Powerline adapters - Have they improved?

[davis.anthony]

I currently have 500mbps fibre connection and due to the location of my PC the wifi signal, to be blunt, is shit.

I bought some Delvolo D500 powerline adapters when I bought the house 10 years ago and in my old man cave I used to get very fast speeds on a wired connection, but since my daughter arrived I've moved in to a room that's far, far away from the router and the speeds are now abysmal.

So my question is, given the powerline adapters I currently use are knocking on for 10 years old, am I likely to get better speeds on a new and more modern set of powerline adapters that use more advanced transmission techniques??

 

[cheapchips]

The AV1300 plugs use newer chipsets and support MIMO. Prior versions didn't. Whether newer hardware actually helps in your setup, I don't know. When I swapped my old powerplugs out it was for the same spot in the house.

 

[T2098]

They're definitely better nowadays than they were, but even the newest AV2000 ones tend to have pretty low real-world throughput.

Example: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/tp-link-tl-pa9020p-powerline-extender

If you happen to have coax in each room, the MoCA ones tend to be significantly better in my admittedly limited experience:

Actiontec ECB6200 Bonded MoCA 2.0 Network Adapter Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder

Actiontec's ECB6200 Bonded MoCA 2.0 Network Adapter is the closest thing to Gigabit Ethernet that doesn't require CAT5e cable.

www.smallnetbuilder.com

 

[arandomguy]

Do you have a coax run near the room? MoCA might be an option to look into.

 

[davis.anthony]

I think I have an unused Coax in the wall where the router is and it goes into the loft so that might be an option.

 

[Pressure]

Any reason you don't pull ethernet to where it is needed? Other than the added time required?

 

[davis.anthony]

Any reason you don't pull ethernet to where it is needed? Other than the added time required?

Time, mess and effort.

 

[davis.anthony]

Guys, my network knowledge is pretty basic but I have giving this some thought the last few days so my thought is this.

My Sky router is in the main family room and the TV and Sky TV is hardwired into it as we (And the little one) watch a lot of On demand TV.

So I would love my PC to be hardwired so I have two options:

1. Use one of the above ethernet over coax converters to go from the main hub in the family room to the loft where it will then either go in to a smaller router and then I can run ethernet cables to my PC and leave the NAS in the loft hardwired in.

2. The same as above but with an external ethernet cable as running it internally is imply a no go.

Both runs would be less than 10 metres.

Now I know option one would cost more but I care more about the reliability and speed of the connection rather than trying to save a bit of money.

Which option would people recommend? Or is there another option that I don't know about?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

It's difficult to advise without seeing the physic setup, but before you invest in ethernet power adaptors, you check to see if that the locations where you want to use the power line adaptors are on the same electrical circuit.

Some properties have multiple circuits and whilst some ethernet power adaptors may work across different circuits connected to the same electrical distribution board, performance is going to be much lower. The other factor that can impact performance is the quality/age of your of the electrical wiring in your home. If it's modern, you shouldn't have any issues.

Do you know what the unused coax is? In the UK this would probably be connected to an external (TV) aerial. I have no idea whether this would make it suitable for use as an Internal network, even if you're not using it - because aerial! Something else to ponder over.

Our of curiosity, what is you need/want/expectation for bandwidth and latency?

 

[eastmen]

Another option is a tri band orbi or similar and if you are able to run dedicated wire to a portion of them. I tend to do this for family. For example my sister has a 2 floor with a finished basement and I set up the orbis on top of each other on each floor. I ran the cat 7 wire straight down from the top floor to the main floor and then again to the basement. Their connections are rock solid . On the main floor the modem is right next to their main tv so I wired all that and the room on the other side of that is my sisters office. My brother in law uses a guest room on the top floor which is above the main router. The basement has a drop celling so from the orbi in the basement I ran cat over to the tv and gaming systems. The kids bedrooms they just use wifi

 

[arandomguy]

I'm a bit confused here. If you're willing to and able to run ethernet (cat5e+) that's going to be the best option from a reliability and speed stand point.

 

[eastmen]

I'm a bit confused here. If you're willing to and able to run ethernet (cat5e+) that's going to be the best option from a reliability and speed stand point.

If you are speaking to me, then the reason I didn't run cat cable to every room in the house is because of how much of a headache it is.

The way my sisters house is set up is that its 3 floors (1 basement , a ground floor and an upstairs.). The internet comes in through the middle of the house which is where the living room is. We installed Orbi's which have tri band wireless along with being able to use cat cabling for a non wireless option also. The office my brother in law uses is just above the living room so it was a single cable run up the wall and we put the second orbi in that room and his set up is wired while the other bedrooms have wireless. The basement orbi is directly under the living room and has a drop celling, so I just ran the cable down adn through the drop celling to the orbi in the basement. Going back to the main floor the other side of the living room wall is my sisters office so I just ran the cable through the single room.

If I ran wiring everywhere in that house it be a pain in the ass. I'd have to run it to my nieces bedroom, nephews bedroom and their guest room. It be a lot more work.

I wired my first house (which is now a rental) with cat 6. my current house we did a lot of work to and so while the walls were bare to the studs I ran cat 7 everywhere

 

[arandomguy]

If you are speaking to me, then the reason I didn't run cat cable to every room in the house is because of how much of a headache it is.

Might not have been clear but I was referencing this comment -

2. The same as above but with an external ethernet cable as running it internally is imply a no go.

If he's able to and willing to run Cat5e or higher than it's going to be the most reliable and highest performing. As usually these discussions revolve not running conventional ethernet, which is what I thought the original reason for the question was due to so I was a bit confused.

By externally though I'm guessing he means it's going to be visible and possibly "unsightly" but that's another matter (and with how it was phrased didn't seem like a consideration). There's also off the shelf options now that can possibly be used to mitigate the appearance of runs outside the walls.

 

[davis.anthony]

I'm a bit confused here. If you're willing to and able to run ethernet (cat5e+) that's going to be the best option from a reliability and speed stand point.

While I agree with what you're saying it's not the best option practically due to the work involved.

 

[arandomguy]

While I agree with what you're saying it's not the best option practically due to the work involved.

Your only option is to try the more convenient way (and I guess hopefully by from a place with a return policy). The problem with all these ethernet alternatives (and I guess fiber if we want to go there) is consistency/reliability which is also highly environmental/situation dependent. it's basically going to be impossible to know whether or not they deliver something acceptable until it's actually tried.