Powerline Question

Geoff_W

I have a couple of old Powerline devices rated at 85Mb/s which work OK for iPlayer and some Kodi streaming. I am on Virgin Media and get a consistant 70Mb/s with a LAN cable straight into my laptop. I decided to check the download speeds available at various power sockets around the house and found significant differences. The best speed was 30Mb/s in the socket next to the primary Powerline device (minimum distance). The worst was 5.7Mb/s in the kitchen and 6.8Mb/s next to the downstairs TV in the lounge. Over Wi-Fi I can get 45Mb/s in the room where the router is located (upstairs) and 10Mb/s downstairs next to the TV where the Wi-Fi signal has to pass through a floor and the brick chimney breast.

My question is this: if I replace the Powerlines with, say, 500 - 600Mb/s devices, will I get a significant improvement across all my power sockets?

DoaM

The answer is ... it depends on the electrical wiring in the property. The reality is that higher speed powerline adapters will give you higher speeds, but probably proportionate* to what you get now (and subject to how you are testing ... if you're using an internet speed tester then you'll never get more than what your external connection speed will give).

* E.g. you get 6.8Mbps with 85meg adapters; with 500meg adapters you may get 40meg

bluesnake

I use Powerline adapters and am happy with them. They are rated different to usual network measurements like 200Meg adapter which does 100meg each way but in Computer speak is 100Mged adapter, not a 200Meg one.

However the nice and new technology that does away with powerline adapters, and uses mesh technology and wifi. With this 'leading' technology there is also a price jump and different companies/implementation of standards/go it alone etc.

This one, but there are others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb_c2Gpvb58

Geoff_W

Thanks for your replies. I have no problem with it being proportionate, and obviously wouldn't expect to get more than my 70Mb/s line speed. I'll be quite happy to get 20 - 30Mb/s at the TV.

Geoff_W

I settled on the TP-LINK TL-PA8030P AV1200 3-Port Gigabit Powerline Starter Kit and have been extremely impressed with the performance so far. I can get a steady 70Mb/s at every power socket in the house so I am well chuffed. This, despite the primary powerline/router being fed from an extension lead which is itself plugged into a Masterplug tower.

rtho782

Powerline is an international standard.

The UK is strange, in that we use "ring mains" rather than radials, meaning the sockets are wired on a big ring, rather than a long line (if that makes sense).

This means between any two sockets on a ring, there are two paths, this causes signal reflections, and means that poweline is worse in the UK than other countries.

Further, if you go from downstairs to upstairs, or downstairs to kitchen, you're likely going from one ring to another, and this may well involve the signal travelling over an RCD or RCBO. This impacts the signal quite significantly.

Finally, if you use a "surge protecting" extension lead, it will kill the signal.

All in all, you want to significantly overspec the adapters, as you will never get anything like the rated speed from them.

Hence, your AV1200 adapters are giving a steady 70Mb/s, or 5.85% of their rated speed.

jshm2

You're better upgrading to wireless extenders instead of Powerline adaptors. It's only if you're talking solid walls or long distances that Powerlines are worth the money.

Carrot007

rtho782 wrote: »

The UK is strange, in that we use "ring mains" rather than radials, meaning the sockets are wired on a big ring, rather than a long line (if that makes sense).

It is though worth pointing out that not all houses in the UK are wired as a ring main.

And it was only a bodge to use less copper after the war and really should be removed as curent standard. (yes, there are pros and cons but more cons).

Pretty sure mine are radials looking at the size of the wires when I changed a socket to one with a usb port.

neilmcl

jshm2 wrote: »

You're better upgrading to wireless extenders instead of Powerline adaptors. It's only if you're talking solid walls or long distances that Powerlines are worth the money.

I disagree. You'll generally get better speeds and a more stable conection via a homeplug ethernet connection than wireless any day.

Geoff_W

Physically, there's a ruddy great brick-built chimney breast interposed between the wireless router upstairs and the Smart TV downstairs. The best over-wireless speed I can get at the TV is 10Mb/s.

Also, the very best over-wireless speed I can achieve, with laptop right next to the router, is 45Mb/s. My wired ethernet connections, including the TP-Link's, is my maximum Virgin Media speed of 70 - 75Mb/s. This is more than enough for my needs.

almillar

I agree with neilmcl above - powerline/homeplug is more reliable and faster than WiFi - and if you use a WiFi extender you're often instantly halving the speed of the network.