Powerline adaptors

trimmer1980

trimmer1980

trimmer1980

Associate
Joined
15 Jan 2013
Posts
144
Location
Egham
Hello guys, i have a laptop and pc yet to be built that i would like to be connected to my BT hub2. The laptop is for work use as I'm home based and will be connected to a docking station, the pc will also sit around the desk. I'm wondering if there is such a product to connect two devices to my router which is based downstairs to my home office upstairs. I dont fancy running cat 5 cables.

Would i need to buy 2 pairs of powerline adaptors or is there another solution?
 
If you don't want to run cables (it's by far the best option), then you can try the gamble of wireless or powerline.

Running cables is the cheapest option and will work 100% of the time.
 
You don't need an adapter per device. You can either get an adapter with multiple ethernet ports, or just connect an inexpensive switch to it.
 
Brill! i only just realised they now have multi port adaptors as when i first looked years ago this wasn't available. Wireless is a no no, i can use wireless but working through my companies vpn and using voip seem to be facing a lot of issues. Its not the vpn as this was connected previously over lan with no issues making voip calls. thanks for the quick responce
 
trimmer1980 said:
Hello guys, i have a laptop and pc yet to be built that i would like to be connected to my BT hub2. The laptop is for work use as I'm home based and will be connected to a docking station, the pc will also sit around the desk. I'm wondering if there is such a product to connect two devices to my router which is based downstairs to my home office upstairs. I dont fancy running cat 5 cables.

Would i need to buy 2 pairs of powerline adaptors or is there another solution?
Click to expand...

Just a word of caution. If you router is downstairs and your computers upstairs powerline adaptors may not work. People tend to think just because they work over your mains they will connect to another anywhere in the house.

If you have a ring downstairs and a separate ring upstairs there is no way you can connect the two together with powerlines.

To explain in my house the downstairs is connected by one mains ring. So at my fuse box I have a fuse for the downstairs power sockets. Upstairs power sockets have a seperate fuse. So both rings are not connected together. Therefore if I put a powerline adaptor upstairs and one downstairs they cant see each other because they are on different power rings. There is no cross over. Really you need to check your fusebox and see how your mains goes round your house.

However if I put two powerlines downstairs as they are on the same ring they can see each other.

I didnt realise this till I did some research. In the end I put Cat 5 cable from downstairs to upstairs once I had worked out a route and its the best thing I did.

Just something to bear in mind when thinking about powerline adaptors.
 
varkanoid said:
Just a word of caution. If you router is downstairs and your computers upstairs powerline adaptors may not work. People tend to think just because they work over your mains they will connect to another anywhere in the house.

If you have a ring downstairs and a separate ring upstairs there is no way you can connect the two together with powerlines.

To explain in my house the downstairs is connected by one mains ring. So at my fuse box I have a fuse for the downstairs power sockets. Upstairs power sockets have a seperate fuse. So both rings are not connected together. Therefore if I put a powerline adaptor upstairs and one downstairs they cant see each other because they are on different power rings. There is no cross over. Really you need to check your fusebox and see how your mains goes round your house.

However if I put two powerlines downstairs as they are on the same ring they can see each other.

I didnt realise this till I did some research. In the end I put Cat 5 cable from downstairs to upstairs once I had worked out a route and its the best thing I did.

Just something to bear in mind when thinking about powerline adaptors.
Click to expand...

This isn't always correct, just because it's on a different ring circuit doesn't mean that it won't be picked up, just as long as the mains into the building is supplying both circuits the different fuse boxes shouldn't make a difference.

You will get more interference this way though, and possibly more problems.
 
Don't understand the point about fuses at all

I have 5 Powerline adapters: 1 in the basement, 2 groundfloor, 1 1st floor, 1 2nd floor
 
varkanoid said:
If you have a ring downstairs and a separate ring upstairs there is no way you can connect the two together with powerlines.
Click to expand...

True, but it can dramatically shorten the Cat5/6 run needed - ie you can use homeplugs both upstairs and downstairs, and then link the closest pair of upstairs/downstairs sockets with Cat5/6, combining the two loops. It's not ideal, but it can mean 4m of ethernet cabling rather than 40m
 
bledd. said:
If you don't want to run cables (it's by far the best option), then you can try the gamble of wireless or powerline.

Running cables is the cheapest option and will work 100% of the time.
Click to expand...

Properly running cable will almost certainly cost more than power line adapters especially if you factor in the time. If you don't mind ghetto cabling round door ways and on top of skirting it will be cheap but ugly!
 
For me powerlines are fantastic. My PC is upstairs and the router is downstairs. Running cable was not an option and initially I went wireless. For some reason I did not have a good signal upstairs, only around 5Mbps. I then invested in the cheapest powerline from BT which worked wonders and I now get around 50Mbps.

It did have a bit of a performance hit though. If I have a direct Ethernet connection to the router I get around 80MBps.

I read that it depends a lot on your electrical wiring though they are relatively inexpensive and are certainly worth trying if cabling is not an option:)
 
Last edited:
Smoogels said:
For me powerlines are fantastic. My PC is upstairs and the router is downstairs. Running cable was not an option and initially I went wireless. For some reason I did not have a good signal upstairs, only around 5Mbps. I then invested in the cheapest powerline from BT which worked wonders and I now get around 50Mbps.

It did have a bit of a performance hit though. If I have a direct Ethernet connection to the router I get around 80MBps.

I read that it depends a lot on your electrical wiring though they are relatively inexpensive and are certainly worth trying if cabling is not an option:)
Click to expand...

I also agree with you and my powerline adapters are connected one to my system upstairs and one to the HH5 downstairs and I lose about 30MB/s download compared to directly plugging into the hub with a Ethernet cable.

I am fitting a cat 6 cable next week and have to run it outside and back in to the house as I want the full speed I am paying for with BT Infinity 2.
 
GefGz said:
This isn't always correct, just because it's on a different ring circuit doesn't mean that it won't be picked up, just as long as the mains into the building is supplying both circuits the different fuse boxes shouldn't make a difference.

You will get more interference this way though, and possibly more problems.
Click to expand...

I have two fuses, one for downstairs power and one for upstairs? Does this mean Powerline adaptors may not work? I don't suppose any retailers will take them back if they dont..

jNHI5aql.jpg
 
I have old wiring. A single ring for all sockets and powerline works great. Still has rewirable fuses in board and a single RCD on incomer.

My mums is a modern install with multiple rings and RCBOs. Speeds awful between the rings.
 
Sorry for the off-topic question here but I have a pair of 500Mbps humeplugs. What would the fastest upload and download speeds I could see on these realistically? Getting fiber soon (80 down / 20 up), the homeplugs won't bottleneck those speeds will they?
 
The problem is the MCBs and RCD. If the 2 ring main circuits each have separate RCDs these have sensing coils and seem to b*****r up RF signal transmission. If there were only old-fashioned fuses and wires I think we would all be OK.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom