Homeplug vs Wireless

lolage

lolage

lolage

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Hi,

For about 5 months now i have put off getting a homeplug or new wireless dongle. I have a USB stick at the moment which i stick into my pc, however - it has VERY bad signal meaning it keeps disconnecting and somtimes it may take up to 10 minutes to reconnect.

Another problem i have is in games i would just be walking forward normally, then it would freeze for a mili-second then id appear back 10 paces or so. Its very annoying, hence me not playing games much this year.

So my quesion is should i buy a homeplug or buy a wireless PCI card with a Hi-Gain Antenna? Ive heard homeplugs only work if your wiring is good, but i wouldnt know what our wiring is like. Ive also heard that they dont get the speeds that are advertised on the box. Would a PCI wireless card be better than a USB stick?

I would love to get a wired connection but that is just not practical. Any opinions are greatly appricated, im looking to buy tommorow.

Thanks, Ben.
 
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I gave up on consumer grade wireless for data transfer and gaming a couple of years ago.

Went Homeplug and havent looked back - sure its expensive to begin with but it is bombproof reliable wherever I take it.
 
ive not used homeplug but I have used wireless in numerous circumstances.

Wireless is there for mobility and convience, if your gaming you should be looking at installing a cabled solution to provide a stable link - however, I cant offer advice on homeplug.
 
Got 4 of the Solwise homeplugs now, good speeds (about 45-55Mbt/sec) on average, reliable and easy to set up - just plug them in.

I would say the wiring in our house is pretty good as it is a new build, around 5 years old but I have used them in other places where wiring has been poor with good results.

If the Wifi signal getting to your PC is poor having a better antenna and card will do relatively little to help the situation, it may hold onto the connection a bit better but wouldn't probably be any quicker.
 
wij said:
Got 4 of the Solwise homeplugs now, good speeds (about 45-55Mbt/sec) on average, reliable and easy to set up - just plug them in.

I would say the wiring in our house is pretty good as it is a new build, around 5 years old but I have used them in other places where wiring has been poor with good results.

If the Wifi signal getting to your PC is poor having a better antenna and card will do relatively little to help the situation, it may hold onto the connection a bit better but wouldn't probably be any quicker.
Click to expand...

Why would i need 4? I thought i would have only needed 2.
 
I was saying that I have four of them, not you need four.

You are correct you only need two, one to plug into your router and one to plug into the device you want to connect to the network.
 
I went from wireless to powerline as well, good increase in speed and don't have any issues now with weak signals or itermittent faults.
 
Dumb question: Do they have to be on the same power ring or should they work thoughout the house?
 
You typically have a bunch of sockets all coming off a single breaker, then another bunch of another breaker, lights on another etc and so on. If both sockets aren't on the same breaker the signal has to go through the breakers back at the distribution board which will generally limit the bandwidth. I suspect it's more of a problem in modern properties as MCBs and the like usually have extra bits and bobs in them for extra protection which will likely interfere with the signal.
 
Jokester said:
You typically have a bunch of sockets all coming off a single breaker, then another bunch of another breaker, lights on another etc and so on. If both sockets aren't on the same breaker the signal has to go through the breakers back at the distribution board which will generally limit the bandwidth. I suspect it's more of a problem in modern properties as MCBs and the like usually have extra bits and bobs in them for extra protection which will likely interfere with the signal.
Click to expand...

Damn, mine arnt in the same circuit. :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Do switches (or hubs) work with Homeplug/powerline devices to extend a network?
Code: 
eg.
ADSL modem -> switch -> multiple PCs
                     -> homeplug - mains ring - homeplug -> switch -> multiple PCs
 
I have my office in my garage which is on a separate ring to the study in the house where the router is and get a steady 48Mbit/sec across those two points. This is using 200mbit rated plugs.
 
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