Are powerline adapters my only option?

[bookwormzsh]

I just moved into an apartment for college likely for the next 2 years and for the most part, it is a good deal for the money and the amenities. The only issue is that the way it is wired is really kind of stupid... Some of it I understand, yet most seems just totally redundant like the fact that there are 2 phone jacks right next to each other and another one like 8 feet away in not necessarily a huge living area. There are several double coax connections here and there for the reason, at least from what I could gather online, to insure quality cable signal. Yet for all these ridiculous and rather irrelevant connections now that they won't be used, there is only a single ethernet port in the entire apartment, and it will be in my roommate's room (he won't be moving in for another month and a half). It is a quality connection with the plate reading Cat 5e as well as a rather fast connection from a local ISP eliminating the possibility for a modem being installed. The router that was provided is ok but not good enough for me to use for gaming and other intensive internet usage. So it comes to the problem where I want a fast enough connection for this kind of traffic for my desktop which doesn't yet have a wireless card since the MSI motherboard has a solid ethernet card and hasn't been necessary. I looked into the powerline adapters and was curious if it would be a better option for the money opposed to getting a wireless card and new router. If so I was wondering about which set would be a good investment. Thanks for the help.

 

[RealBeast]

A wireless adapter would not provide even a mediocre gaming experience in an apartment complex.

This leaves you with two choices, (1) run an Ethernet cable -- best performance but may be difficult without making too many holes that you can fix later; or (2) a pair of AV2 MIMO powerline adapters to bridge the gap from the router to your computer -- don't try to save a little with a lesser unit. AV2 does not provide gigabit speed but it is faster and lower latency than earlier units. Look HERE for good information and comparison of models.

 

[bookwormzsh]

Running an ethernet cable is not really an option just primarily due to how the apartment is set up. It is actually not a huge distance from where I would put my computer to where the router/ethernet port is, but I have to also circumvent the issue of it being on the back wall of my roommate's room. Regardless, the router will have to remain where it is or else no network since each individual apartment has its own wireless network. I knew about not buying a cheap set since that seemed to be the consensus from what I looked at which is fine because I was looking more at either spending $90 ish on the adapters or like $250 on a good router and wireless pci card. What should I expect performance wise if I use the powerline adapters? I saw things where the wiring of the apartment may have an effect. How comparable is it if the connection coming in is probably around (haven't tested a direct connection yet) a 15mb/s (megabytes, not bits) download on ethernet?

 

[RealBeast]

You should be able to get around 15MB/s download with AV2 MIMO adapters, but the real key for gaming is much better latency with powerline.

Wireless simply will not work in your environment without big lags. Years ago a 5GHz radio would fix your issue, but now everyone has them and beyond that their penetration of walls is poor as the higher the frequency the greater the attenuation of the signal over distance. Too many users fighting over too few channels, plus the inherent higher latency in wireless makes it fine for phones but poor for gaming.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Is the apartment carpeted with baseboards? If so, the most effective thing to do is tuck a Cat5 under the baseboard from one room to the next. Takes a tiny bit of effort but far superior to wireless or powerline.

Or, go the apartment manager and ask for the maintenace dude to put an open wall plate on the wall the bedrooms share for a few $$. Then just pass the ethernet thru.

 

[bookwormzsh]

The whole ethernet option can't really be taken since there is like a hardwood living room separating our rooms, and I am trying to minimize my roommate's interference with my connection. This is more because he is one of those people who doesn't really know how anything with a computer works but is fine as long as it works. Kinda uneasy with him having the router in his room. I'm not really sure why it isn't in the living room for better signal and logical sense... I am actually majoring in computer engineering, so I try to dabble in as much computer related topics as possible. Getting an ethernet cable installed is also unlikely since it is just a pain dealing with anything beyond the status quo. I had questions about my P.O. box and parking when I moved in a week ago and haven't gotten a solid answer yet despite contacting the complex managers like 5 or 6 times, so that isn't gonna happen. There actually is probably wireless interference like you were saying since there are about a dozen wireless networks within my laptop's detection range, possibly more... As a result, I'll probably end up trying the powerline adapters out. Thanks for all the help!

 

[madmatt30]

I'm using cheap av500 plugs with 10/100 connectors.

Download is maxed at 100mbs constant , I get my full 15mbs upload speed.
Latency is no different to a direct router connection - in my case 12ms to a server some 70km away.

Bear in mind this is a cheap pair of tplinks

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00AWRUICG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496606202&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=av500&dpPl=1&dpID=31IYBNuPwFL&ref=plSrch

You can go as expensive or as cheap as you like - it won't alter latency at all as long as your electrical circuits are good & upto date.

10/100 is fine for me , by all account go for ones 600mbs+ with gigabit ports if you have a need for network speeds of 200mbs+.

I would advise whatever you do to go for ones with pass through mains plug connectors if at all possible especially if mains wall sockets are scarce - these should not be plugged in multi sockets or surge strips as it can seriously damage network bandwidth.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MTNKNPZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1496606671&sr=8-14&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=gigabit+powerline

They're probably the best buy.