Can I combine a powerline adapter with a router or repeater?

[ollyfarrow]

Hi, first time poster and long time reader here.

I was hoping that someone might be able to help me and let me know if this will work…

Firstly, I should state that like a lot of people, I am on Virgin Media (with superhub) and suffer from wifi black spots due to the odd layout of my split level house and because I have my superhub in a ‘not so great’ place in my living room. I lose wifi in my dining room, kitchen, study and the two back bedrooms. It only works in the living room and the front bedroom. I have done everything suggested to boost the signal including using scanning software and changing broadband channels. I can not move the superhub and therefore I have this in mind…

Firstly, I want to use 2 powerline adapters to hard wire my desktop pc that is in my study, therefore ensuring I get the best possible speed to my PC. I was hoping to use these;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-PA411KIT-AV500-Powerline-Adapter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365075549&sr=8-1&keywords=powerline

I'm guessing these would work?

Hopefully that’s the easy part...

Is it then possible to buy a third powerline adapter and hard wire that into a router or wifi repeater? I have seen wifi repeaters with Ethernet ports, are these simply outputs, to link up laptops etc, or can they be used as inputs, to take in the hard wired broadband?

I was thinking of putting this router or repeater (connected to the third powerline adapter) on the landing or towards the back of the house. I am hoping that this will then allow me to use wireless devices in the rooms that were previously black spots.

Because of the weird layout of my split level house, I don’t think that just using a wifi repeater or simply turning the superhub into a modem and then using a router would solve my issues. If I had a router connected to my superhub via Ethernet, it would still be in the living room and I’m pretty sure I would still suffer from black spots. Equally, I'm guessing that if I used a repeater on its own at the top of my house, it wouldn't receive enough of a signal to send one back out.

I am hoping that by using powerline adapters I will be distributing a decent strength signal around my house and then I can use a router or repeater from there to broadcast the wifi into the black spots.

Would three of these adapters work – one plugged into the superhub, one in the study wired into the pc and one on the landing sending out wifi to the back and the top of the house?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA281KIT-Powerline-Extender-Wireless-Starter/dp/B0067GS29W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1365076050&sr=8-2&keywords=powerline+wifi

Or, could I just use 2 regular powerline adapters and then use a third wifi powerline adapter as long as they were all the same make?

Lastly, If I did use a third powerline adapter and hard wire it into a repeater or router, would I then have to have the superhub in modem mode?

So, the short of it is, will this work and what would be best to connect to the third powerline adapter, a repeater or a router?

I apologise if I have over complicated this question.

Any help at all would be gratefully received.

 

[dingo07]

Without reading all the specs on the powerline bits u mention - what is the wifi speed of the superhub? Is it 54Mbit or 150?

 

[bucknutty]

I don't know much about the Super Hub.

Yes you can use powerline adapters to plug in the desktop and another device.
The second device on the powerline adapter can be a wifi access point. That will allow you to add another wifi source.

A wifi repeater picks up the wifi signal from the router(superhub) and then retransmits it. These can be placed anywhere however they actually lower the wifi speed because half of the bandwidth is used for the router and repeater to communicate.

An access point plugs into the router (superhub) with a network cable and provides wireless access. If you were to use a long cable, or a powerline Ethernet connection you could put that access point in an opposite corner of the house.

That second link that you provided that they call an extender seems to have the option of being a wired access point, or a wireless repeater. If you put one of the units next to the superhub, and one next to the desktop, you could plug the desktop into the powerline extender with a cable and then have it acting as a wireless access point at the same time. That one kit might be all you need.

 

[ollyfarrow]

Without reading all the specs on the powerline bits u mention - what is the wifi speed of the superhub? Is it 54Mbit or 150?

I'll try to answer this as best I can. My broadband package is up to 60 Mb. When the superhub is hard wired into my laptop, the top speed I get is around 50Mbs, so I'm guessing that the wifi speed of the superhub is 54Mbit?

 

[das_stig]

Superhub-->powerline-->wireless powerline AP landing and standard wired powerline in study.

I would recommend the Netgear Powerline Nano 500 Set, you get the benefit of a single lan connection and wireless access point.

 

[ollyfarrow]

Superhub-->powerline-->wireless powerline AP landing and standard wired powerline in study.

I would recommend the Netgear Powerline Nano 500 Set, you get the benefit of a single lan connection and wireless access point.

Thanks for the reply, I have a couple of questions, sorry if they sound dumb...

I have just looked up the Netgear set, it doesn't look like it's wireless. It would suit to hard wire connect the PC in the study but then what about the wirless AP on the landing? Could I use this with the set that you suggested...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-WN3000RP-Universal-Wi-Fi-Extender/dp/B0055Y6PUA/ref=pd_bxgy_computers_text_z

Thanks for your help

 

[ollyfarrow]

I don't know much about the Super Hub.

Yes you can use powerline adapters to plug in the desktop and another device.
The second device on the powerline adapter can be a wifi access point. That will allow you to add another wifi source.

A wifi repeater picks up the wifi signal from the router(superhub) and then retransmits it. These can be placed anywhere however they actually lower the wifi speed because half of the bandwidth is used for the router and repeater to communicate.

An access point plugs into the router (superhub) with a network cable and provides wireless access. If you were to use a long cable, or a powerline Ethernet connection you could put that access point in an opposite corner of the house.

That second link that you provided that they call an extender seems to have the option of being a wired access point, or a wireless repeater. If you put one of the units next to the superhub, and one next to the desktop, you could plug the desktop into the powerline extender with a cable and then have it acting as a wireless access point at the same time. That one kit might be all you need.

Thanks for your help. That last kit does indeed look like it might be all I need, however I'm a little worried that you say using the repeater or extender will halve my wifi speed...

 

[dingo07]

are you looking for a "quick fix" because you're renting? because if it's your house you should take the time to run a cable or two... IMO
unless the superhub is only 10/100, and there's no upgrade path to gigabit (which I can't imagine being the case)

 

[ollyfarrow]

are you looking for a "quick fix" because you're renting? because if it's your house you should take the time to run a cable or two... IMO
unless the superhub is only 10/100, and there's no upgrade path to gigabit (which I can't imagine being the case)

As you can tell, I'm a total novice to networking...

I'm not renting but I am looking to sell the house next summer. I have no problems running wires if it will help solve my problems. The biggest issue is not having wifi in the majority of the rooms in my house - it's a real pain for tablets and iphones etc... I was under the impression that powerline adapters would save me running wires about.

Are you suggesting that for the best results, I run a wire from the superhub (turning it into a modem) to a router on the landing?

Thanks

 

[bucknutty]

If the access point or extender is wired to the router or super hub, wifi will be full speed. If the extender is connected to the super hub wirelessly then wifi speed will be reduced.