to the WiFi router, those two have to be working in order for me to have internet access either way. I've also tried a few other devices to plug in to the third powerline to see if there was something wrong with that computer's ethernet port but regardless of what I connect it still is the same result.
smcrook wrote:
Since the first two powerlines are connecting the cable modem to the WiFi router...That's wrong. Your main (host) powerline plug has to be connected to the router. It goes nowhere near the modem.
The only connection between modem and router should be the internet link.
You plug the second (client) plug into the mains and then connect devices to its LAN output.
As you are now set up, plugging the PC into the client plug means that it is in a network with the modem, leaving the router out of the network. So it won't be able to get an IP address for the router's network.
If you expect to use powerline to connect a modem to a router you are out of luck. Depending on the modem, you might be able to use it as the router and turn the router in to an access point. But that too depends on the router's features.
Your best bet would be to connect the modem to the router and then run the powerline ethernet off the router. If you need wifi elsewhere you should get powerline plugs that also double as access points.