[asterisk-users] phone as control interface (was99bottlesof beer)

[John Faubion]

> has anyone actually been satisfied with the performance of these
> powerline signalling devices ?

Universal Powerline Bus is a vast improvement over the original X10. I
believe the X10 devices used a 4V signal during the zero crossing point of
the AC voltage to transmit 1 bit. Needless to say this made X10 slow,
susceptible to line noise and not very reliable. IIRC X10 is only 75%
reliable. By contrast, UPB is 20-40 times faster, it uses a higher signaling
voltage so line noise isn't a big factor any more and has the advantage of
controlling 250 times more devices than X10. This will help to prevent stray
signals from the neighbors controller from accidentally controlling your
devices. UPB is supposed to be 99.9% reliable with a latency of less than
100 milliseconds. Granted that still leaves a tenth of a percent of
uncertainly. However that is without resorting to filters, couplers and the
like.

> Granted in an existing situation there may not be a way to run more
> wires, but I evaluated them a while back and decided to stay away.

You may want to take another look at them. Just like Asterisk has made great
strides since the release of 0.7, UPB has brought the quality level way up.
Of course this higher quality also has a higher price.

John