Powerline network adapters - anyone with experience?

[Chrisgti6]

I've recently moved my PC into the loft to use as a media server for my Apple TV etc. Unforunately as a temporary measure it's connected over wifi. Wifi is working ok, but i'm only managing a 50mbps connection most of the time, and having a 120mbps BB connection obvisously this isn't good enough!

I want to move to cabled network for a couple of reasons: -

1) So I can use my full BB speed!
2) So I can use WOL to turn my PC on
3) To speed up buffering at the start of playback on my connected devices

I don't really have the option of running any cat6 cable so was toying with the idea of some 500mbps powerline adapters but I don't know anyone that has used them.

So, does anyone use powerline adapters? or have any suggestions as an alternative?

Cheers

Chris

 

[sbridgey]

Powerline adapters are usually more reliable than wifi but the speeds are hugely fast, mine cost £40 and said 500Mbps on the box, my network adapter only receives 100Mbps but I do have 2 computers running off one input powerline adapter so 200Mbps is being input and split between 2 pc's I believe.

You can do everything you want as its essentially the same as running a cable from the switch to the network card.

 

[Chrisgti6]

The ones i'm looking at have gigabit lan connections, my Virgin Media superhub has gigabit connectivity as does my network card in the PC, so hopefully I should see ok speeds i'd imagine?

 

[...]

Yep , used them to run my media network without any issues ,

Avoid netgear , Devlo ones seem to be the more reliable , but nothing lasts forever (had a few years out of my devlo ones before installing cabling .

my current weakpoint is BT's poxy router , when i have worked out a config for infinity on a cisco 887 i am switching to that .

 

[sbridgey]

The ones i'm looking at have gigabit lan connections, my Virgin Media superhub has gigabit connectivity as does my network card in the PC, so hopefully I should see ok speeds i'd imagine?

I take it you are looking at this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FVOKM8/?tag=cliospnet01-21

I have them and I only get 100Mbps which is annoying but with only a 60Mbps internet connection its fine.

Edit: I dont have those i have the model down, I should of bought those though

 

[johnnyd]

I received the Gigabit Netgear ones in Beta test form 2 years ago and they have been working flawlessly connecting my bedroom to my router in the front room ever since. I have a server, pc, laptop and xbox connected and all work fine with good speeds including xbox live gaming. I highly recommend them.

 

[Chrisgti6]

It's Devlo ones i've been looking at, however the TP-Link ones posted look like they might be worth a punt, although I could really do with some pass-thru ones as I only wired one double socket into the loft.

Cheers for the help guys

 

[iain187]

Yup hey are pretty good. Went cheap off eBay first time and one didn't last that long. 2nd time did it properly and didn't look back

 

[Jay_G]

Watch out if you are going over separate ring mains in your house. Some of the powerline adaptors lose a heck alot of speed going through the consumer unit. So that gigabit figure might soon dwindle down to your wifi speed.

You may want to find one you like, then do a lot of research on it, and read reviews.

 

[st3ve]

I used to use these, worked great, like having a wired connection.

I had some Netgear ones and they kept blowing up so I had to take them back twice. Luckily they were still within the 12 month warranty and PC World did a simple exchange both times.

The third ones have worked fine for over 12 months though and still going.

 

[Gareth]

I've got Netgear ones, had them a number of years and they work faultlessly.

 

[Rich-D]

I borrowed some D-Link ones, they worked perfectly with minimal speed loss, much quicker than wifi

 

[Darren S]

Watch out if you are going over separate ring mains in your house. Some of the powerline adaptors lose a heck alot of speed going through the consumer unit. So that gigabit figure might soon dwindle down to your wifi speed.

You may want to find one you like, then do a lot of research on it, and read reviews.

^^^ - this. That will cause you issues. And a lot of plug extensions have surge protection built into them. These cause issues too - you should always plug powerline adapters straight into the wall socket.

My old house was built in 1863 and probably had electrics that weren't much newer. They still worked fine on those. In my current house, I use three of the Netgear AV500 adapters. One for the PC, one to the router and one to the 360. All works fine. I used slower spec 85mbps Netgear ones for over two years prior to these ones, again with no issues.

D.

 

[johnnyd]

Watch out if you are going over separate ring mains in your house. Some of the powerline adaptors lose a heck alot of speed going through the consumer unit. So that gigabit figure might soon dwindle down to your wifi speed.

Can safely say i have had no experience of this happening when connecting through separate rings. Plugging into surge protected extension cables will affect the speed so always plug straight into the wall.

On a side note, i have a 8 port gigabit zyxel switch plugged into the powerline adaptor in my room which serves 4 devices and that works great. Could save you money if all your devices are located in one room rather than getting a adaptor for each device.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Cheers for the info guys, I don't think the ring main will cause me too much of an issue. Yes, it will be across 2 seperate ones but the house is only 20 years old and we had a new consumer unit fitted last year so everyting is of a fairly high standard. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Cheers

Chris