Travel Technology - Ethernet over Power in hotel - CP Madrid

I'm at the Crowne Plaza in MAD and they have Ethernet over the electrical power in the rooms here. This is the first I've seen this in any hotel. You pick up an adapter at the front desk for €11.60 per 24 hours. It's the same performance as DSL. The only pain is that you have to deal with the front desk to get the adapter and remember to return it or you are out €100.

Clever (and cheap way) to do it, Powerline equipment has been available for years, but this is the first time I've heard of it being implemented in a hotel...

More important, why on earth do they need to do that in a hotel?

:confused:

I had to do that once about a year or so ago, but we were installing an access point inside a 60ft roof on a warehouse.

There wasn't electricity all the way up there, but in a hotel room?

More important, why on earth do they need to do that in a hotel?

:confused:

I had to do that once about a year or so ago, but we were installing an access point inside a 60ft roof on a warehouse.

There wasn't electricity all the way up there, but in a hotel room?

It saves them pulling 1000's of extra ethernet cables.

I was in a hotel a few months ago that had installed DSL modems/splitters on their regular phone lines, also a smart way of saving on cable costs...

More important, why on earth do they need to do that in a hotel?

:confused:

I had to do that once about a year or so ago, but we were installing an access point inside a 60ft roof on a warehouse.

There wasn't electricity all the way up there, but in a hotel room?
Ethernet over power, not power over ethernet... :mad: ;)

Ethernet over power, not power over ethernet... :mad: ;)

Ah!, I understand

I always heard that ethernet over power had issues when there was a surge, so do you loose connectivity when someone starts to blow their hair?

Sorry, got it back wards :p

Also, if they wanted to save money, wouldn't wireless make more sense :confused:

Wifi is definitely the best choice if there isn't too much interference or blockage. Some hotels have very thick walls and doors and it takes a lot of access points to cover the rooms. In that case Ethernet over Power might be good as long as it's commoditized a bit.

I should mention the name on the adapter is Corinex.

Ah!, I understand

I always heard that ethernet over power had issues when there was a surge, so do you loose connectivity when someone starts to blow their hair?

Sorry, got it back wards :p

Also, if they wanted to save money, wouldn't wireless make more sense :confused:

JFE, the problem with WiFi is that you can't just install a bunch of consumer grade AP's, you need some kind of management, plus you'll still need to pull a heck of a lot of Ethernet cables. Plus, as Stimpy said you'll need a heck of a lot of them, I've done site scans and determined some places needed as many as 10 AP's per floor, with that many AP's you are bound to have reception problems as there simply are not as many channels.

Powerline, dsl and ethernet to the room are much more reliable.

One correction Scott. With Mesh WiFi you only one cable per floor and maybe not even that much depending on the hotel design. A good Mesh network comes with plug and play management too. So you just need to position the nodes so they can see each other and provide the basic coverage needed and that's it. For some hotels, WiFi is easy. For others it's very hard. It just depends on the design and construction of the hotel.

I don't want to get too commercial, but check out www.strixsystems.com or email me if you need more info.

Also NOT a commercial, but a friend of mine runs the American subsidiary of the company (PLC) that probably runs the system in the hotel for the local utility in MAD.

The 411 on powerline communications:

http://www.powerline-plc.com/products.htm

Thanks for the link Koko. I guess I should have named this thread "Power gone MAD" ;)

It saves them pulling 1000's of extra ethernet cables.

I was in a hotel a few months ago that had installed DSL modems/splitters on their regular phone lines, also a smart way of saving on cable costs...

A lot of hotels, if not all, already have wiring for cable tv. Couldn't the internet access be that way?

A lot of hotels, if not all, already have wiring for cable tv. Couldn't the internet access be that way?

Usually not, as the return signals already get used for the guest entertainment system to show the extra content on TV. Plus, if you've been in a lot of hotels you'll know that the quality of the TV signal is usually pretty crappy, certainly not good enough for broadband internet and last but not least, the cost of a broadband CATV system is very high and requires a lot of equipment.