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Manbatius

Manbatius

Manbatius

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Hi all,

My 4 ethernet connections on my superhub 3 are now just not enough,new V6 Tivo box requires ethernet as does my new Blu ray player.

So I need 5 connections downstairs and 3 upstairs (though my powerline adapters are a single port variety so I am just unplugging cables for now up there)

Connection speed is 100mb so I gather I need Gigabit?
Other than having Tp link powerline adaptors, I know nothing of brand reliability, so was thinking something like one of these?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tp-link-8-port-gigabit-desktop-switch-tl-sg1008d-v6-nw-175-tp.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/tp-link-8-port-10-100-1000mbps-desktop-switch-tl-sg108-nw-155-tp.html

Thanks in advance!
 
I always prefer the metal housing so I’d go for the second one. I’ve not had a problem with any TP-Link kit I’ve had.
 
Theres no point buying 100Mbs (10MBs) switches - that tech is so old it should be free. I buy metal ones too.
Powerline adaptors, even gigabit (1000Mbs 100MBs) ones don't tend to achieve much more than 100Mbs though.
If you have an old router you could use that instead if you turn off its DHCP setting and give it a static IP.
 
Any particular reason for metal preference?

Durability? I need to move the tv cabinet (massive soild wood thing) I think theres space on shelf behind tivo.

Sadly the powerlines are old non gigabit ones, I tested them and get to 65MBs max, I do need to upgrade them, but they serve upstairs xbox 360, BR player and media server, they all run fine (other than the one port up there!) £50 plus just seems excessive for the speed bump.

I had considered an old router, however for future I will run short of ports if I replace my av receiver, or when I decided where this PS3 will live!
 
Duke said:
TiVo v6 can use WiFi so doesn’t need to be cabled in unless you wanted to.
Click to expand...

The use of Wi-Fi to connect a device capable of a cabled connection (that isn’t portable) is sacralige.

For the op, buy gigabit, it’s almost impossible in this day and age to buy a bad gigabit switch, metal is preferable to plastic, but I’ve never had issue with plastic kit. Realistically running a cable upstairs to downstairs is also preferable to power line, but in reality for most of the devices you describe, the benefits are minimal (console downloads a game a few minutes quicker), the rest probably only used a small percentage of the available bandwidth most of the time and would see little tangible benefit.
 
As above, go gigabit and get metal. The TP-Link one (your 2nd link) will be fine. I have a more expensive PoE version of it and it's been stellar for the last couple of years. No issues, perfect operation and very cool-running.
 
The hardest thing you have to deal with is running a cable between floors if you choose to do it properly.
Probably the easiest way is to run it externally. I did in my old house. I fed it out the hole the TV Arial went out, up the wall behind a drain pipe so its hidden, then into the loft to a patch panel. I then fed other cables down behind the plasterboard to sockets on the wall in upstairs rooms. I double wired so I had 2 ports in each faceplate.

If you don't want to do that then your best bet at a fast connection would be wifi - yes wifi is faster than powerline.
If you had one of these upstaris
https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-5508_RE200.html
and plugged it into a metal switch
https://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-42_TL-SG108.html
with all your other devices then you'd be able to use a gig link between upstairs and downstairs as the wifi extender uses 802.11ac which is 1300mbs, assuming your downstairs router is also 802.11ac.
 
That extender only does 433Mbps on 5GHz and 300Mbps on 2.4GHz. The actual throughput will be a fraction of that.

Even if it was 1300Mbps it wouldn't support anything near wired Gigabit speeds.
 
Wi-Fi extender = 50% of link bandwidth, a decent powerline kit on a modern circuit with the adapters installed on a non filtered spur socket etc. could well be significantly faster/more reliable.
 
Avalon said:
The use of Wi-Fi to connect a device capable of a cabled connection (that isn’t portable) is sacralige.
Click to expand...
Of course cable is preferred but this was to give the OP another option if this wasn’t possible.
 
hi all,

first, thanks for all the advice! I dream of my next house and networking it.

But for now, think I am going to go with the metal tp link one.

I will revisit this thread and re-read it when I sort upstairs out. I think the reason I never considered a wifi extender, is my old xbox 360 upstairs is a non wifi one, same with the little mini pc I have. Since I already had powerline adaptors it was more cost effective. Now I have 3x devices up there though, (4 if I move the ps3!) using the 1 plug is a bind swapping cables all the time. So I may get a little cheap 5 port switch, or a wifi extender and still use powerline for the little pc.
 
Sounds reasonable.
Half the people on this forum think powerline adaptors can do barely 10% of their stated speed. The other half seem adamant that they get line rate.
Either way, for your use I don't think you need a full line rate gigabit link.
 
Last edited:
Trouble with powerline is it's a bit of a lottery. I used it when setting something up elsewhere and it worked, other have reported terrible results, really is trial and error based on the wiring and as others have found, neighbouring properties picking up network access from this, I'd still go for powerline first and if the speed is terrible then give wireless a go. The adapters aren't expensive and relatively simple to setup.
 
Jamauk said:
Trouble with powerline is it's a bit of a lottery. I used it when setting something up elsewhere and it worked, other have reported terrible results, really is trial and error based on the wiring and as others have found, neighbouring properties picking up network access from this, I'd still go for powerline first and if the speed is terrible then give wireless a go. The adapters aren't expensive and relatively simple to setup.
Click to expand...

Pretty much spot on, when it works, it's great, but the biggest issue is often the cabling in situ and the user. Sync speed examples on a low end AV500 kit:

Two extensions, same circuit 168Mbps
One extension, same circuit 221Mbps
No extensions, same circuit 337Mbps

Now those are just syc's, ideally I should have run iperf and evaluated them properly, but the point I was trying to get at was that not following the basic instructions halves the sync speed. Don't get me started on the claimed speeds being symmetrical or the 100mbit ports on 500mbit products. The same adapters could barely sustain a link 10m apart in a different property (wiring issue).
 
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