[SOLVED] Powerline/WiFi, Stability vs Speed, Gaming vs General

[ShivyyP]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post, please forgive any mistakes or errors.

Mobo - Asus Tuf z490 plus with {WiFi 6 antenna)
Ethernet - Cat5e cables
Powerline - TP=Link PA717 AV1000
Connection - Virgin Media 100mbps - Hub 3.0

Questions : Is there a reason there is a 5x difference in download speed, Powerline being the slower?
Do a lot of people switch between powerline and wifi for gaming and downloading for stability vs download speed?

I have taken into account:

1. Powerline speeds depend on the circuitry
2. Powerline is generally more stable with lower latency (although pings seem to be very similar) and less interruptions when it comes to gaming
3. Gaming does not use a lot of bandwidth, so I can switch between the two types of connections if needed, but I'd rather not (annoying)
4. There is no way to directly connect with an ethernet cable as it is too far.

I get the same ping from both connections roughly between 9-12ms but Powerline gives me somewhere between 20-50mbps whereas the WiFi gives me 100-115mbps download.

I tested my macbook pro 2017 and got the same WiFi speeds as above, can't test it via cable though as do not have the outputs.

Hub is downstairs, PC is upstairs. They run on the same electrical network. I cant seem to see why there is such a huge discrepancy but I have read that powerline can be hit and miss. Ultimately wondering if I should just send the powerline adapters back if its not worth having.

Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[bill001g]

It depends which powerline adapters you have the newer av2 models work much better. They have been calling these 1000 and 2000 lately even thought the standard is av2-600 and av2-1200. These you can get 200-300mbps on in many houses.....but it really depends on the house.

Your analysis of the difference is correct. The key advantage to powerline is that is does not get random delay spikes because of signals coming in from outside the house. Wifi works fine for games in a environment with little interference. If you live in high density housing area wifi is almost unusable even for things that are not as sensitive like games. You have everyone stomping on everyone else wifi signals.

Your only other option is Moca. That like powerline has much less interference than wifi but is much faster. If you have quality tv cables in the wall and use the latest 2.5 devices you can get close to gigabit speeds. It is more expensive than powerline units.

 

[ShivyyP]

Thanks for your reply.

I had a look at the adapters and they do have AV2 technology supposedly. The mocas are insanely expensive haha! It may be what you say, in that the av1000 means av2-600 but how is one to tell weather it is or not?

May just stick to switching between the two for now for the sake of a stable connection and faster downloads on WiFi.

 

[bill001g]

The main difference between av2-600 and av2-1200 is one is siso and the other is mimo. They are attempting the same trick as wifi and transmitting multiple overlapping signals. Of course you don't actually get 2 times the bandwidth. Many times the technical specs will tell you. There are some units based on another standard but the vast majority use the homeplug standard.

Many people buying moca 2.5 adapters from gocoax for $60 each. They are hard to find they seem to not be getting a lot imported. Used to be china factory shutdown but I don't know the reason now. There has been not much response but a seems a lot of people still want them. The actiontec ones are really expensive and they do not really sell them into the retail market.

 

[kanewolf]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post, please forgive any mistakes or errors.

Mobo - Asus Tuf z490 plus with {WiFi 6 antenna)
Ethernet - Cat5e cables
Powerline - TP=Link PA717 AV1000
Connection - Virgin Media 100mbps - Hub 3.0

Questions : Is there a reason there is a 5x difference in download speed, Powerline being the slower?
Do a lot of people switch between powerline and wifi for gaming and downloading for stability vs download speed?

I have taken into account:

1. Powerline speeds depend on the circuitry
2. Powerline is generally more stable with lower latency (although pings seem to be very similar) and less interruptions when it comes to gaming
3. Gaming does not use a lot of bandwidth, so I can switch between the two types of connections if needed, but I'd rather not (annoying)
4. There is no way to directly connect with an ethernet cable as it is too far.

I get the same ping from both connections roughly between 9-12ms but Powerline gives me somewhere between 20-50mbps whereas the WiFi gives me 100-115mbps download.

I tested my macbook pro 2017 and got the same WiFi speeds as above, can't test it via cable though as do not have the outputs.

Hub is downstairs, PC is upstairs. They run on the same electrical network. I cant seem to see why there is such a huge discrepancy but I have read that powerline can be hit and miss. Ultimately wondering if I should just send the powerline adapters back if its not worth having.

Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

It may be "too far" to use an ethernet cable permanently, but you need to use one for diagnostics. It that means moving the PC or using a LONG cord, then that is what you need to do. You have to verity that wired networking is working normally before attempting to "fix" the powerline.