Are Power Line Adaptors Worth It?

[LukeNukem9]

So my main router is on the main level of my house while my setup is in the basement and across the length of the house. Should I just somehow run a long cable or try the Powerline adaptors?

[TheBean]

powerline *might work*. it depends on the quality of the cables in your home. it can be hit or miss. the more splits and hubs it has to go through, the lower speed. it will not work through surge protectors. 

 

running a long cable is best option for reliability and speed. powerline for convenience and neatness (although risky with reliability)

[LukeNukem9]

9 hours ago, Saksham said:

powerline *might work*. it depends on the quality of the cables in your home. it can be hit or miss. the more splits and hubs it has to go through, the lower speed. it will not work through surge protectors. 

 

running a long cable is best option for reliability and speed. powerline for convenience and neatness (although risky with reliability)

ok thanks.

[porina]

I used it for a while to get reach into a back bedroom. Had all sorts of random dropouts from time to time. When it worked, transfer rates weren't that great, I think my current net connection is even faster than it was. I replaced it with a 30m cat5e cable and everything is fine, apart from the cable dangling around to get there. I should tidy it up some time.

[AbydosOne]

14 hours ago, LukeTheCoder05 said:

So my main router is on the main level of my house while my setup is in the basement and across the length of the house. Should I just somehow run a long cable or try the Powerline adaptors?

They're a "last resort" option, honestly. Mine would top out at ~8MBps (even when connected across the same circuit, with both adapters being gigabit).

 

What I found to replace them (because my apartment already had a number of co-ax jacks) was MoCA. You can put gigabit Ethernet (like, 100MBps real world transfer speed) over top of existing cable connections, provided a few caveats.

 

But failing that, just string an Ethernet cable down to your space. Probably cheaper than the Powerline adapters...

[Jay Deah]

if you can use ethernet then definately do it, it'll "just work".

 

Powerline is there for when you can't and WiFi just isnt working. ive had both great and terrible experiences with them, it really depends on your home's wiring and which type of powerline adapter you buy. also latency isnt great on them so theyre not ideal for fast paced shooter multiplayer games