Devolo 500 Wifi

MikeJMurphy

Need assistance to clarify how Devolo 500 units are supposed to work. I have 30+yrs IT and my son's system is not operating as expected. His expectation is that the internet signal is transmitted from his router 140Mbs via Ethernet to Devolo Router via Electrical Mains cabling to target Devolo receiver in target room at opposite side of house to deliver a high speed connection that can then be accessed via units Ethernet port or via Devolo Wifi.
However Devolo seems to be operation as a Wifi Repeater setup , as confirmed on Cockpit , in that Wifi signal at target is very poor , however if you relocate Devolo router midway between main router and target Devolo receiver , the signal speed is much faster , and Cockpit confirms connection speed is higher.
1) Why should location of Devolo router impact delivered connected speed at receiver ?
2) Could Devolo 500 be configured as a Wifi Repeater unintentionally? ( does it support
different router modes )
3) Does Devolo 500 support 2.4GHz only or also 5GHz Wifi?
No problems with Devolo pairing or with cockpit sw, no plug boards in use , no other internet devices active , no other devices in electrical sockets.
Appreciate a clearer understanding of operating mode of the Devolo 500 before I start to investigate.
many thanks .. Mike

arciere

Generally you can't repeat a WiFi signal unintentionally, you will need to specify what SSID to repeat and enter the encryption, password and all the rest.
That being said, what's a Devolo router? Do they make routers? Are you referring to the PowerLine unit that connects to the (existing) router?

getmore4less

Which models are the two units?

debitcardmayhem

Plug the one without wifi into you router using ethernet cable, put the other with wifi in the remote room

MikeJMurphy

Hi thanks for the assist. Unit is I believe a dLan 500 Wifi . Yes by Devolo "router" I was referring to the Powerlink adapter that connects to the main router via Ethernet. It was located in same room beside router. The other adapter with Wi-Fi is located in target room other side of house and experiencing very poor Wi-Fi speeds of say 3mpbs. If I look at cockpit it shows both units but strength number on target Wi-Fi unit shows as a weak connection. If I then physically relocate Powerlink attached to router from that room to a room midway towards target room WiFi unit , the signal strength dramatically improves ... and Wi-Fi speed on Wi-Fi adapter goes up to circa 23mbs ... my question and his confusion is Why does moving Powerlink adapter physically closer room wise to paired Devolo Wi-Fi adapter dramatically improve connection and Wi-Fi speed.. as confirmed on cockpit ...If the internet signal is being transmitted via the house power lines.
For now Powerlink remains relocated to midpoint and w3mbs as far as I am aware is working fine.
Puzzled ? .. Thanks once again
Mike

arciere

To me it almost looks like you've inverted the devices.

When you say 'WiFi signal', are you referring to your main WiFi signal (the one from the router), or the WiFi from the adaptor (which will have a different name and password, unless you've already changed that)?

If you get close to the router and the PowerLine connected to it, how many WiFi networks do you see at full signal?

MikeJMurphy

Units are not inverted .. Wi-Fi speed i refer to is the Devolo dLan Wi-Fi on it's own ssid & pw. Both the routers Wi-Fi and the Devolo Wi-Fi networks are active... on different channels . Both networks are visible on my network analyser app. So it's all working ... the unknown answer is Why if the internet signal of circa 143Mbps us being passed through power cable then why is speed so poor at Devolo Wi-Fi adapter. And why does moving Powerline adapter closer to Wi-Fi Dapter improve speed by anything ..

MikeJMurphy

P.s. it is possible my son when setting this up did ... If unit made it easy .... specify Wi-Fi ssid and pw of router ... can these units be configured as repeated as that is what above moving of Powerlink with related signal improvement suggests

ukjoel

I cant give technical answer but had similar issue.

I had 4 of these running and i installed the software showing speed.

The one nearest the one connected to the router was always fast and the ones further away dropped considerably.

This seems logical due to distance but the drop off was considerable.

The only thing that improved speed was plugging them in directly and not via extension cables.

It was the only viable solution I had for 5 years and wasnt great but better than nothing.

3 months ago I switched to Google mesh wifi and speeds went up from 5mbps to 60 mbps.

Reliability has been 100% in 3 months without a single drop off or reset.

getmore4less

Eliminate WiFi and check the powerline is working.

MikeJMurphy

Thanks .. well If and I do say IF I understand Powerline function within a house electrical wiring system there should be almost no drop off or gain regardless of what where you locate the Powerline adapter connected to router and the receiving Wi-Fi unit .. whereas I observed a drop off with minor distance .. cockpit reports clearly a drop off on it's interface ... and adjusting the units to move them closer together makes a significant difference ... now if this was a Wi-Fi link between the units that would make sense ... but not if the devices are connecting via a hard cable system like the houses power circuits
Anyone got any clue why this is happening