Sharing Internet via switch/powerline for gaming

[Printerman580]

Hi
A few months ago i built my two sons basic gaming pcs from new parts. Identical machines, ordered two of everything and setup in exactly the same way.

They share a bedroom and sit next to each other. Rather than buy wifi adapters for the two pcs i bought a Netgear GS105ev2 switch, have the two pcs connected to the switch and the switch connected to a powerline adapter.

The second adapter is obviously downstairs and plugged into the router.

The switch is setup as factory setup out of the box.

When the pcs are on if i do a speed test this happens;
pc1 it'll hit 70Mbps DL and 16Mbps UL. pc2 not running test.
pc2 it'll hit 70Mbps DL and 16Mbps UL. pc1 not running test.

Both pcs show the same IP during the test, i assume due to the switch.

If i run a test at the same time, one hogs the bandwidth, say 65Mbps and the other 5Mbps DL and 15Mbps and 1Mbps UL.
It seems which ever actually starts the test first, gets the band width.

Is this normal?

And is there a better way to set them up. I can't plug them in directly into the router but would it be better to have two powerline adapters or is the switch more efficient?
OR, is a decent wifi adapter just as good? (PCI-E type, not usb).

Much appreciate any comments.

 

[Armageus]

When the pcs are on if i do a speed test this happens;
pc1 it'll hit 70Mbps DL and 16Mbps UL. pc2 not running test.
pc2 it'll hit 70Mbps DL and 16Mbps UL. pc1 not running test.

What speed internet connection do you have? If it's FTTC / VDSL then those speeds sound fine, and your powerline adapters likely connect faster than that.

Both pcs show the same IP during the test, i assume due to the switch.

That should be your internet IP Address and will be the same for all devices connected via the router (even via Wifi)

If i run a test at the same time, one hogs the bandwidth, say 65Mbps and the other 5Mbps DL and 15Mbps and 1Mbps UL.
It seems which ever actually starts the test first, gets the band width.

Is this normal?

It's fairly normal behaviour for consumer routers - you'd need to step up to better router to be able to apply some form of traffic shaping / bandwidth management to prevent the whole connection being easily saturated.
Without some form of traffic shaping on internet connections with less bandwidth and multiple users, it's very easy to cause congestion and "lag" e.g. if 1 PC tries to download updates whilst the other is gaming.

And is there a better way to set them up. I can't plug them in directly into the router but would it be better to have two powerline adapters or is the switch more efficient?

Two powerline adpaters won't help, as the power ring around your house is used as a shared network medium (think of it like a round train track, and you are just adding an additional platform for the train to stop)

OR, is a decent wifi adapter just as good? (PCI-E type, not usb).

Decent Wifi adapters are generally better then powerline, but they won't resolve the issue if it's related to internet bandwidth. We'd need to know your internet speed/technology to make further recommendations.

 

[Printerman580]

Thankyou for the speedy response.

My broadband is with talktalk and is fibre65. i think its fibre to the box at the end of my street then standard cable to the house. Its supposed to run a minimum of 59Mbps but is spec'd at 65Mbps. Doing the odd test i often see speeds of 73 but i think this is possibly due to being close to the box, or the platform they sell has had an upgrade of capability and they have just not updated its name!

I know I'm achieving around the performance values I'm supposed to be receiving as I've stated above. I was more concerned with the traffic shaping part of it.

If its not broke i wont fix it. I'm sure if i swapped to wifi i'll just get a different set of issues and trust the wired connection to be more robust overall.

Thanks again.

 

[Armageus]

My broadband is with talktalk and is fibre65. i think its fibre to the box at the end of my street then standard cable to the house. Its supposed to run a minimum of 59Mbps but is spec'd at 65Mbps. Doing the odd test i often see speeds of 73 but i think this is possibly due to being close to the box, or the platform they sell has had an upgrade of capability and they have just not updated its name!

I know I'm achieving around the performance values I'm supposed to be receiving as I've stated above. I was more concerned with the traffic shaping part of it.

Yep with that sort of internet speed then Powerline is the least of your worries (I was on <25Mbps for a while so I have sympathy).

The only issues you will get are e.g. if someone tries to download files while someone else is gaming or streaming video - it can be enough to cause lag spikes simply because the latency sensitive gaming packets get held up by the download.

If it does become a frequent problem then something like the Flint2 router is your best bet as you can use Cake / SQM to prioritise the low latency traffic.

If its not broke i wont fix it. I'm sure if i swapped to wifi i'll just get a different set of issues and trust the wired connection to be more robust overall.

Wifi wouldn't solve anything anyway, but if you ever move to FTTP then it would probably be a better option.

 

[Printerman580]

Virgin have literally just finished putting fibre into our street. Left a right mess, but should be going live very soon. I'll let a few neighbours get the ball rolling then might change over to that. Looking online it looks quite competitively priced.

 

[Printerman580]

Hi,

so, next Friday i'm moving to Virgin Media on the M350 (362Mbps) Full Fibre (although i don't think its entirely fibre!) service. So, backtracking on the information above ia my current setup still the best way to do things without a major overhaul on cabling direct to the router?

I believe the powerline adpaters and switch are able to run at 500Mbps so don't think that is my bottle neck.

Is it worth changing to wifi cards or stick with what i have? If it is can any reccommend some PCI cards that are not breaking the bank?

Thanks.

 

[GregI]

So, backtracking on the information above ia my current setup still the best way to do things without a major overhaul on cabling direct to the router?

There's a way to bypass all this by just telling the Virgin Media engineer on the day that you want the ONT in their bedroom. No powerline and no switches needed. Then it's a case of figuring out if you previously had your own computer wired up if you will be fine going back to wireless yourself.

I guess the downside to that approach is you then give your sons full access to the internet whenever they want so probably not a good idea thinking about it more... just thought I'd mention it anyway since most people think the fibre has to come in exactly the same way as the old stuff. Not the case. Now if you do decide to do the above the engineer might moan about irrelevant stuff like "the fibre cable won't bend around that wall sorry mate" but it's just garbage. Stand your ground. They can and should install it whereever you want. It's just laziness on their part.

 

[Printerman580]

Thats a great idea, i once did this in an old house with an NTL install when they had the old ADSL routers i think, could be wrong, it was a while ago.

Unfortuneately it won't work in this instance. The position of the bedroom is on the back of the house and the cable run is on the front, so will be a nightmare putting that in and very messy. Good idea though.

Any other ideas are more than welcome!