100Mbps Limit?

Tenatious · 11 Apr 2014 at 14:59

Hey,

Wondered if someone could shed some light on this for me.

I have got a BT Home Hub 5 which has GigE ports and from that GigE port I have a CAT 5e cable running to a powerline adapter. The adapter in question is the TP-Link AV500 500Mbps that I believe should run at 10/100/1000.

Oddly in the hub admin section it is showing that the output is only 100mbps instead of using the gig. Is this cause the 500 limit is less than a gig so it is restricted to 100mbps or should it still be show as 1gig so that it can thoretically get 500mbps?

On the other end of the powerline adapater I have tried having nothing connected to it and also having my PC connected to it, again with CAT 5e cable to a GigE ethernet PCIe.

Any ideas why it shows as 100 instead of gigE?

EDIT: Just read that I may have the old version of the AV500 that only has 10/100. Looks like it might be a shopping trip to get a 10/100/1000 model.

Nymins · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:05

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/...owerline-adapter-with-ac-pass-through-review/

According to this its only 10/100 ethernet.

Also it uses the slower 10/100 Ethernet so the theoretical maximum is really just 100Mbps not 500Mbps. But TP-Link is not alone in labelling this class of Powerline as 500Mbps.

Tenatious · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:18

Nymins said:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/...owerline-adapter-with-ac-pass-through-review/

According to this its only 10/100 ethernet.

Yeah there appears to be a newer and older model. The one I have is 10/100. I shall have to go and buy the newer one I guess.

bremen1874 · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:21

Tenatious said:
EDIT: Just read that I may have the old version of the AV500 that only has 10/100. Looks like it might be a shopping trip to get a 10/100/1000 model.

Ignoring the link speed for the moment, what throughput are you actually getting?

Tenatious · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:27

bremen1874 said:
Ignoring the link speed for the moment, what throughput are you actually getting?

Is there a good way to test that? Currently only tested it with my broadband speed. It's a 200mbps connection which I get fully using my macbook over wifi. Was getting speeds of 34mbps through the powerline which made me think something was a bit off. I checked the adapter setting on my PC and it said it was only running at 100mbps.

Will getting it through the gige port increase that 34 or would I potentially be better getting a wireless dongle fitted that can reach those kinds of speeds?

Nymins · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:31

The speed will increase, but you will not achieve 200Mbps through it (what ISP is it anyway that gives you those speeds?).

Depends on the wiring in the house. Strangely (or I guess not so), wireless will probably work better if you use 5GHz on N or AC.

Tenatious · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:32

Nymins said:
The speed will increase, but you will not achieve 200Mbps through it (what ISP is it anyway that gives you those speeds?).

Depends on the wiring in the house. Strangely (or I guess not so), wireless will probably work better if you use 5GHz on N or AC.

Just had BT FTTP fitted

So you think I'd be better going for a wireless AC dongle?

bremen1874 · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:33

You'd be best off installing an Ethernet cable.

Nymins · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:35

Tenatious said:
Just had BT FTTP fitted

So you think I'd be better going for a wireless AC dongle?

Lovely! Didn't realise any residential places had it yet.

If the router supports wireless AC and broadcasts it then a wireless AC dongle or PCI card (if they are available yet) would probably be faster.

But yes, if you can, a direct ethernet would be perfect.

Tenatious · 11 Apr 2014 at 15:35

bremen1874 said:
You'd be best off installing an Ethernet cable.

That goes without saying but I can't do that as it's rented