Powerline vs Wif AC + range extender?

[Deletive]

Hello I'm currently looking at options to get rid of the Ethernet cable running through my apartment.

This cable is really annoying and I'm looking to get rid of it. I was looking at Wifi and powerline but couldn't decide which one would be better.

The Powerline kit I have is a D link AV 50

For the wifi I have my standard wifi from my modem ( still can't get it to work with a router so I don't think I have AC) but I also got a range extender and PCI-E card for my PC which ( D-link n300 range extender and Wireless n300 PCI express desktop adapter) 

Which one would be better? I'm currently on a 50mbps plan and don't want to give up much if any of that speed.

tl;dr: Powerline vs Wifi + range extender? which will get me better results? 

[dragoon20005]

PowerLine will have a stable throughput than the Wifi

 

if you house has other 2.4GHz devices and the wall are thick

 

the radio signals will degrade as it pass from one room to the other

[Geekazoid]

I think PowerLine is your best bet, buddy!

[Syntaxvgm]

Power line would be better in most cases. Though I think the power line adapter loses a lot of performance if both ends are not on the same line form the breaker, I think that reduces the performance. But I've never really messed with power line adapters much honestly. 

[Deletive]

Power line would be better in most cases. Though I think the power line adapter loses a lot of performance if both ends are not on the same line form the breaker, I think that reduces the performance. But I've never really messed with power line adapters much honestly. 

Okay I'll try and look into that

thanks for the quick replies.

[DerBernd]

Powerline has lower latency than wifi. But higher than normal ethernet cable.

 

If you have powerline and you don't need to transfer large amounts of data and your internet speed is below the transfer speed of the powerline: test it, if it works: keep it.

 

If your powerline does not work try getting a decent access point (you do not nessecarily need AC just now (if you need that throughput you would not have asked for powerline)). But getting an acces point means a bit of cableing.

Having ethernet cable running through your house might not be very pretty sight but you could get some slim cat5e or cat6 cable and run that under the baseboard on your wall. There is just nothing better than having an ethernet connection. Properly installing cabling after moving in is real pain but worth it. You could use a cable canal that you can wallmount. If you get some decent adhesive you might not even have to get the drill.

[skywake]

People always go on rants with this topic and it's the same old answer every time. You mentioned what spec kit you have so the answer is pretty simple. Here are the things you mentioned ranked by what sort of speeds you should expect to get in and around IRL "on average".

 

#1 Wired -> 1Gbps/100Mbps

#2 Powerline AV500 -> ~60Mbps

#3 Wireless N300 -> ~30Mbps

#4 N300 + range extender -> ~15Mbps

 

and as a general rule of thumb, if you think a range extender would be of benefit then powerline is always going to be a better option. Purely because of the fact that powerline's strength lies in its ability to work at a longer range (which is the problem people try to solve with range extenders) and wireless' weakness is when the channel is being shared (as it is when you run a range extender).

[mathijs727]

People always go on rants with this topic and it's the same old answer every time. You mentioned what spec kit you have so the answer is pretty simple. Here are the things you mentioned ranked by what sort of speeds you should expect to get in and around IRL "on average".

 

#1 Wired -> 1Gbps/100Mbps

#2 Powerline AV500 -> ~60Mbps

#3 Wireless N300 -> ~30Mbps

#4 N300 + range extender -> ~15Mbps

 

and as a general rule of thumb, if you think a range extender would be of benefit then powerline is always going to be a better option. Purely because of the fact that powerline's strength lies in its ability to work at a longer range (which is the problem people try to solve with range extenders) and wireless' weakness is when the channel is being shared (as it is when you run a range extender).

Dunno where youngot that from. Even on 2.4GHz wifi n i get a lot more then 30mbps (more like 70/80 or 50 with crappy receiver). Wifi AC gets me around 200mbps from with some walls and floors between (wooden floors), when sitting more closely i get 500mbps.

If you're house is made from wood instead of concrete and your computer is near the router go for AC. If one of both is not the case id go for powerline. Hardware.info have done some good tests on recent powerline adapters.

[skywake]

Dunno where youngot that from. Even on 2.4GHz wifi n i get a lot more then 30mbps (more like 70/80 or 50 with crappy receiver). 

Well I made a mistake and for some reason I wrote N300 when I was thinking N150. Which is what OP could well actually have if any link in the chain isn't "full" N300 on the 2.4Ghz band. Their network adapter could be dual-band N300, their cheap ISP provided router could well be N150 (or less!) and they could easily have some other N150 devices on the network holding it back. So I made a mistake but odds are I'm not far off

 

Either way OP is still better using the AV500 powerline kit they already have over their existing non-AC wireless gear

[mathijs727]

Well I made a mistake and for some reason I wrote N300 when I was thinking N150. Which is what OP could well actually have if any link in the chain isn't "full" N300 on the 2.4Ghz band. Their network adapter could be dual-band N300, their cheap ISP provided router could well be N150 (or less!) and they could easily have some other N150 devices on the network holding it back. So I made a mistake but odds are I'm not far off

 

Either way OP is still better using the AV500 powerline kit they already have over their existing non-AC wireless gear

My bad, title said Wifi AC, didnt read full post...