Tired of a spotty wireless network impeding your home Internet use? Walls, ceilings and distance all conspire to degrade the strength of wireless signals, which can make it difficult to stream movies or even just browse the Web in certain parts of your home. Fortunately, there's a piece of technology that can bypass the downsides of wireless and bring high-speed Internet to every room in your home. You can buy adapters that piggyback on your existing electrical wiring to transfer data – and they’re easy for homeowners to install without the assistance of an electrician. Read on to learn more about how to use your electrical system to harness the power of the Internet.

The Internet in Your Walls

With Netflix, Spotify, email and Facebook, the Internet has become an integral part of our home activities. Wireless networks are a decent solution for broadcasting your signal through the home, but when they don't get the job done, you need a more hard-wired way to go. In the past, that might mean paying an electrician to run ethernet cords through the walls. Today, you have access to products like powerline adapters, which use your existing wiring as a data connector.

The adapters are simple to use. All you have to do is connect the device to your modem or router and plug it into a wall socket. Then, anywhere you want to use the Internet, just plug another adapter into the wall and connect it to the device in question. In lieu of plugging in every computer or Internet device in the house, you can also use powerline adapters to set up mini wi-fi networks in various rooms so you can still take advantage of the flexibility of wi-fi without the disadvantages of weak signals from far away routers.

Some Flies in the High-Speed Ointment

Of course, powerline adapters aren't perfect, and for a variety of factors, they don't always reach the blazing-fast speeds that they advertise. Various models claim to clock in at 200, 500 and 1,200 Mbps, but they never really came close to those speeds during testing by PC Advisor. For one thing, your electrical system can slow down the signal with old wires, power fluctuations, noise in the wires and interference from the circuit breaker. Charging up devices like cell phones and tablets can also interfere with the signal.

What's more, the data speed can be limited by the capabilities of the ethernet cord you use or the device itself, not to mention the speed of the internet coming into your modem. Nevertheless, the adapters are still almost always a better bet than wireless when it comes to speed.

If you have any questions about the suitability of your home for powerline adapters, call your local electrician today.

For one of the first times, the solar power industry may be in a position where it needs more skilled workers than are available. In a recent report published by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) and The Solar Foundation, solar capacity has grown very quickly over the last few years, despite the fact that the economy is still dragging. If the industry continues along the lines of their forecasts, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory believes that up to 75% of the U.S. solar market will have grid-parity by the year 2015. This could make solar installation much more common, and increase the level of adoption. This would greatly increase the distance between the supply of solar installation professionals and the demand for them.

In addition to government incentives, having a higher number of trained, qualified and certified solar installers has helped to drive down the cost of solar panel installation, making it much more reliable and more attractive to a wider number of customers. As the industry continues to mature, productivity will continue to increase, meaning that fewer workers will be required per megawatt. This will again lead to a lower cost of solar panels.

Although those that have been watching the solar panel industry over the past few years will be aware of the exponential growth that it has experienced, this is good news for anyone in or around the industry. It presents a great opportunity both for the job market and for those interested in alternative energy sources. Because of the increase in demand for skilled workers, this is the perfect time to embark on a new career path for anyone who is having trouble finding work, or is looking for something new. For homeowners, this means lower costs for an increasingly affordable form of renewable energy.

If you are looking for more information about solar installation (Click Here), your options and its cost, contact us at The Electric Connection. We would love to help you find an affordable way to add panels to your home.