Powerline with WiFi

Nebulous2

Ant555 said:

Im not sure if this is now sorted but I bought one of these for my daughters student house as she is in the loft room ans the wifi signal for online lectures was non-existant
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07349P1TX
Its not cheap and I may have over specced but it works an absolute treat.  The loft rooms are on a different fuse in the fusebox to the doenstaits where the router is so I didnt know if it would work ok bit it works great.  The remote unit in my daughters bedroom not only has its own wifi  configured out of the box but a pass through socket and also wired ethernet - she just uses a wire for the lap top during the day for lectures and connects to the wifi on her phone, In an evening she connects the lap top to the wifi.

I ordered on Amazon and got it sent direct - talked her through the setup over the phone, we were up and running in 5 mins.
Hope this helps.

Thanks - that is the one I was looking at, but as I just said I will only need it short-term and I am hoping for a cheaper solution. 

I use a game / cycling app called Zwift on my laptop, which doesn’t need a great deal of bandwidth but likes a steady signal. It can be hard-wired. There is also a companion app for my phone, which adds some functionality, letting you turn and take screenshots etc, so WiFi for it would be useful. 

missile

Nebulous2 said:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/powerline/tp-link-wpa4220-wifi-powerline-adapter-kit-av600-twin-pack-10153178-pdt.html

I need an extension cable anyway, which is why I would need the passthrough. I will be running a fan, turbo trainer, laptop and big screen. There is only one double socket and something is plugged in to one side permanently. We intend getting the place rewired, at which point the garage will have more sockets so the passthrough is only needed short-term. 

That is the one I use. It is not on same circuit as my router. Gives great speed, almost same as my router.

getmore4less

If you have an old router(with wifi) hanging about a regular pass through  then set up the router for the local wifi

Biggus_Dickus

Nebulous2 said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

Nebulous2 said:

Hi folks - we’re moving to an old house with thick walls. I’m going to be setting up a turbo for my bike in the garage and need WiFi. The signal in the garage is poor to non-existent. It looks like a Powerline system would be best, I’d prefer one with WiFi and there are limited sockets so passthrough would also be good. Any suggestions? 

I’m going up this weekend and intend checking to ensure the garage is on the same ring as the socket where the router lives, which I understand is needed. 

The powerline adaptors with Wi-Fi and pass-through seem  quite expensive. For what it’s worth, in my experience running a powerline adaptor on a good quality short’ish extension lead has negligible effect on its performance.

Thanks very much. That was very much my thinking. The one linked to by someone else is about £120, where if I used an extension lead this would do?  

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/networking/powerline/tp-link-wpa4220-wifi-powerline-adapter-kit-av600-twin-pack-10153178-pdt.html

I need an extension cable anyway, which is why I would need the passthrough. I will be running a fan, turbo trainer, laptop and big screen. There is only one double socket and something is plugged in to one side permanently. We intend getting the place rewired, at which point the garage will have more sockets so the passthrough is only needed short-term. 

Looks decent kit and modestly priced too;...you’ll need to ‘pair’ the adaptors with each other. The simple ‘pairing’ process allows the adaptors to communicate with each other and this one-off initial setup is best done when both adaptors are close to each other (and the router of course),...either on the same extension lead or an adjacent socket,...it saves running back and forth to a remote location.

Use your laptop and an Ethernet cable to confirm the powerline adaptors are speaking to each other and that your internet connection is working ok.

Once you’re satisfied you can then move the appropriate adaptor to its remote location and again use your laptop and an Ethernet cable to confirm that an internet connection can be established. Assuming all is ok unplug the Ethernet cable and then you can see how your laptop performs using the all important Wi-Fi !

None of my TP-Link adaptors use Wi-Fi so I’ll be interested to see how it pans out;...good luck and keep the thread updated if possible.

 

poppy10_2

fred246 said:

I think there are 2 groups of people who have trouble with powerline adapters.
1)People with strange wiring in their houses.
2)People who can't be bothered to read instructions and work out how things work.
It's hard to know the percentage in each group.

Agreed. I've never had an issue with powerline adapters - can max out my 150Meg internet connection even at the far end of the house.

stragglebod

wongataa said:

In my experience putting powerline adaptors on any extension lead results in terrible performance.

Use one with no surge protection or neon light. Then the electrons have no way of knowing

fred246

I use a tplink utility that shows you all the speeds between the powerline adapters. It does increase the speed by plugging directly into the socket. All our sockets are doubles so it's easy to plug the adapter in one and have a multiple adapter on the other one. Our broadband is 38mps so I thought increasing from 70 to 150 wouldn't help but it makes a notable difference. All the adapters are 200mbps and I have them all running at over 150mbps.

missile

fred246 said:

I use a tplink utility that shows you all the speeds between the powerline adapters. It does increase the speed by plugging directly into the socket. All our sockets are doubles so it's easy to plug the adapter in one and have a multiple adapter on the other one. Our broadband is 38mps so I thought increasing from 70 to 150 wouldn't help but it makes a notable difference. All the adapters are 200mbps and I have them all running at over 150mbps.

I don't understand how your adapter can give faster download than your router speed?

wongataa

missile said:

fred246 said:

I use a tplink utility that shows you all the speeds between the powerline adapters. It does increase the speed by plugging directly into the socket. All our sockets are doubles so it's easy to plug the adapter in one and have a multiple adapter on the other one. Our broadband is 38mps so I thought increasing from 70 to 150 wouldn't help but it makes a notable difference. All the adapters are 200mbps and I have them all running at over 150mbps.

I don't understand how your adapter can give faster download than your router speed?

Speeds quoted for powerline adaptors (and Wi-Fi) are half duplex.  This means the actual speed you can get is half the quoted number.  The speeds quoted are also the max possible and in the real world you are likely not to reach them.

Fred246 had 70mbps adaptors and an internet speed of 38.  70/2 is 35 so less than 38 and if we assume the adaptors were not reaching the max possible speed (almost certainly) then they would running even slower than their internet connection.  Fred246 upgraded to 150mbps adaptors and 150/2=75 which is comfortable above 38 and allows a decent headroom for the adaptors not reaching their max speed and still not dropping below the internet connection speed.

It is perfectly understandable that upgrading the powerline adaptors in this situation increased the internet speed at the computers on the other end of them.  The speed at the router would be unaffected.

missile

wongataa said:

missile said:

fred246 said:

I use a tplink utility that shows you all the speeds between the powerline adapters. It does increase the speed by plugging directly into the socket. All our sockets are doubles so it's easy to plug the adapter in one and have a multiple adapter on the other one. Our broadband is 38mps so I thought increasing from 70 to 150 wouldn't help but it makes a notable difference. All the adapters are 200mbps and I have them all running at over 150mbps.

I don't understand how your adapter can give faster download than your router speed?

Speeds quoted for powerline adaptors (and Wi-Fi) are half duplex.  This means the actual speed you can get is half the quoted number.  The speeds quoted are also the max possible and in the real world you are likely not to reach them.

Fred246 had 70mbps adaptors and an internet speed of 38.  70/2 is 35 so less than 38 and if we assume the adaptors were not reaching the max possible speed (almost certainly) then they would running even slower than their internet connection.  Fred246 upgraded to 150mbps adaptors and 150/2=75 which is comfortable above 38 and allows a decent headroom for the adaptors not reaching their max speed and still not dropping below the internet connection speed.

It is perfectly understandable that upgrading the powerline adaptors in this situation increased the internet speed at the computers on the other end of them.  The speed at the router would be unaffected.

That went over my head. 
I would suggest, the speed (as measured by a speed test on the router) is the maximum which could possibly be obtained via a powerline adapter.