Wired Lan - Homeplugs & Sky Hub - Only Gettting 30Mbps

sare^baw's · 26 Dec 2013 at 16:31

I have been using wireless for my networking for sometime now, even after upgrading to 'n' i found i was not able to stream movies from my pc to laptop.

Recently i moved home so i can now get up to 18Mbps download speed, i have the new sky hub. I thought if i had my main pc wired to the sky hub this would help my network speed having one side of it wired.

So here is what i have

hub - homeplug a - homeplug b - network switch - Pc

hub - wireless to laptop

I was seeing a transfer write speed of 25Mbps testing with LAN speed test. If i was using teamviewer and was downloading at full speed this was affecting my network speed down to about 10Mbps.

Next i tried my laptop wired directly to the hub, this took me up to 30Mbps but again this drops if im using teamviewer and downloading. So even fully wired is not that fast. Movies stream fine if i leave teamviewer closed and dont download at the same time.

So any suggestions on why i my network speed is not that great.

here is my hardware

2 x TP-Link AV200 Powerline Adapter

TP-Link TL-SF1005D 5-Port 10/100 Switch

Sky Hub Router

TP-Link TL-WN823N 300Mbps Mini Wireless N USB Adapter

bremen1874 · 26 Dec 2013 at 16:52

If I'm reading it correctly, your limitation is going to be the Powerline connection.

Make sure the Powerline adapters are plugged in directly to a wall socket for best performance. If that doesn't help consider replacing them with AV500 adapters (or install a network cable instead).

bledd · 26 Dec 2013 at 17:01

Just cable it up. I wasted too much time / money trying to get decent wireless performance, then various powerline adapters. It's just not the same as wiring it up properly.

sare^baw's · 26 Dec 2013 at 19:22

bremen1874 said:
If I'm reading it correctly, your limitation is going to be the Powerline connection.

Make sure the Powerline adapters are plugged in directly to a wall socket for best performance. If that doesn't help consider replacing them with AV500 adapters (or install a network cable instead).

Cheers, I have the adapters plugged straight into the wall, they are rated at 200Mbps so i would have thought these would have done the job, i have lost faith in these, i bought them to avoid running a cable across my living room and im very dissapointed in them.

bledd. said:
Just cable it up. I wasted too much time / money trying to get decent wireless performance, then various powerline adapters. It's just not the same as wiring it up properly.

Cheers I connected my laptop and pc directly to the sky hub and am getting 88Mbps, so thats good, having my laptop wired is not practical, so i will use it wireless and keep the pc wired directly to the sky hub, using my Tp-link mini usb adapter i can get 60Mbps which is still not bad. I also had my wireless usb adapter right next to a wireless mouse receiver on my laptop, this was making it about 45Mbps, moving the wireless adapter to the other side of my laptop took it up to 60Mbps. So im happy, i can use teamviewer and download at full speed and stream hd movies without any problems.

many thanks for the great help guys, i wish i had known powerline adapters were rubbish and saved a lot of time and money.

Roalith · 26 Dec 2013 at 23:11

Powerline adapters are a mixed blessing, you'll find you'll hardly ever reach the rated speeds on any of them. It largely depends on the power cabling set up in your house - the older it is, as a rule of thumb, the worse the signal strength you'll get. The place I'm in has quite old cabling running through it (although the sockets are relatively new), and I get at best 10 MB.

Like bledd, I gave up, drilled a hole and shoved a network cable through

sare^baw's · 27 Dec 2013 at 00:41

Roalith said:
Powerline adapters are a mixed blessing, you'll find you'll hardly ever reach the rated speeds on any of them. It largely depends on the power cabling set up in your house - the older it is, as a rule of thumb, the worse the signal strength you'll get. The place I'm in has quite old cabling running through it (although the sockets are relatively new), and I get at best 10 MB.

Like bledd, I gave up, drilled a hole and shoved a network cable through

My house is very old and i have no idea how old the wiring is but it looks like i was doing well compared to you. Ill just have to live with seeing the cable and fit it against the skirting.

R3X · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:19

Agree with rest planning on going hardwired myself. Power plugs are nice but if you think about the overall situation you could get 88megs or 60megs... a 30 meter ethernet cable could set you back a fiver of flebay and even nailing it or hiding it around corners would be better then power plugs. No need to loose out on even 1-2meg let alone almost 30meg performance your paying for it after all.

You could get flat ethernet cable but I hear its performance degrades over normal round thick cables... but a few meg even. you can get trunking which is what builders use its like a white plastic tube so you can hide your cables inside it or nail on skirting board/hide under carpets is old school cheap way which I did myself.

Need to get my wire sorted myself but need to learn how to crimp and attach the network plugs on the end before doing so !

bremen1874 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:30

R3X said:
Need to get my wire sorted myself but need to learn how to crimp and attach the network plugs on the end before doing so !

It's easier to use solid core cable and faceplates.

R3X · 27 Dec 2013 at 20:42

bremen1874 said:
It's easier to use solid core cable and faceplates.

thx, is it much more trickier to do utp cable ? since those seem to be the more popular ones around on flebay....

crimping looks fairly easy and quick on the youtube videos so tempted to give it a bash

bremen1874 · 27 Dec 2013 at 20:54

UTP comes in solid and stranded versions.

Crimping plugs on isn't difficult, but punching down to faceplates is even easier.

Also, the tools are usually cheaper, for a single run with just two faceplates to connect you'd only need a 50p plastic insertion tool.

If you decide to use faceplates you will need solid core cable. For plugs you can use solid core or stranded, but stranded is preferable.

You're in the best position to decide which option will suit you best.

lazna · 31 May 2014 at 12:32

Try to measure line attenuation with HomePlug Monitor it can tell you where possible bottleneck is.

TheVoice · 31 May 2014 at 13:42

sare^baw's said:
many thanks for the great help guys, i wish i had known powerline adapters were rubbish and saved a lot of time and money.

They aren't rubbish, they're just subject to more factors that can affect the speed than a regular bit of CAT5 will be. Ultimately they're a good way of getting connectivity in a room where wi-fi won't reach or is too slow and cable isn't feasible, nut if you need performance then they're not going to compare.