Wi-Fi Extender vs Powerline vs Network Switch

[alexholmes93]

Hi all, looking for some help/advice regarding boosting my wireless signal at home. The internet I have is fibre optic with BT.

My router (a BT HomeHub 4 with one gigabit port) doesn't send out a signal strong enough to reach the furthest areas of the house. Because of this, I bought a TP-LINK TL-WA850RE wifi extender and was also provided with a BT mini home hotspot set- comprising of a broadband extender and a mini wifi home hotspot device (so 2 extenders in total & 1 hotspot device). However the signal I receive on devices connected to these boosters is slow and fairly unreliable, even though a wireless network speed test through BT's own website showed the HomeHub router had a download speed of 30mbps+.

I've read various articles lately that mention that, in reality, these wifi boosters actually share the bandwidth from the router, so the boosters at home are taking the already weak signal and broadcasting it elsewhere in the house at slower speeds. (Please correct me if I'm wrong in my assumptions!)

I'm now looking for alternative methods of extending the wireless signal while maintaining a good performance so the download speed stays fairly high, and gather that Powerline adapters could be the answer. From what I see, one adapter connects to the router and the other adapter is plugged in elsewhere in the house, so the boosted wifi signal comes straight from the router.

So, a few questions I have for the community:

Question 1: the current wifi extenders are linked to my HomeHub router to boost that signal. If I was using Powerline adapters, they'd also be connected to the HomeHub router. So how can there be a difference in performance? Surely both devices will be broadcasting the signal at the same slow speeds?

Question 2: If I invested in powerline adapters- which I see come as a twin pack- can I add even more adapters into the setup or am I limited to just two devices?

Question 3: I've stumbled across network switches in my attempt to find some answers. Apparently they connect devices on the same network. Would this be beneficial/practical instead?

Appreciate any help with this issue!

 

[Mr Kagouris]

Network switches are more or less "splitters" for the network. There's cases where tens of PCs need to be connected to the same internet connection, so switches are needed to connect more than what the actual modem/router supports.

As for powerline, the performance of powerline will depend on your home's electrical wiring. If your house is relatively new you should get decent transfer speeds with powerline.

 

[madmatt30]

Network switches require hard cabled ethernet lines around the house.
Power line/homeplugs use your houses electrical circuit to carry the data signal.
Wireless extenders tend to half throughput from the original device.

So in order of speed / reliability
1. Ethernet hard wired/network switches.
2.power line/homeplug
3. Wireless extender

I'm on virgin media & suffer the same scenario (the super hubs wireless signal is poor) , superhub is upstairs, the majority of my equipment is downstairs.

I use a pair of these
TP-LINK TL-PA411KIT AV500 500 Mbps Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit - Twin Pack
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0084Y9N3O/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_uQFjxb3DH0859

& one of these plugged into the downstairs homeplug behind my TV.

TP-LINK TL-WR841N 300Mbps Wireless N Cable Router https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001FWYGJS/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_0SFjxbJSTMTS8

This gives me solid wireless access downstairs + 3 hardwired point to use aswell.

The home plugs only have 10/100 ports so you're going to be limited to 100mbs but I get that constant with no fluctuation.

 

[alexholmes93]

I use a pair of these
TP-LINK TL-PA411KIT AV500 500 Mbps Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit - Twin Pack
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0084Y9N3O/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_uQFjxb3DH0859

I've just watched the operating instructions video, and it says the following:

"Once paired connect one of your Powerline adapters to the router, move the other one to anywhere you want internet connection and connect using the ethernet cable provided"

The video then shows someone using this other adapter to connect to their laptop with an ethernet cable. Does this mean that this other adapter can't be connected to wirelessly (e.g. on my phone/android streaming box etc)? Is it only compatible with ethernet enabled devices?

Also, do you know if additional adapters can be eventually be implemented into the setup?

Thanks

 

[Mr Kagouris]

Practically every powerline adapter I know is ethernet-only, but you can get a 2-port one and use the second port to connect a WiFi extender or even a secondary wireless router.

 

[madmatt30]

You can get ones with wireless built but theyre inordinately expensive compared to ethernet only ones & it actually works out cheaper to buy single ethernet only ones & ad a cheap wireless router where required.
You do end up with multiple wireless networks this way but most devices are auto switching so its no big problem.

You can generally pair 4 of the cheap tp-link ones I linked to

this is the wireless twin setup

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Smartphone/dp/B00DHB2T44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462109191&sr=8-1&keywords=wireless+homeplug

cheaper option on the router front

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-300Mbps-Wireless-Antennas-Supports/dp/B017W2YJTG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1462109324&sr=8-3&keywords=tenda+wireless+router

 

[alexholmes93]

it actually works out cheaper to buy single ethernet only ones & ad a cheap wireless router where required.
You do end up with multiple wireless networks this way but most devices are auto switching so its no big problem.

Just a few more questions if I may!

1. You mention multiple wireless networks- Is this because you'd need multiple routers for each set of ethernet-only adapters? If I went this route (due to cost), would adding more routers to the network reduce the overall speed/bandwidth or would each additional router still provide the same speed as my HomeHub?

2. Would you agree then that it's much more sensible then to replace the current setup I have (wifi extenders) with Powerlink adapters, which should in principal provide a speed as if I was connected directly to the router?

3. Out of interest, you say in your first response that wireless extenders tend to halve the throughput from the original device (presumably this means from the router?) As I'm currently using 2 wireless extenders, is this halving the potential speed twice over?