Power line plugs

IvanDobskey · 28 Jun 2020 at 17:48

Finally moved into our new house

One of the first issues is Internet. In my old house, it was so small I just ran cables around, but now it's just too big to do that. So, I have the router in a bedroom one side of the house, my media server pc in a bedroom other side and my smart TV downstairs in the living room. I'd like a power line Internet setup to accommodate this along with the Mrs pc in a spare room. Any recommendations what to buy?

tres · 28 Jun 2020 at 20:33

I tried four or five makes, including Devolo Magic things which are supposedly the best

I got max 120mbps (from a 300mbps fttp connection), others gave 50-80ish

OCUK advised me to try a mesh wifi system - I picked up a BT mesh disk (black, new gen) on eBay, seamlessly connected to my BT router, and the results are perfect - getting around 270mbps on the opposite corner of a 4 bed house.
So worth trying that!

IvanDobskey · 28 Jun 2020 at 20:56

Wouldn't the WiFi dongles be the limiting factor then?

Dave Burton · 28 Jun 2020 at 22:47

I've used the TP-Link stuff for a few years, and after some recent "I need to read the manual" issues, I'm still using them with around 150MBPS links upstairs and down. The Kit I use is the TL-PA4010P kits, quite happy with them

WJA96 · 29 Jun 2020 at 03:56

Check out the Mikrotik Powerline Pro units.

https://mikrotik.com/product/pl7510gi

Not only do they give a decent speed of throughput but they also supply 24V passive PoE so you can power a UniFi AP-AC-Lite or AP-AC-LR access point (or any access point with a 48V converter).

Not the cheapest about £120 for 2 but decent performers.

IvanDobskey · 29 Jun 2020 at 06:46

Cheers guys.
So is mesh or powerline the way to go?

MrRockliffe · 29 Jun 2020 at 08:21

IvanDobskey said:
Cheers guys.
So is mesh or powerline the way to go?

Mesh in my experience has higher throughput but can be fiddly at times with general WiFi related issues.

I would just put the effort in for running a cable everywhere and do it really tidily.

IvanDobskey · 29 Jun 2020 at 09:36

Currently looking at the tp link deco p9, which seems to do both power line and mesh. Pricey though.

bledd · 29 Jun 2020 at 09:40

Run cables to hard wired access points.

To any physical desktops, run cables.

WJA96 · 29 Jun 2020 at 10:49

bledd said:
Run cables to hard wired access points.

To any physical desktops, run cables.

Absolutely. It’s the only way guaranteed to get you 1Gbps of throughput. And it’s usually not that expensive. I’ve seen quotes for 2 external run cables ranging between £100 (Tyneside) and £300 (Park Royal in North London). It’s literally 2 holes in the wall or window sill, 2 external grade cables tacked to the brickwork and some form of termination (RJ45 jacks or keystones). £30 in materials and 1-2 hours of labour.

But the OP asked about Powerlines and the Mikrotiks I suggested above will give 450-600Mbps on the same circuit. Which is much faster than most “home plug” type devices.

Bluecube · 29 Jun 2020 at 11:27

@WJA96 That’s very interesting that the Mikrotiks as so much faster than the mainstream brands. Do you know why that is?

SixTwoSix · 29 Jun 2020 at 11:42

@IvanDobskey one consideration is what speed you're looking to achieve consistently. Powerlines have little issue up to around the 200/300Mbps mark, then it tails off significantly unless you buy some top market ones.

Dave Burton · 29 Jun 2020 at 12:25

SixTwoSix said:
@IvanDobskey one consideration is what speed you're looking to achieve consistently. Powerlines have little issue up to around the 200/300Mbps mark, then it tails off significantly unless you buy some top market ones.

Using the Kit I mentioned above, one link is sitting happily at 350Mbps, the other at 277Mbps, unless you're straming 4K all day I'd doubt you'd need much more than that, since unless you're on high end fiber internet your incoming is giong to be around 80Mbps tops?

IvanDobskey · 29 Jun 2020 at 12:55

SixTwoSix said:
@IvanDobskey one consideration is what speed you're looking to achieve consistently. Powerlines have little issue up to around the 200/300Mbps mark, then it tails off significantly unless you buy some top market ones.

Would like to be able to stream 4k media. My broadband is about 250mbps.

SixTwoSix · 29 Jun 2020 at 13:17

IvanDobskey said:
Would like to be able to stream 4k media. My broadband is about 250mbps.

Time to abuse amazon returns and see what results you get on different powerline kit.

I 'trialed' some devolo powerline adapters for a few days when my ultrafast went live. They were reporting 600-900Mb but in reality I was getting around 200Mb throughput.

WJA96 · 29 Jun 2020 at 14:42

Bluecube said:
@WJA96 That’s very interesting that the Mikrotiks as so much faster than the mainstream brands. Do you know why that is?

No, but they’re not compatible with ‘normal’ homeplugs plus the PoE thing so I suspect that they’re a Latvian home-brew product rather than a chipset they bought off the shelf like their earlier homeplugs.

WJA96 · 29 Jun 2020 at 14:45

IvanDobskey said:
Would like to be able to stream 4k media. My broadband is about 250mbps.

Then get a cabled connection. Or a PtmP 60GHz WLAN system like Mikrotik Wireless Wire. That’s a genuine 1Gbps full duplex system that will work indoors so long as your walls aren’t crazy thick.