Help connecting pc to router

[TellAJoke]

I'm a complete beginner at this and in need of some advice.

 

Wifi signal is pretty weak on PC so was trying to improve it. Next to it I have an ethernet socket although RJ-25 which apparently is too weak. Also have a coaxial socket and regular electrical sockets. 

From what I've found my two best options would be either a powerline adapter or a Moca adapter.

 

• Powerline adapter is cheaper but apparently less reliable and with lower top speeds. An option would be a Devolo Powerline Adapter.
• Moca seems more reliable and with higher top speeds, but also more expensive and prone to issues namely with the cabling. An option would be ScreenBeam Moca Adapter.

 

I'm leaning more towards the powerline adapter since I don't know the state of the coax cabling and am not allowed to change it.

What option would you recommend? Am I missing another one? Are there better products you'd recommend (from amazon.es)?

Thanks!

[Bdavis]

RJ25? Perhaps you mean RJ12 or RJ11? Pull the plate off the wall, and check the spec and number of condutors of the cable attached to it. Sometimes you may have cat5 or cat5e and just need to terminate the ends to change from phone use to data use.

 

What speeds do you pay for, and is running a new cable an option?

[Shooterdude34]

14 minutes ago, TellAJoke said:

I'm a complete beginner at this and in need of some advice.

 

Wifi signal is pretty weak on PC so was trying to improve it. Next to it I have an ethernet socket although RJ-25 which apparently is too weak. Also have a coaxial socket and regular electrical sockets. 

From what I've found my two best options would be either a powerline adapter or a Moca adapter.

 

• Powerline adapter is cheaper but apparently less reliable and with lower top speeds. An option would be a Devolo Powerline Adapter.
• Moca seems more reliable and with higher top speeds, but also more expensive and prone to issues namely with the cabling. An option would be ScreenBeam Moca Adapter.

 

I'm leaning more towards the powerline adapter since I don't know the state of the coax cabling and am not allowed to change it.

What option would you recommend? Am I missing another one? Are there better products you'd recommend (from amazon.es)?

Thanks!

How far away from your router is your pc? you could just run a long Cat 6 Ethernet cable from the router to your pc.

 

Just so you know, Rj-25 is a telephone connector used for wired telephones. It does not have any capability to transfer wired internet over ethernet. For example, RJ11, RJ14, and RJ25 are the most commonly used interfaces for telephone connections for one-, two-, and three-line service, respectively. Although these standards are legal definitions in the United States, some interfaces are used worldwide. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack)

 

Powerline adapters definitely work, i used to use them. but they definitely have a performance and reliability drop. The biggest thing to think about when using them is the circuts in the house. Many rooms are on different circuts, and therefore the powerline adapters will not work. Your data is also having to fight with the noise of just your houses electricity. 

 

I dont have any experience with Moca, though there was the LTT video about it. It definitely would be more reliable and faster since its on a dedicated wire away from electricity, however coax is still only 1 wire. normal Cat 6 ethernet cable is 8 wires (4 twisted pairs) 

 

Before you continue, check your circuts in your house and make sure that the same circut runs from your router to pc. Your best bet would just be to run a really long cable, though again im not sure how far your router is from your pc.

[TellAJoke]

16 minutes ago, Bdavis said:

RJ25? Perhaps you mean RJ12 or RJ11? Pull the plate off the wall, and check the spec and number of condutors of the cable attached to it. Sometimes you may have cat5 or cat5e and just need to terminate the ends to change from phone use to data use.

 

What speeds do you pay for, and is running a new cable an option?

Is this image enough to tell the type? has 6 pins. Plate doesn't want to come out.

 

I'm paying for 500Mbps. And no, couldn't run a cable, pc is pretty far from the router

[TellAJoke]

19 minutes ago, Shooterdude34 said:

How far away from your router is your pc? you could just run a long Cat 6 Ethernet cable from the router to your pc.

 

Just so you know, Rj-25 is a telephone connector used for wired telephones. It does not have any capability to transfer wired internet over ethernet. For example, RJ11, RJ14, and RJ25 are the most commonly used interfaces for telephone connections for one-, two-, and three-line service, respectively. Although these standards are legal definitions in the United States, some interfaces are used worldwide. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack)

 

Powerline adapters definitely work, i used to use them. but they definitely have a performance and reliability drop. The biggest thing to think about when using them is the circuts in the house. Many rooms are on different circuts, and therefore the powerline adapters will not work. Your data is also having to fight with the noise of just your houses electricity. 

 

I dont have any experience with Moca, though there was the LTT video about it. It definitely would be more reliable and faster since its on a dedicated wire away from electricity, however coax is still only 1 wire. normal Cat 6 ethernet cable is 8 wires (4 twisted pairs) 

 

Before you continue, check your circuts in your house and make sure that the same circut runs from your router to pc. Your best bet would just be to run a really long cable, though again im not sure how far your router is from your pc.

Considered running a cable too but the router is pretty far, doesn't seem doable.

 

Oh thanks, thought it was meant for ethernet too since the socket has a @ symbol on it.

 

How would I check if the same circuit runs from router to pc?

 

 

[Shooterdude34]

4 minutes ago, TellAJoke said:

Is this image enough to tell the type? has 6 pins. Plate doesn't want to come out.

 

I'm paying for 500Mbps. And no, couldn't run a cable, pc is pretty far from the router

what is your wifi setup? what wireless router, what pc/laptop you are running? how many walls are between the router and pc? are you experiencing drops or just slow wifi?

 

if you have access to your breaker panel, you could try switching off the power to one of the rooms and see if the other also turns off. otherwise hardware stores tend to carry circut tracing devices if you feel like going that way.

 

im going to add on to my previous statements about powerline adapters. staying on the same circut isnt actually necessary, but is the best option. some breaker panels have filtering between circuts, which could interfere with the adapters. generally if youre on the same main feed (say in same house) they have a possibility of working no matter the circut, but performance can be quite degraded. usually about 1/4 the speed you are expecting, or about the same speed as wifi would be.

[TellAJoke]

2 minutes ago, Shooterdude34 said:

what is your wifi setup? what wireless router, what pc/laptop you are running? how many walls are between the router and pc? are you experiencing drops or just slow wifi?

Router is the company's default router, says it has Wi-Fi Dual Band AC, WAVE2 and MIMO 4x4. PC is this, using motherboard's default wifi antenna. There are 3 walls between pc and router. Experiencing both drops and slow wifi.

 

13 minutes ago, Shooterdude34 said:

if you have access to your breaker panel,

yeah I do, they're on different circuits then I'm pretty sure, though I'll test it later.

[Falcon1986]

Just putting it out there as another option if it's feasible...

 

Find the ends of the telephone cable inside the wall plates. If you have no use for the cable and the ends are in locations for router and PC hookup, simply use it to fish Cat5e or Cat6 cable through the same walls. Change the wall plates at both ends and connect your router/PC.

 

Some in-wall cable installations might tack cables to studs, so the above suggestion won't work.

[Shooterdude34]

1 hour ago, Falcon1986 said:

Just putting it out there as another option if it's feasible...

 

Find the ends of the telephone cable inside the wall plates. If you have no use for the cable and the ends are in locations for router and PC hookup, simply use it to fish Cat5e or Cat6 cable through the same walls. Change the wall plates at both ends and connect your router/PC.

 

Some in-wall cable installations might tack cables to studs, so the above suggestion won't work.

this would be the best bet, but again only if the cable isnt stapled. also theres no guarantee that the telephone jack runs into the room we need, so pulling it through wouldnt do much.

 

i would definitely also reccomend looking into a higher end aftermarket router, or adding a new access point as a middle man between your router and pc. like putting it in a hallway halfway between your router and pc. pretty much most things ubiquiti is good, though im not that up on all the good networking brands. also tp link, or synology. could also keep an eye out for these brands but used, and even find cisco stuff used

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, TellAJoke said:

How would I check if the same circuit runs from router to pc?

Go to your breaker panel and there should be labels for what circuit does what. That being said, how correct that is will depend. You can double check by turning off the breakers and checking to see if the PC and router both dont have power. 

 

 

[TellAJoke]

4 hours ago, Shooterdude34 said:

this would be the best bet, but again only if the cable isnt stapled. also theres no guarantee that the telephone jack runs into the room we need, so pulling it through wouldnt do much.

 

i would definitely also reccomend looking into a higher end aftermarket router, or adding a new access point as a middle man between your router and pc. like putting it in a hallway halfway between your router and pc. pretty much most things ubiquiti is good, though im not that up on all the good networking brands. also tp link, or synology. could also keep an eye out for these brands but used, and even find cisco stuff used

So you'd recommend I extend the wifi signal rather than using a power line adapter?

I did check and router and PC are indeed in different circuits

[TellAJoke]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Go to your breaker panel and there should be labels for what circuit does what. That being said, how correct that is will depend. You can double check by turning off the breakers and checking to see if the PC and router both dont have power. 

 

 

Thanks, did end up checking and they're in different circuits 

[Omon_Ra]

On 9/14/2023 at 5:07 PM, TellAJoke said:

Is this image enough to tell the type? has 6 pins. Plate doesn't want to come out.

 

I'm paying for 500Mbps. And no, couldn't run a cable, pc is pretty far from the router

Hard to say for sure, but it looks like it is NOT Cat5/5e. Looks like the far right wire is red, and there might be a black wire as well, which would lead me to believe it's not an ethernet wire for the run. But that could be wires for the jack, not the main house run. The only way to know would be removing the plate/jack completely and looking at the wire itself. There might be a tiny set screw on the bottom lip of the plate. Or if you can take a pic of the whole wall plate that will make explaining how to remove it easier. Typically they just pop off with a little bit of prying if there aren't visible plate screws.

[TellAJoke]

Ended up testing the coaxial socket next to my pc by plugging the router on it and it works fine. Thinking of purchasing this Moca Adapter (amazon link).

The router I have doesn't a WAN port and the only input is the coaxial cable.

 

So would a splitter work to send a signal to both the adapter and router through coaxial?

Or would the LAN port on the router act as input and I should connect the adapter there? Looks like it would work from this video.

[Lurick]

10 minutes ago, TellAJoke said:

Ended up testing the coaxial socket next to my pc by plugging the router on it and it works fine. Thinking of purchasing this Moca Adapter (amazon link).

The router I have doesn't a WAN port and the only input is the coaxial cable.

 

So would a splitter work to send a signal to both the adapter and router through coaxial?

Or would the LAN port on the router act as input and I should connect the adapter there? Looks like it would work from this video.

LAN port on router > MOCA adapter > Coax Cable >>><<< Coax cable < MOCA adapter < PC LAN port

 

If there is only one coax port near the router then a splitter should work but you'll have to double check me on that part.