G.hn Gains Momentum with Marvell Silicon
by Ganesh T S on September 27, 2011 3:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Powerline Adapters
- G.hn
- HomePlug
While we dealt with coexistence in the previous section, interoperability is a more interesting. This is where Sigma Designs scores big. In addition to being one of the first vendors to demonstrate working G.hn silicon, they also add the icing on the cake by indicating interoperability with both HomePlug and HomePNA devices. This means that any G.hn device made with Sigma Designs's CG 5110 (demonstrated at CES 2011) will be able to exchange data with HomePlug AV and HomePNA devices.
Sigma Designs is not putting all its eggs in one basket either. Earlier this month, they introduced their second generation HomePlug AV silicon (CG 2210) compliant with the IEEE P1901 specifications. Despite having only a 200 Mbps PHY like the CG 2110, it includes a number of architectural improvements and reduced power consumption (being fabricated in the 55nm process, compared to the 90nm process used in the CG2110).
Final Words
G.hn is gaining momentum with silicon from multiple vendors. Marvell is the latest entrant to the game and it appears likely that they will win over all the UPA adopters with their G.hn offering. In the big picture, however, G.hn is up against HomePlug's huge install base. Irrespective of which standard wins out in the end, coexistence is an absoute necessity and interoperability would be nice to have. In this respect, Sigma Designs has covered all the bases with silicon for both HomePlug AV and G.hn. With today's silicon introduction, Marvell is betting big on G.hn winning. Will Marvell need to change its stance? Only time will tell.
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Anosh - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Considering that unless you use the same generation of homeplugs in your house the speeds you get are low and kind of unreliable I believe people will look at G.hn as if it's another/new generation of homeplug. In which case the huge install base of homeplug wont matter very much. In other words it's a matter of time before G.hn replaces homeplug unless homeplug manages to crank up the speeds and keep issues across generations to a minimum. Which historically they haven't done.Zak - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
I thought this tech was dead, killed by WiFi. This is the first mainstream article I've seen in years. I've only known a handful of people who tried this tech at home, lured by it's simplicity, and it was always a failure due to unreliability of the equipment and problems with connectivity. I'd much rather recommend investing some time and effort in running network cables or extra access points/repeaters for WiFi (or combination of both).Denithor - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
You really need to catch up on your tech before running off at the mouth like this.I use a 1 generation back Trendnet kit at home with perfect connectivity. Full internet speed on my office pc (shared from htpc in the living room like 50 feet away) with no latency issues or anything. Completely able to stream HD video, game, etc.
Completely different from my experience with WiFi across the same rooms, dropped signals, bad ping times plagued me constantly...
Zoomer - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Yes, dedicated ethernet will always be best, followed by non dedicated wiring, then wireless. Wireless by its nature will be the most unreliable.Wireless can be very unreliable and very slow in densely populated areas, ie. apts in cities. When tens of different & possibly misconfigured APs are crowding the same channels, good luck.
akedia - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Years? How 'bout three weeks ago on this very site: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4695/handson-powerli...akedia - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Or two days?: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/25/switched-on-no-...kolepard - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
The control ceded to service providers is very anti-consumer and a huge negative if this report is correct:http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/25/switched-on-no-...
The most bothersome section is:
"The service provider may then request that you call them for permission to install, may provide a portion of the bandwidth available over the power lines, or may even flatly tell you that you can't use the adapters. G.hn equipment providers are working with service providers to encourage a more relaxed stance, but operators reserve the right to do what they want."
Given the alternatives available, I think this my seriously impair adoption.
Zoomer - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
One could just cancel the service.lowlymarine - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
You say that as if your local cable provider isn't a monopoly on broadband for a huge percentage of Americans. Even if they aren't, it's usually not much of a choice anyways. Where I live, you can get 40/5 cable service through Bright House for $75/month that typically hits the advertised speeds, or 6/1 DSL through AT&T for $50/month that usually only hits about 3/0.5. Even without the massive disparity in service, something tells me AT&T wouldn't be more permissive than...anyone, really.ganeshts - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - link
Irrespective of whether it is G.hn or IEEE P1905 which gets adopted, I think service providers will be able to do whatever is mentioned in the Engadget article with respect to future home networks./* Start of rant */
The only solution is to make the service providers into dumb pipe providers. Just use them for the Internet service and don't get any video or telephone service from them. Yes, one may complain about live sporting events and other similar stuff, but it is not difficult to envisage them becoming available online on a subscription basis (you pay directly to the broadcaster and not the middleman like Comcast or AT&T or any other service provider).
I personally believe that the way people watch TV will undergo a sea change in the coming years. While local TV channels (particularly of the news variety) will remain free-to-air and stay socially relevant, linear TV in any other form will be dead (strong words :P). I don't think the current TV service providers (be it cable or satellite or IPTV) are going to be relevant when linear TV goes out of fashion. Consumers must put these providers in the place and just haggle with them to provide bandwidth and access to the Internet in an unfettered manner. Then, there is the whole big issue of the governments supporting the consumers in this aspect, but that is a subject for another rant on another day...
/* End of rant */