PLA6456, 2 pairs as a LAG?

vining
vining Posts: 26  Freshman Member
First Anniversary 10 Comments
I've read that multiple PLA networks on LAN, or single subnet don't interfere or degrade each other even though I would think it would.  I installed my first pair to an outlet I installed to the main electrical distribution panel, on its own beaker which shares the same bus blade as the 100 amp breaker that feeds the garage which is where the other PLA adapter was installed.  FYI, there is a Leviton panel surge connected at this panel on its own 2 pole 20amp breaker.  I installed the other adapter in the garage and tested on each phase of that sub panel but the best speed I could get was about 80 up & down on a 1gig symmetrical service.  I was hoping for over 100mbps, ideally even higher.  It's maybe a 200' of 100amp sub feeder cable run to the garage with no connections between and nothing noisy in the garage.  Nothing even on when I tested so it could be worse when lights and other stuff is on.  So long story short, if another PLA network won't interfere does putting a 2nd pair in to make a LAG group make sense?  I've been thinking about just using direction antenna and a wifi bridge but that's considerably more money, just a single antenna costs more and I'd need 2 with compatible APs, $$$.  I have a GS-1350-12HP in the garage and an XGS-1930-28HP in the house.  Should I trust these PLA devices or just go with the wifi bridge.  I'm gonna need 4 cameras and an AP in the garage, cameras will only need roughly 20mbps as long as they stay 1080p but I can see 4mp or 8mp down the road.

All Replies

  • Zyxel_Jerry
    Zyxel_Jerry Posts: 1,028  Zyxel Employee
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Hi @vining

    In your scenario, you need 4 cameras and an AP in the garage and need to stay in 1080p.
    In this case, you would need a more stable connection.
    To reduce the transfer rate which will vary from network environment and actual range will vary from network environment when using PLA, I'll recommend that you can have an ethernet cable directly connected to the AP in the garage or using a wifi bridge.




  • vining
    vining Posts: 26  Freshman Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments
    unfortunately I have no conduits to this garage so no ethernet or fiber is possible.  A wifi bridge was my initial plan until I came across these PLA devices and the YouTube videos seemed like they came a long way in the last 20 years so I figured I'd try.  Now 4 1080p cams should only need 20mbps (5mbps each) for streaming so I figured I should be good with a single PLA link but LAGging two to the main switch would cover my ass.  

    A wifi bridge also has issues since I can't put an antenna on the outside of this house, the best I could do would be a 3rd floor, electrical room, dormer window behind glass of the window with a clear line of sight with the other antenna, maybe on the side of the garage but possibly behind a wooden, slotted, gable vent so this has its challenges too.  

    Now the latest camera plan just calls for a single camera on the garage but it will likely change to at least two if not back to the original 4.  Since its currently spec'd for one I might just leave it with the PLA, maybe add another and LAG them and then if things change try the wifi bridge.

    I was mostly wondering how two of these things can exist side by side without affecting each other.
  • Zyxel_Jerry
    Zyxel_Jerry Posts: 1,028  Zyxel Employee
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Hi @vining

    Yes, you can run PLA in your scenario and check if it could work fine with 1080 cam.
    Please note the transfer rate which will vary from network environment and actual range will vary from network environment when using PLA.
    --how two of these things can exist side by side without affecting each other"?
     Could you explain more for this?
  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 825  Guru Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Hello @vining

    Looking at the User Guide available at https://download.zyxel.com/PLA6456/user_guide/PLA6456_V1.00_Ed2.pdf , a second set of PLA would not interfere because you could give each pair a different G.hn domain name, and only PLAs in the same domain name can communicate with each other.

    If you get enough throughput & goodput, then you would not have to perform Link Aggregation unless you wanted to have two parallel paths for resilience.

    I have not used PLA6456 , but have used similar devices from TP-Link that follow G.hn and they are working well for me.
          - I have just one domain with 3 devices, and I can see that I get different link speeds between the devices over my electrical wiring.
                   - I get one link (ground floor) giving 589Mbps and another link (ground to first floor) giving 348Mbps.

    Kind regards,
         Tony 
  • vining
    vining Posts: 26  Freshman Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments
    edited December 2022
    Yeah I understand they can co-exist cuz they would have different encryption but they're using the same frequencies so just like noise or surge filtering they can intefere which each others signals just like things that operate on the 2.4ghz freq, microwaves, older cordlelss phone can interfere with wifi on 2.4ghz.  Maybe these PLA's have the ability to pick their own portion of their allowed spectrum just like we have channels with in the allowed 2.4gjz wifi spectrum that we can select to prevent interfering with other APs on the 2.4gjz.  Just don't know enough about these things
  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 825  Guru Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    edited December 2022
    Hello @vining

    There is a paper at https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/tut/T-TUT-HOME-2021-3-PDF-E.pdf that explains how one pair of G.hn devices can avoid interfering and being interfered with by another pair.

    They do scrambling and preambles based on the Domain id and not just security encryption.

    Kind regards,
         Tony
  • vining
    vining Posts: 26  Freshman Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments
    thanks for the link!

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