Power line question

marc69

marc69

marc69

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Joined
29 Dec 2007
Posts
1,296
Location
Birmingham
Hi,

I've recently got the boosted internet upgrade to 150mb/s which is working when I directly plug into the superhub but my powerlines seem to cap out at about 40mb/s. I'm wondering if new powerlines would help or am I not reaching the peak of my current ones?

I'm using these - CLICKY

I always get a bit confused with these advertised speeds and such.

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From the trendnet utility
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Cheers
 
Last edited:
bledd. said:
Run a cat5e cable. Don't waste your money on powerline.
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This.

I've got 3 sets of different generations and manufacturers and they're pretty much worthless.
It's probably cheaper to buy a cheap drill, some half decent bits and run a cat5 cable than buy homeplugs, it'll certainly be a lot more reliable.

I'm about to do some major drilling because none of my powerline gear will provide a decent connection to the garage (it was reasonable, but is now barely workable for no reason).
 
The problem is the hub is down stairs and my PC is upstairs. If I ran the cable it would have to go through the ceiling of the lounge and then some. The rooms aren't on top of each other. I doubt I would get planning permission from the wife either lol
 
Ah, the simple answer to that is to leave the wife, believe me it'll work out better than homeplugs ;)


More seriously there are various ways to run network cable discretely if you look around, I found some fishing wire and neodymium ring magnets let me run some between the floor of the upstairs and the ceiling to a spot that allowed me to drop it down behind the radiator pipework.
It took me the better part of 5 years to register the way to do it after realising the potential behind the pipes (the first step was working out which way the beams ran to support the upstairs, what took the time was realising that the magnets would let me guide a bit of string/fishing line).
 
Haha, it might be the only option!

I wish I'd thought about doing it when the house was built (new build). We do have some satellite cables running from the sky dish in the loft and then down into the office. There is even one that goes from the loft to where the router is but I bet they ran it a different way. Other option is going outside but she doesn't like the idea of 'ugly wire' running down the side of the house!
 
Werewolf said:
Ah, the simple answer to that is to leave the wife, believe me it'll work out better than homeplugs ;)


More seriously there are various ways to run network cable discretely if you look around, I found some fishing wire and neodymium ring magnets let me run some between the floor of the upstairs and the ceiling to a spot that allowed me to drop it down behind the radiator pipework.
It took me the better part of 5 years to register the way to do it after realising the potential behind the pipes (the first step was working out which way the beams ran to support the upstairs, what took the time was realising that the magnets would let me guide a bit of string/fishing line).
Click to expand...

Love this idea with the magnets,good thinking Batman!
 
I have just done my house with network cables. I tapped into the risers for the wastes from the upstairs bathrooms and ran all the cables up them. Just used a bit of thick gauge wire and a plum line to run them where needed.
 
marc69 probably not much help as I don't have a wide experience with homeplugs, but what I have seen suggests that you may not get any better (and it could be worse) with some of the faster variants.

All of them are named after speeds that they can theoretically achieve in the lab, a little like the old days of 56k modem where you only ever saw them reach those speeds in an isolated lab

I suspect you could end up spending out £50-100 for a couple of sets of newer home plugs at the AV1000 speed and not necessarily seeing any improvement, possibly borrow a set to try if you know anyone with them?
I know I made the mistake of thinking faster would be better, as I've got 3 sets here and the most reliable are the AV200 set.




APM said:
Love this idea with the magnets,good thinking Batman!
Click to expand...

I don't know why it took me so long to think of them, I've been using them for 10+ years to do model making and one day I was thinking of the cabling when I was doing some work with the magnets and it clicked.
mind you the magnets I bought to do the pulling are potentially nasty things, pretty close to finger mashers (20mm ring magnets, and a 25x50x10mm block which I am very careful with).
 
Agreed.. I tried many models. And while they work well in some situations, cat5e will always be better. And if you account for the hours wasted trying to get them working properly. You could have used that time to run the cat5e.
 
Devolo are supposed to be very good and they can reach some fairly high speeds (albeit nothing close to their advertised ones), might be worth a look but they'll cost you. If you're not getting great speeds though it's ultimately down to your house wiring and other devices that are plugged in, the adapters at either end can only do so much.
 
Cheers for all the replies guys, appreciated! We have the guy from virgin media coming out on Tuesday to see why we keep getting dropouts, might see if I can get him to install a new point on the wall for some cash. That way I can't be blamed by the wife, I can use virgin as a scape goat lol
 
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