Home Plug and Airplay

I have made no secret about my love of Airplay.  However, some people have mentioned difficulty when they have a weak wireless connection in parts of their home.  I have never had this issue, but I have had issues getting a wifi signal to my iPad when I am out on the patio, which made it difficult to connect to the Airport Express we have in our sunroom, so I can relate.

I wrote an article about using  Home  plug ethernet powerline adapters in the past, but I mainly discussed using them for connecting a laptop directly to ethernet for a faster connection to a NAS which houses my digital photos.  

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Since I liked the way the plugs increased speed for the laptop, I decided to put them in a couple more spaces.  I started with one next to my usual position on the couch, but I also wanted one next to my favorite chair and headphone setup:

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The great part of using the Home Plug adapters is they can be added  just about anywhere you have a power socket.  Some of the adapters have a power socket built into them, so you don't have to give up the ability to use the socket for plugging in a lamp (for example).   The cheaper adapters don't have a power socket built in, but you can always use a powers strip with the other socket to make it more useful.  

I own both of the models pictured below.

Since I have Airplay devices in nearly every room of my house, I also had one next to the red chair (I use this space with headphones).  I have a new Airport Express in this setup, so I figured I would also make the wireless Airport Express wired instead.  The new Airport Express units have a two ethernet ports, so you can connect a laptop directly to the Airport Express via a wired connection, but I found it to be too slow for using for Lightroom and moving large photos back and forth.  I bought a cheap (~$18) 5 port gigabit switch and connected the Home Plug adapter to it and then sent a wired signal to the Airport Express and a wired ethernet connection to my laptop.  It also allows some flexibility to add more devices later, if I have the need.

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At this point, I now have my two main photo editing spaces wired and get the extra benefit of having my Airport Express wired, too.  However, I bought a pair of these, so I also put one out in the sunroom.  As I mentioned before, the wifi signal out in the yard is spotty.  Also, I have wireless security cameras out there that seemed to lose signal more often than I like.  I have one of the first Gen Airport Express units out there, so it didn't have the option to run the ethernet out of it, like the new Airport Express units, so I added a TP-Link switch to the setup, too. Then I set the Airport Express up as a wifi access point (extended my network connection).  This gave me a perfect connection from anywhere in the yard, including the patio and deck.   The side benefit is that my security camera is wired and gets a better signal.  The other benefit is that I can change to wired-only security cameras in the future, if I want to upgrade.

Now I have three wired Airport Express units and all three are expanding my wifi connection.  It helps because I have three additional Airplay receivers (Phillips speaker, AppleTV, and Airport Express) that are still wireless getting a stronger wifi signal now.  

Another benefit is that when I listen to music on these wired Airplay setups, I can send the audio signal to them without it ever leaving a wired connection for wireless, if I prefer.   I use a mac mini for serving my iTunes library, so I can control what is playing via my iPhone's "Remote" app and select where the signal is playing.  The only thing wireless is the remote.  I can also use an app like Rdio on the mac mini and control it via my iPhone.   While direct streaming does have benefits, like when you are running a microwave nearby,  having wired Airport Express units expanding the wireless network via wired connections, makes the wireless stronger everywhere.

As you can see, these power line ethernet adapters, working in combination with Airport Express units, can be great for expanding your wifi network and for optimizing your audio.   For me, they were money well spent.