Speeds in upstairs office much slower using Powerline adapter

[steelo]

Hi everyone,

 

I apologize if this seems to be a dumb question...I love building PC's and writing code, however networking is not one of my strong points 

 

I have a TP-Link Archer AX1800 router downstairs running ethernet cable to a Netgear powerline PL1000 adapter plugged into a wall socket. Upstairs I have another PL1000 adapter that is wired to an older Netgear Nighthawk router running as a switch (and wifi repeater for mobile devices). From there my PC is connected to the network switch (Nighthawk router) via ethernet cable. My question is, I am getting around a 400-500 mbps internet connection downstairs. However, upstairs I am only achieving 50-60 mbps. Is this normal or could the switch acting as an intermediary be causing this issue? I am wondering about the benefits of updating the firmware on the Netgear Nighthawk and whether it will make a difference if it is only a simple network switch.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

[emosun]

Are you connecting to any servers capable of seeding you 60mbps of information?

[Donut417]

17 minutes ago, steelo said:

Hi everyone,

 

I apologize if this seems to be a dumb question...I love building PC's and writing code, however networking is not one of my strong points 

 

I have a TP-Link Archer AX1800 router downstairs running ethernet cable to a Netgear powerline PL1000 adapter plugged into a wall socket. Upstairs I have another PL1000 adapter that is wired to an older Netgear Nighthawk router running as a switch (and wifi repeater for mobile devices). From there my PC is connected to the network switch (Nighthawk router) via ethernet cable. My question is, I am getting around a 400-500 mbps internet connection downstairs. However, upstairs I am only achieving 50-60 mbps. Is this normal or could the switch acting as an intermediary be causing this issue? I am wondering about the benefits of updating the firmware on the Netgear Nighthawk and whether it will make a difference if it is only a simple network switch.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Power line adapters are hit or miss on speed. They are dependent on quality of wiring and other factors. The speeds advertised are the speed between the adapters. Many only have 100Mbps Ethernet ports therefore only get a max of 100Mbps. There are so many ways power line  adapters can be interfered with. 

[steelo]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

Power line adapters are hit or miss on speed. They are dependent on quality of wiring and other factors. The speeds advertised are the speed between the adapters. Many only have 100Mbps Ethernet ports therefore only get a max of 100Mbps. There are so many ways power line  adapters can be interfered with. 

Okay, that makes sense...probably just our house wiring. The connection is very stable, just 1/8 the speed I'm getting downstairs. I'm not sure if the port on the adapters are 100 mbps or 1 gbps. Thanks!

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, steelo said:

Okay, that makes sense...probably just our house wiring. The connection is very stable, just 1/8 the speed I'm getting downstairs. I'm not sure if the port on the adapters are 100 mbps or 1 gbps. Thanks!

If you have coax near the router and where you need upstairs you could look in to Moca adapters. They support speeds up to Gigabit and generally work more or less as advertised. They can co exist with your cable and internet provider on the same line as well. 

[steelo]

19 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

If you have coax near the router and where you need upstairs you could look in to Moca adapters. They support speeds up to Gigabit and generally work more or less as advertised. They can co exist with your cable and internet provider on the same line as well. 

I've heard about those adapters...unfortunately, it would be a huge pain as my router is on the opposite side of the house and on another level.

[steelo]

3 hours ago, emosun said:

Are you connecting to any servers capable of seeding you 60mbps of information?

Typically, 50 mbps is sufficient for web surfing and occasional gaming, but I often download torrent files that can be 1 gb or more. It would be nice to be able to download in 5-10 minutes rather than 30.

[Alex Atkin UK]

20 minutes ago, steelo said:

Typically, 50 mbps is sufficient for web surfing and occasional gaming, but I often download torrent files that can be 1 gb or more. It would be nice to be able to download in 5-10 minutes rather than 30.

One of the problems with powerline is they aren't designed to travel across circuits.  Not sure about your house, but if upstairs and downstairs are different circuits, you can lose speed over the circuit breakers.

One possibility is if you can get ethernet to at LEAST an outlet on the same circuit and plug the powerline in there, it could make a huge difference.  Easier than running ethernet the whole way at least which would obviously be the ideal.

Of course the flip side is running ethernet as far as you can and putting a WiFi Access Point there might make WiFi faster, not needing powerline at all.

[steelo]

9 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

One of the problems with powerline is they aren't designed to travel across circuits.  Not sure about your house, but if upstairs and downstairs are different circuits, you can lose speed over the circuit breakers.

One possibility is if you can get ethernet to at LEAST an outlet on the same circuit and plug the powerline in there, it could make a huge difference.  Easier than running ethernet the whole way at least which would obviously be the ideal.

Of course the flip side is running ethernet as far as you can and putting a WiFi Access Point at that point might make WiFi faster, not needing powerline at all.

Interesting. I've never thought about that. I actually get decent wifi speeds upstairs connecting to the downstairs router but the connection is very unstable. This can be caused by a dozen different things...microwaves, walls, metal, etc. One thing I forgot to mention is we have telephone jacks in many of the wall outlets. I'm sure speeds would be terrible using this wiring. However, I may be able to fish ethernet cable along it. Thanks for the suggestion.. this may be a fun project soon!