Electrical – Will powerline networking work in the home

circuit breakerelectrical

I'm thinking of starting to use powerline networking for my pc, but I heard that if the outlet near my modem and the outlet near my pc are on different breakers, powerline networking won't work. How do I see if powerline networking will work for me? Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

It strongly depends on the age of your house, the brand of breakers, whether they are on opposite service legs, and whether they are straight magnetic breakers or AFCI or GFCI breakers, which is often determined by the age of your home and whether the equipment is in a bedroom or kitchen.

In particular some early AFCI breakers would block powerline networking.

My suggestion is to buy it and try it, and to return it or see if you can move a breaker if it doesn't work.