Powerlines?

[Mr G]

I've just bought the devolo dLAN 500 duo Powerline Starter Kit - (500 Mbps, 2 x PLC Homeplug Adapter, 2 x LAN Ports, Compact Design, Internet Signal Booster, Ethernet Access Over Power Line, Power Save Technology.)

Is 500mbps enough for 2 PC's, online gaming mainly?

 

[Buffalo2102]

It depends.

What is your broadband speed?
Even thought the Powerline kit is rated at 500Mbps, you probably wont get that sort of speed out of them. It depends greatly on the architecture and quality of your electrical wiring between the plugs. I'm afraid it's one of those things that you just have to try it and see.

 

[bremen1874]

500Mbps adapters are old technology. They probably aren’t even AV2 compatible which you’d want them to be.

 

[SupraWez]

Powerline adapters are a bit hit and miss, I have tried a few different models over the years and found the TPLink AV1200 to be the most reliable in the setups I have done.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/cat-18_TL-PA8010-KIT.html

 

[Mr G]

Well has it happens I had these brand new for free, these will do as a stop gap until i can get my hands on something better surely?

Also I'm with PlusNet and get a speed from the router of 57 down and 20 up.

 

[bremen1874]

Plug them in and see. They'll either keep up with your available broadband speed or they won't. They are so hit and miss that any reply on here can only be guesswork.

 

[Mr G]

Will do and I'll report back.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

i find they are good for ping but not bandwidth.

as in using wifi my ping would be higher but i'd get full bandwidth using an AC router.

powerline ping is lower but bandwidth was only half of what i got through wifi when doing speed tests.

 

[Avalon]

i find they are good for ping but not bandwidth.

as in using wifi my ping would be higher but i'd get full bandwidth using an AC router.

powerline ping is lower but bandwidth was only half of what i got through wifi when doing speed tests.

Neither is a substitute for a cable. Powerline quotes full duplex speeds and most parts under gigabit will feature 100Mbit ports... you can guess how well that’s going to work.

Do they have a place in my network box? Absolutely. Are they a product I recommend when running a cable is a reasonable option? No.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Neither is a substitute for a cable. Powerline quotes full duplex speeds and most parts under gigabit will feature 100Mbit ports... you can guess how well that’s going to work.

Do they have a place in my network box? Absolutely. Are they a product I recommend when running a cable is a reasonable option? No.

oh yeah i know that. i ran a 30m cable to move my router into the games room. so the pc is wired. the console is currently using wifi as the router is in the same room and had issues with the powerline in the same room for some reason. but i will be getting a cable for the console at some point not that it really matters with console gaming tbh. majority of people will be using inferior connections to mine and wi-fi through walls and boosters, etc.

 

[southlegend]

They'll certainly do the job if they connect properly.

Most I've ever gotten out of a pair was around 90mbps. Your bandwidth and stability depends on your house wiring. They're usually half-duplex too, which probably doesn't make much difference but I've seen gamers discussing it over the years.

My history with them has been as follows (totally unscientific!):

Brand new re-wired maisonette with AV200 plugs - 90mbps consistently and kept their connection.
70's terrace rewired early 90's - 50mbps and needed power cycling a couple times a year
Detached house built in 1997 with AV200 plugs - at least 70mbps (didn't have faster internet or a file transfer server to test) - dropped connections every couple of months and would need a re-pairing in sockets right next to each other.
1930's semi rewired in 70's with AV200 plugs (current setup) - 60-70mbps and need power-cycling once or twice a month. Connection is stable otherwise. The plug in the extension (on it's own electrical ring) maxes out at 13mbps though...

Pretty much luck of the draw unless you know the wiring has been recently re-done and to a high standard.

 

[bremen1874]

For AV200 adapters that's freakishly fast (assuming actual throughput rather than what the utility software reports).

A more typical figure would be in the mid 30s.

 

[Mr G]

They'll certainly do the job if they connect properly.

Most I've ever gotten out of a pair was around 90mbps. Your bandwidth and stability depends on your house wiring. They're usually half-duplex too, which probably doesn't make much difference but I've seen gamers discussing it over the years.

My history with them has been as follows (totally unscientific!):

Brand new re-wired maisonette with AV200 plugs - 90mbps consistently and kept their connection.
70's terrace rewired early 90's - 50mbps and needed power cycling a couple times a year
Detached house built in 1997 with AV200 plugs - at least 70mbps (didn't have faster internet or a file transfer server to test) - dropped connections every couple of months and would need a re-pairing in sockets right next to each other.
1930's semi rewired in 70's with AV200 plugs (current setup) - 60-70mbps and need power-cycling once or twice a month. Connection is stable otherwise. The plug in the extension (on it's own electrical ring) maxes out at 13mbps though...

Pretty much luck of the draw unless you know the wiring has been recently re-done and to a high standard.

House was rewired about a year ago.

 

[bremen1874]

Personally, I'm not convinced that modern wiring is of any benefit.

T&E cable hasn't changed much over the years.

Old wiring is likely to have fewer circuits and so a better chance of getting a direct connection between the adapters.

One thing I do believe could be beneficial with older wiring is to go around and make sure all the terminal screws in the sockets are properly tightened.

 

[Avalon]

House was rewired about a year ago.

It's still not that simple, noise suppression, spur sockets, RF spikes and user error all play a part. I did some very limited testing using TP Link AV500's a while back:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/powerline-kits.18781062/#post-30833400

Two extensions, same circuit 168Mbps (each adapter plugged into an extension and then to a socket)
One extension, same circuit 221Mbps (one direct to socket, one into an extension, then socket)
No extensions, same circuit 337Mbps (both direct to sockets)

Now that's just based on the reported sync speed from the app, i'd ideally want to do proper ipref testing before getting too excited, what seems obvious is that a big difference exists with minimal changes, powerline is a technology that is very easily impacted by the number of physical joints between adapters and user error - something as simple as ignoring the advice not to plug into extensions drops near enough half the sync if done on both ends.

 

[Mr G]

Powerline adapters are a bit hit and miss, I have tried a few different models over the years and found the TPLink AV1200 to be the most reliable in the setups I have done.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/products/details/cat-18_TL-PA8010-KIT.html

Just going of your recommendation and other user feedback and reviews, I've decided to buy the TP-Link TL-PA9020KIT at a very nice price yesterday and upgraded all my old ethernet cables too. Will report back with my finds.

 

[Mr G]

I received these yesterday and glad to report these are as good as the wired option it replaced, can't really notice the difference apart from less wiring.

 

[Kol]

Nice. I've got the PA9020KIT and they're indeed great.

 

[SupraWez]

I received these yesterday and glad to report these are as good as the wired option it replaced, can't really notice the difference apart from less wiring.

Thanks for the feedback, these are newer version of the units I have used