[SOLVED] Using TP link Powerline adapters (PA4010) and adding a new CAT7 cable killed my speeds

[cloughster]

Hey above really - been running an old cable and I was getting about 40mbps download speed, can't recall the upload, after changing the cable it dropped to around 5-10mbps download with 30 upload - after some research discovered the cat7 cable I was using was basically snake oil, so I swapped out for the old cable, and my download speed stayed slow, even after buying a new cat6 from Amazon I'm still getting these issues

ISP is Virgin media in the UK Believe we're paying for 200mbps speed
TCP link powerline adapters are now showing red on the powerline but nothing has changed apart from that cable

Let me know ifd you need anything else!

Thanks

 

[kanewolf]

Hey above really - been running an old cable and I was getting about 40mbps download speed, can't recall the upload, after changing the cable it dropped to around 5-10mbps download with 30 upload - after some research discovered the cat7 cable I was using was basically snake oil, so I swapped out for the old cable, and my download speed stayed slow, even after buying a new cat6 from Amazon I'm still getting these issues

ISP is Virgin media in the UK Believe we're paying for 200mbps speed
TCP link powerline adapters are now showing red on the powerline but nothing has changed apart from that cable

Let me know ifd you need anything else!

Thanks

Someone plugging in a phone charger in another room can hurt your powerline network adapters.
Ensure that both ends are plugged directly into the wall, not into a power strip.
Check for new devices that could be generating noise on the powerline. A charger, a fan, an air conditioner could interfere with your network.

 

[cloughster]

Hey. thanks for the response, both ends are plugged into a wall - nothing has changed apart from the ethernet cable, which I have now changed back, any idea on why the upload speed would be still a good rate but the download speed has completely suffered?

Could it be a windows setting?

 

[kanewolf]

Hey. thanks for the response, both ends are plugged into a wall - nothing has changed apart from the ethernet cable, which I have now changed back, any idea on why the upload speed would be still a good rate but the download speed has completely suffered?

Could it be a windows setting?

None of those things will change the LEDs on the powerline adapters. You need to figure out what is causing the link between the two powerline units to be poor.

 

[cloughster]

I didn't think so, I'm only confused and asking as, that has been the only change to the powerline environment, so I believe the red LED may have been displaying before, I can see that in the tp-link management software that I'm getting 40-60mbps transfered between the devices but my PC is only recieving about 4-10mbps of that even though it's hte only thing connected. Ignoring the powerline LED what would be bottlenecking the download speed like that but keeping the upload speed consistently fast?

 

[kanewolf]

I didn't think so, I'm only confused and asking as, that has been the only change to the powerline environment, so I believe the red LED may have been displaying before, I can see that in the tp-link management software that I'm getting 40-60mbps transfered between the devices but my PC is only recieving about 4-10mbps of that even though it's hte only thing connected. Ignoring the powerline LED what would be bottlenecking the download speed like that but keeping the upload speed consistently fast?

Unless you broke some wires in either of the ethernet ports, cabling won't change anything.

 

[kanewolf]

Since you marked this as solved, what changed?

 

[cloughster]

Sorry I'm extremely new to Tom's hardware, didn't mean to mark as solved, feeling stupid atm hahaha - honetly I think it might be the age of my powerline boxes as I've had them for a few years now, going to try unplugging them for an evening and see what happens, if it doesnt work going to try getting a new pair as I've tested it with a few outlets in my house and the result is always the same.

Thanks ever so much for your help!

 

[kanewolf]

Sorry I'm extremely new to Tom's hardware, didn't mean to mark as solved, feeling stupid atm hahaha - honetly I think it might be the age of my powerline boxes as I've had them for a few years now, going to try unplugging them for an evening and see what happens, if it doesnt work going to try getting a new pair as I've tested it with a few outlets in my house and the result is always the same.

Thanks ever so much for your help!

I unselected the "best answer" just so this might remain active.
If you do replace your powerline hardware, look for units with the AV2 designation. They are usually marked as AV1000 or AV2000.
The other possibility that you could investigate is MoCA (ethernet over coax). If you have coax infrastructure in your house, you may be able to switch to MoCA.

 

[SamirD]

...going to try unplugging them for an evening and see what happens, if it doesnt work going to try getting a new pair as I've tested it with a few outlets in my house and the result is always the same.

Thanks ever so much for your help!

The best test for powerlines to make sure they are working correctly is to plug them into the same outlet in a room and connect one to the network and the other one to a system and see how well it performs. Because they are both on the exact same plug, this should give them the best signal.

Another test is to do the same thing except plug them both into a surge strip that's plugged into the wall. This even eliminates any noise coming to them since the surge strip will isolate them even further.

If they can't hit good speeds in either of these scenarios, then they do needs replacement.