Would connecting a router to a cheap powerline adapter be better than having it be 15 meters away with a thick concrete ceiling and wall between it?

MrP6k · February 23, 2022

So my network setup at home is 2 routers (one with a built in ONT and one and another as an access point) that are located at the first floor (close to the walls, in the edge of the house basically) as we didn't think about optimal router locations when we first got our wifi installed, then we have 2 wireless extenders so the second floor and third floor (my brother's room has 2 floors, his decision) can have wifi access.

So my question is, can I buy a cheap powerline adapter and move my second router to the second floor and would that be any better than what I have now? My house's walls are about 10cm thick IIRC

DrMacintosh · February 23, 2022

How is the wifi performance right now on the second floor? The problem with powerline adapters is that they only really work if your home wiring is great and if the the signal stays on the same circuit. So you'll have to check to see if the plugs on either end of where the powerline adapter would be are on the same circuit. If they are, things should be great. If they aren't, you're going to get very poor performance out of the powerline adapter.

MrP6k · February 23, 2022

16 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

How is the wifi performance right now on the second floor? The problem with powerline adapters is that they only really work if your home wiring is great and if the the signal stays on the same circuit. So you'll have to check to see if the plugs on either end of where the powerline adapter would be are on the same circuit. If they are, things should be great. If they aren't, you're going to get very poor performance out of the powerline adapter.

..not great, the wifi adapter we got drops out quite frequently
I've also gotten a wifi adapter before (sold it off because it didn't perform as well as i expected), the passthrough ones from TP-link and i got about 30mbps up and down, which is about the same as wifi since my pc is right over the router.
I know that's not very good as connecting my pc directly can result in 350mbps down and about 40 up. but i assume that would still be better than having wifi repeaters?

these are the ones I'm looking to get

Falcon1986 · February 25, 2022

On 2/22/2022 at 11:01 PM, MrP6k said:

I know that's not very good as connecting my pc directly can result in 350mbps down and about 40 up. but i assume that would still be better than having wifi repeaters?

Again, reiterating what was said before. In theory, they should work OK if the quality of your building's wiring is decent and the adapters are placed on the same circuit. Ensure that they are not passing through any surge protectors or line conditioners. Adjust your expectations, though.

Powerline's performance is dependent on lots of stuff, despite what the packaging claims the adapters can do. I abandoned them long ago because I found them to be unreliable for my use cases. I wouldn't write them off completely, however, as the technology could have improved and I acknowledge that there might be certain situations where they have their use.