Powerline adapters?

shoperholicnot

I have just had infinity installed and am very happy with it, the thing is that myself and my daughter are using laptops and we are getting a much lower speed than a wired connection.
Ive tried with a ethernet cable and i get download speed of about 68 but wireless only about 36 but we still get the full 5 bars of signal strength, laptop wireless is 'n' equipped.
I can plug in if I want to download or anything but my daughters room is long way from router to be plugging in cables.
Shes a gamer so I wanted to get her the best possible speed,my question is: if I got powerline adapters do they only work for weak signals or can they amplify a good signal to get higher speeds?
would she get higher speeds than 36?
thanks in advance

kwikbreaks

Powerline adaptors are separate from WiFi and the faster ones (200Mbps or 500Mbps ones) should exceed 36Mbps. You need 2 - the first plugs in near the router with an ethernet cable from one of the ports. The other goes where you want it in the house and you run an ethernet cable from it to your PC/laptop. Like WiFi you have to take the 200Mbps/500Mbps with a pinch of salt - for starters the 200Mbps ones only have a 100Mbps ethernet connector.

It isn't speed that's important to gamers except when downloading updates etc. btw - for the most part it's the latency that counts and that is usually worse on wifi too

Ectophile

Powerline adaptors are completely separate from WiFi. The ones I have take wired ethernet only, but some can also act as wireless hotspots. You buy them as a pair. Connect one to your router, and one to the PC/games console/whatever.

Each plugs into a normal power socket. Try to avoid extension leads, especially extension leads with surge protectors.

The speed you get can vary considerably, depending on your home wiring. Ideally, they should be on the same power circuit. They should work on different circuits, but the speed may be much slower. If you have a big mansion with 3-phase mains, then they must be on the same phase.

Lum

As with wireless you'll never get the advertised speed, but since the advertised speed is much much higher than what you're getting from BT Infinity, you should see close to full speed, and as mentioned above the latency will be improved which is more important for gaming.

StuC75

With online gaming speed is about the ping time that you get (lower is better) rather than what Mbps.. so check what you wirelessly and directly connected to the hub.. this will give you a better idea of what the best is that you can achieve...

If you add a wireless extender to this (e.g Homeplug to daughters room then extender plugged to that) you may increase the speed (in mbps that you get), but may add lag as it hops between hardware..

Obviously the impact of this lag varies by game - Call of Duty affected more (as its response time) and maybe less for games like WoW, sims or social media games..

shoperholicnot wrote: »

I have just had infinity installed and am very happy with it, the thing is that myself and my daughter are using laptops and we are getting a much lower speed than a wired connection.
Ive tried with a ethernet cable and i get download speed of about 68 but wireless only about 36 but we still get the full 5 bars of signal strength, laptop wireless is 'n' equipped.
I can plug in if I want to download or anything but my daughters room is long way from router to be plugging in cables.
Shes a gamer so I wanted to get her the best possible speed,my question is: if I got powerline adapters do they only work for weak signals or can they amplify a good signal to get higher speeds?
would she get higher speeds than 36?
thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

Ant555 wrote: »

apart from turning them off an on every couple of months they are just 'fit and forget' devices.

Can you explain what you mean by this? I've never had any cause to switch off my Homeplugs at all?

kwikbreaks

I'd guess that the off-and-on if needed at all is due to yet another bug in that accursed Virgin Media Superhub which was designed by the spawn of Satan.

[Deleted User]

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I'd guess that the off-and-on if needed at all is due to yet another bug in that accursed Virgin Media Superhub

Superhub would only need to be in Modem mode to carry internet to Homeplugs.
The Superhub is well known to have major issues with wireless, I know, but that wouldn't be any issue here since the Homeplug is connected via ethernet.

kwikbreaks

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Superhub would only need to be in Modem mode to carry internet to Homeplugs.
The Superhub is well known to have major issues with wireless, I know, but that wouldn't be any issue here since the Homeplug is connected via ethernet.

The Superhub in modem mode will only support a single PC or a router. Most people using one with homeplugs would have it in router mode and simply use the homeplug on one of the ethernet ports instead of running a cable although I see the poster is using modem mode + a router. To be fair I think the latest firmware is better but I still use mine in modem mode with a proper router.

kwikbreaks

He actually asked about HomePlugs and you suggested they needed to be reset once in a while to continue working. Yes the OP is on Infinity but you are on cable and the most likely cause of your problems when using HomePlugs remains the SuperHub as many users have reported having to reboot them on a regular basis but I have never seen a similar complaint about HomePlugs. In fact I used some myself for several years and they were totally plug and play with no issues at all. I'm also now on my 5th Superhub...

[Deleted User]

kwikbreaks wrote: »

He actually asked about HomePlugs and you suggested they needed to be reset once in a while to continue working.

No, that was another poster who has since deleted his post.. I asked him to explain about his reset.

Incidentally, I'm on my first and only Superhub, now almost one and a half years old.