Homeplug queries

GregI

GregI

GregI

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I purchased the NETGEAR XETB1001 mainly for my 360. Router downstairs and 360 upstairs. Wireless was OK but wanted ethernet.

So I set it up and switch both homeplugs on. Got all 3 lights in a matter of seconds. Internet on. I decided to see what it was like on my PC first so I install the security software. Not sure how to exactly use that yet but it did tell me the speed. It seems to be no less than 65mbps and sometimes go up to like 74mbps. Obviously for the 360 I do not need this sort of speed anyway. So I check my pings to bbc.co.uk. On wireless I was getting about 24ms and wired (on the pc downstairs) is about 21-22ms. My homeplug was fluctuating between 25 and 29ms. Never constant like a simple wired connection or even wireless for that matter. Obviously something is wrong. Any ideas? What I can think of to try -

1. Change to a netgear router (using a Thomson atm)
2. Use a different mains plug (not got that much options there)
 
My Devolo homeplugs, the 85mbs models, introduce <1ms latency to my network. I guess a lot of it is down to the quality of your home wiring.

Can you do a command prompt ping of say 40 packets to a common server and run that a couple of times via wifi, the home plug and direct Ethernet? Also ping your router (using your internal ip gateway address) over the plugs and see what that says?

A variance of 4ms could well be down to fluctuations in the wider Internet, which you've no control
 
My 200Mb D-link Homeplugs have a good sync rate, pings are a stable 3ms higher for devices using them. My old 85Mb/s ones were stable at 1ms with close to perfect sync.

I'd say that the problem is the quality of the connection, mine state they are syncing at 197Mb/s, but I can still only get around 80Mb/s actual throughput on file transfers over them (I know it's capped at 100Mb anyway due to the 10/100 ports used on the plugs themselves, but It's still a bit slower than the direct 100mb links in my house, where I can get around 90% utilisation on a link) Likewise I struggled to get more than around 15Mb/s from my old 85Mb/s plugs.

Anyway, my point is that if the software tells you they are only syncing at 65-75Mb/s instead of 85 the line quality is probably pretty poor. See what speeds you get on file transfers.

Make sure you are connected straight into the walls, extension cables are bad for line quality. You could also test whether any other electronics you use is kicking out interference, unplug things like microwaves and TV's.
 
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Cheers brennen. Think I found the problem. It's defo home wiring since on a normal wired connection it should be "<1ms" to router.

routerd.png


I'll use different sockets if I can to solve this. If I somehow can then it is exactly the same as a wired connection.

My normal wired PC downstairs for comparison.

router1.png
 
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Don't really see the problem here? Pings to the internet always vary. A fluctuation of 4ms is pretty stable imo :/

I might be slightly concerned if you were getting a variance in 4ms on pings to the across your Homeplug network but 4ms on the internet is nothing.
 
Phal said:
Don't really see the problem here? Pings to the internet always vary. A fluctuation of 4ms is pretty stable imo :/

I might be slightly concerned if you were getting a variance in 4ms on pings to the across your Homeplug network but 4ms on the internet is nothing.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Phal said:
I might be slightly concerned if you were getting a variance in 4ms on pings to the across your Homeplug network but 4ms on the internet is nothing.
Click to expand...

? This is why I posted those two screenshots to show this.

Those two screenshots were on my homeplug network (the first is my homeplug upstairs and second screenshot is a direct 2m ethernet cable to router) as I pinged my own router (192.168.0.1). It should be a basic <1ms but the wiring is somehow making those pings increase a whole 4ms on average where this increase simply does not happen on a direct ethernet connection.

Don't get me wrong, it is being pedantic but I want to find a solution (if any exists) and learn why it is happening. Don't know much about homeplugs to know if this is just a side effect of using them.
 
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GregI said:
? This is why I posted those two screenshots to show this.

Those two screenshots were on my homeplug network (the first is my homeplug upstairs and second screenshot is a direct 2m ethernet cable to router) as I pinged my own router (192.168.0.1). It should be a basic <1ms but the wiring is somehow making those pings increase a whole 4ms on average where this increase simply does not happen on a direct ethernet connection.

Don't get me wrong, it is being pedantic but I want to find a solution (if any exists) and learn why it is happening. Don't know much about homeplugs to know if this is just a side effect of using them.
Click to expand...

The solution is simple re-wire your house and you might see your pings drop to a 1-2ms delay as no matter how good your wiring homeplug will inevitably introduce a delay.

Howevere if going to all the hassle of re-wiring the house you may as well chuck in some cat 5e runs as well so negating the need for homeplug.

The simple truth is that homeplug like wifi has it's compromises it is up to you to decide which one is best for your useage or if neither are acceptable if it is worth wiring your house up.
 
How does Wireless N compare to homeplugs?

I currently use Wireless G with no problems and get full 3MB/s but I want to use my pc downstairs as a NAS and its simply not worth it at my current wireless speed.
 
GregI said:
? This is why I posted those two screenshots to show this.

Those two screenshots were on my homeplug network (the first is my homeplug upstairs and second screenshot is a direct 2m ethernet cable to router) as I pinged my own router (192.168.0.1). It should be a basic <1ms but the wiring is somehow making those pings increase a whole 4ms on average where this increase simply does not happen on a direct ethernet connection.

Don't get me wrong, it is being pedantic but I want to find a solution (if any exists) and learn why it is happening. Don't know much about homeplugs to know if this is just a side effect of using them.
Click to expand...

Like I said, my homeplugs have a good sync, and they are still adding 3ms. It's not the wiring if they are holding fairly steady at 3ms like your screenshot shows. The added time is because the homeplugs have to process, encode and transmit the data packets for sending across the electrical cables, all of which takes a little bit of time.

If you use the software utility to disable encryption entirely, you might shave a ms or two from the round trip time, but it's never going to be as fast as a direct cable.
 
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