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That is not necessarily critical. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to tell you how to build a watch so you'll understand what I'm telling you when I tell you the time Residential power in the U.S. is nearly invariably what's called "split phase." 240VAC (nominal) single-phase power from a center-tapped transformer arrives at your distribution (aka: "breaker") panel. One side of that goes to one side of the panel, the other to the other side. The breaker boxes are designed such that every other breaker on each side is on the same side of the split phase. Let's call them "L1" and "L2". (Because that's how they're actually labelled ;).) Between L1 or L2 and neutral is 120VAC. Between L1 and L2 is 240VAC. 120VAC breakers connect only to L1 or L2, and neutral is used for the "return." 240VAC breakers connect to both L1 and L2. (Either one could be said to be the supply or return. Supply/return really doesn't apply to L1/L2.) Where powerline Ethernet adaptors (and a lot of powerline home automation gear, such as X10) run into trouble is when one node is on L1/neutral and the other is on L2/neutral. The signals often don't make it across very well. With that, now, perhaps, you'll understand this: That your garage has or will have it's own breaker panel isn't quite as critical as which side of the split phase power each adaptor ends-up on. And, with this and my explanation of how a WiFi bridge might work for you, now perhaps you'll understand why I earlier wrote that either WiFi or powerline will work better, depending upon the particular site.