If you connect your routers internet port or WAN port to the line that goes out to the internet and you place all of your devices on the LAN (internal ports) or even a wireless LAN behind the router, you should be safe as long as you stick to an encrypted Wi-Fi connection, if you decide to go wireless.
The router is your hardware firewall, as long as you keep your devices connected to the LAN side of the router and don't DMZ them, they will be safe. I don't know if you want to send a Wi-Fi signal a long distance but a company called Ubiquiti makes some great long range access points, no need to use power line Ethernet, it is slow and from what I have read, it has many draw backs to it. Ubiquiti website
If you want to confirm you are on your own LAN, turn on file and print sharing and allow the necessary ports to open in the software firewall. If you don't see any unknown PCs that aren't yours in your network, that should confirm you are on your own LAN. You can also download a program called netscan.exe from this website Netscan download site. With this tool you can set the IP range of your network and scan to see, what other devices are found on it. You should only see your won devices
I hope this helps out
Cheers
1It's only work if they are on the same wire/circuit. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2014-03-28T18:18:15.437
3This is not true, it's dependent on phases, which means in theory, your neighbor could pick up your information. – Daniel Chateau – 2014-03-28T18:25:56.303
@techie007, From what I understand, that is only true with early powerline gear as they were not capable of working across two phases (due to being conducted signals), but newer gear uses radiated signals and can work across 220/240v phases and therefore aren't limited to a single circuit. – MaQleod – 2014-03-28T18:26:06.893
4AFAIK, these devices work by being
paired. One of your neighbors couldn'tpairwith you without you taking action to allow thepairing. – joeqwerty – 2014-03-28T18:28:21.450@DanielChateau, that isn't quite the case, but it depends on the infrastructure. In an apartment complex that may be the case. Even though it can cross phases and circuits, it isn't capable of crossing transformers, so if you live in a house, your next door neighbors won't be able to pick it up. – MaQleod – 2014-03-28T18:28:30.870
2"But I still don't like the idea of sharing my connection throughout the whole building" -- Then why do you use 802.11, which broadcasts the WiFi signal throughout your building and beyond? You already have a security problem. You're just replacing one security problem with another security problem. – sawdust – 2014-03-28T19:11:22.960
5
Beware that your Ethernet power adapters link is a mix of PoE (Power over Ethernet) and Ethernet over power, aka Powerline Ethernet. Hope you understand the difference.
– sawdust – 2014-03-28T19:24:57.467@sawdust That's a very good point. I didn't think about it like that. And thanks for pointing out the differences. – Darren Hale – 2014-03-28T19:26:26.820
All Ethernet over Power devices I have seen in the las 4 years have the possibility of encrypting network communications. They do even request for a password for connecting a new MAC to your network. – Sopalajo de Arrierez – 2014-03-29T13:54:47.540
From experience I'd also suggest on standardising on one standard - I'm currently running all 500 mbps gear, though my initial network was 200 mbps. It makes it easier to work out whether the bottleneck is your gear or the network, especially if you have gear that will accept a gig-e ethernet connection. – Journeyman Geek – 2014-03-31T01:24:29.017
I'd also add, referring to them as homeplug AV in searches would avoid the confusion - most of these units are branded as such – Journeyman Geek – 2014-03-31T01:53:26.387