Despite the growing debate about its safety, Wi-Fi will continue to flourish no matter what the risks because it is convenient. But, there is an alternative. HomePlug products offer similar levels of convenience with none of the health worries, imagined or otherwise.

I’ve talked before about my experiences with HomePlug – the technology that uses AC mains wiring to carry data – and interest in it continues to grow. The range of devices is also expanding, and the latest 200Mbit/s HomePlug AV standard is furthering development.

Part of the so-called digital home revolution, the HomePlug AV specification was developed at the end of 2005 to support the delivery over mains wiring of high definition TV (HDTV), Voice over IP and other bandwidth-hungry content. Backwards compatible to the existing HomePlug 1.0 standard, it enhances transmission rates and adds support for Quality of Service (QoS) to deal with latency issues.

HomePlug AV also offers 128bit AES encryption for security and a range of products based on the technology are now available from a number of vendors, including Netgear and Linksys. Furthermore, Intel recently put its weight behind the project with plans to include HomePlug AV in some desktops next year.

HomePlug seems to have a lot going for it, starting with far simpler setup compared with Wi-Fi. In most cases all you have to do is plug the adapters into the mains and they will find each other and start working automatically. Each adapter then acts as a simple Ethernet bridge joining the attached devices, or in some cases networks, together regardless of the protocols involved.

The only difficult bit is encryption, but that’s no harder to configure than on a wireless network. If anything it’s easier because you can set the encryption keys globally on all attached devices at once.

HomePlug also compares well when it comes to throughput, although, as with wireless, the headline rates aren’t achievable in practice. The 200Mbit/s claimed for HomePlug AV, for example, translates into 100Mbit/s or less depending on the wiring setup and distances involved. Still, in my experience, what you get is pretty good and a lot better than most Wi-Fi kit.

OK, if you want to work in the garden you’ll need an extension lead, but then HomePlug and wireless aren’t mutually exclusive. Plus, you don’t have to worry so much about radiation. All powered devices radiate energy to some degree, so you’re still adding to the “electromagnet fog”, but the levels are almost negligible in comparison with Wi-Fi. So if you’re worried, check it out.