The cheapest Solution

[zocke1r]

Hello,

I got a problem today i switched over to my new ISP who is providing me with a 100/40Mbps connection, so far so good, but the way i connect my pc to my router is now  a huge bottleneck, as i use a 13mbps dlan adapter which due to what ever reason limits my connection to 5/5mbps which is still better than my previous connection but far from ideal. So i wonder what would be the best and cheapest way to get a 100mbps conenction.

Problems are:

• I cant relocate pc nor router
• PC has no inbuild wifi antenna
• Wifi signal is to weak for my phone to even find it

[IanDrexP]

 

Hello,

I got a problem today i switched over to my new ISP who is providing me with a 100/40Mbps connection, so far so good, but the way i connect my pc to my router is now  a huge bottleneck, as i use a 13mbps dlan adapter which due to what ever reason limits my connection to 5/5mbps which is still better than my previous connection but far from ideal. So i wonder what would be the best and cheapest way to get a 100mbps conenction if pc and router are separated by 3 floors  

 

Tenda's wireless AC routers

[petem]

 

Hello,

I got a problem today i switched over to my new ISP who is providing me with a 100/40Mbps connection, so far so good, but the way i connect my pc to my router is now  a huge bottleneck, as i use a 13mbps dlan adapter which due to what ever reason limits my connection to 5/5mbps which is still better than my previous connection but far from ideal. So i wonder what would be the best and cheapest way to get a 100mbps conenction.

Problems are:

• I cant relocate pc nor router
• PC has no inbuild wifi antenna
• Wifi signal is to weak for my phone to even find it

 

 

Any reason a wired connection wouldn't work? Or does your mobo not have a 100Mbps ethernet port? (or some other limitation?)

[zocke1r]

Any reason a wired connection wouldn't work? Or does your mobo not have a 100Mbps ethernet port? (or some other limitation?)

the problem with a direct wired connection is the distance and cable management as it has to goo through the staircase and the living room, 

[SkilledRebuilds]

Ethernet over Power

Just get a decent one with decent capable bandwidth allowance.

 

Plug one into wall, feed ethernet cable from router to this.

 

Plug one into your room with PC, ethernet cable into Lan port.

I have a few of these running across multiple PC's, none of them give extra latency compared to direct cable, and is way better than wireless and also better than running cables around the house.

 

Years ago, earlier models were shit, but now their pretty decent (But google reviews on the product first to see if user reviews seem good or bad)

 

While 200Mbps is nice, faster ones exist (Which would enable faster file transfers across network between devices)

[brwainer]

Ethernet over Power

Just get a decent one with decent capable bandwidth allowance.

Plug one into wall, feed ethernet cable from router to this.

Plug one into your room with PC, ethernet cable into Lan port.

I have a few of these running across multiple PC's, none of them give extra latency compared to direct cable, and is way better than wireless and also better than running cables around the house.

Years ago, earlier models were shit, but now their pretty decent (But google reviews on the product first to see if user reviews seem good or bad)

While 200Mbps is nice, faster ones exist (Which would enable faster file transfers across network between devices)

Agreed, this is your best bet, my only addition is that you should get a set that is rated "AV2" if possible, because it has significant improvements over the "AV" standard, and prices aren't much higher. I like Xyzel brand Powerline adaptors myself.

[zocke1r]

Agreed, this is your best bet, my only addition is that you should get a set that is rated "AV2" if possible, because it has significant improvements over the "AV" standard, and prices aren't much higher. I like Xyzel brand Powerline adaptors myself.

thank you for the tip

[zocke1r]

Agreed, this is your best bet, my only addition is that you should get a set that is rated "AV2" if possible, because it has significant improvements over the "AV" standard, and prices aren't much higher. I like Xyzel brand Powerline adaptors myself.

can you tell me if i have to expect any amount of loss in bandwidth  or packets?

[brwainer]

can you tell me if i have to expect any amount of loss in bandwidth or packets?

Powerline is highly dependent on the quality and routing of the lines in your house. Most people, from what I've read, find a maximum speed around 50Mbps no matter how impressive the specs on the unit, because of poor signal due to old wiring or noise from things like a refridgerator on the same circuit, etc. But with powerline you should always have a very low latency, only just higher than ethernet and much lower than wireless. The two main things to watch out for are 1. The powerline adaptor needs to be directly connected to the wall outlet, not to a power strip or surge protector (they make models with a passthrough outlet on the front) and 2. With AV or older standards, the two adaptors need to be on the same power phase on the same breaker box. With AV2, being in the same phase on the same breaker helps, but they really only have to share a common ground, as AV2 adds the ability to communicate through the ground.

I can give you some numbers from my own setup. I have 4 (2 kits of 2) Xyzel 600Mbps AV2 powerline adaptors. From any one node to another, I can get 70-75Mbps, with nothing else going on. With a bidirectional test with the same nodes, I get 30-35Mbps each way. In a more complex test, I had packets originating at Node A, being sent to Node B, then from Node B to Node C, and finally from Node C to Node D. Throughput of the test from Node A to Node D was 20-25Mbps. This is because Powerline is a broadcast system, using the metal in the power lines the same way Wifi uses the air or 10BASE2 ethernet uses coax cables, so my three Nodes sending data through the powerline system divided the capacity evenly.

Latency tests show 1-3ms normally, 2-5ms under medium load (a few Netflix or slow sownloads at once) and then a huge jump to 200+ms once the system gets to it's ~75Mbps capacity. Since our internet is 50/50 FIOS, the only thing that overloads the powerline connection is accessing the NAS, which isn't often as the main computers aren't using the powerline.

I experience no packet loss unless the system is at capacity, and that is only with UDP packets. TCP will scale down so that loss doesn't occur.

[zocke1r]

Powerline is highly dependent on the quality and routing of the lines in your house. Most people, from what I've read, find a maximum speed around 50Mbps no matter how impressive the specs on the unit, because of poor signal due to old wiring or noise from things like a refridgerator on the same circuit, etc. But with powerline you should always have a very low latency, only just higher than ethernet and much lower than wireless. The two main things to watch out for are 1. The powerline adaptor needs to be directly connected to the wall outlet, not to a power strip or surge protector (they make models with a passthrough outlet on the front) and 2. With AV or older standards, the two adaptors need to be on the same power phase on the same breaker box. With AV2, being in the same phase on the same breaker helps, but they really only have to share a common ground, as AV2 adds the ability to communicate through the ground.

I can give you some numbers from my own setup. I have 4 (2 kits of 2) Xyzel 600Mbps AV2 powerline adaptors. From any one node to another, I can get 70-75Mbps, with nothing else going on. With a bidirectional test with the same nodes, I get 30-35Mbps each way. In a more complex test, I had packets originating at Node A, being sent to Node B, then from Node B to Node C, and finally from Node C to Node D. Throughput of the test from Node A to Node D was 20-25Mbps. This is because Powerline is a broadcast system, using the metal in the power lines the same way Wifi uses the air or 10BASE2 ethernet uses coax cables, so my three Nodes sending data through the powerline system divided the capacity evenly.

Latency tests show 1-3ms normally, 2-5ms under medium load (a few Netflix or slow sownloads at once) and then a huge jump to 200+ms once the system gets to it's ~75Mbps capacity. Since our internet is 50/50 FIOS, the only thing that overloads the powerline connection is accessing the NAS, which isn't often as the main computers aren't using the powerline.

I experience no packet loss unless the system is at capacity, and that is only with UDP packets. TCP will scale down so that loss doesn't occur.

okay, so with my 100/40Mbps internet connection i'm going to run into latency problems as soon as i start to download something?

[brwainer]

Possibly, it all depends on your wiring.

[skywake]

@zocke1r

If you want the best solution for the lowest cost you should be using a wide variety of technologies. Relying on WiFi, regardless of how good it is, will eventually result in a bottleneck in your router. Relying on powerline will result in a bottleneck with your powerline adapter. Relying on Ethernet has no real downsides but sometimes isn't practical to setup. So here's my suggestion.

 

1. Everything that can be practically connected via Ethernet should be, the more you can do the better

2. Get some powerline adapters (AV2 if you want 100Mbps) and starting with the most distant ones connect some of the devices that could have been wired.

3. Once you've connected around half of your remaining devices via Powerline? Start leaning on WiFi. Preferably dual-band AC

4. If possible when not using Ethernet try to share a single link. eg if you have a TV, PS4, Blu-Ray don't use the built in WiFi, get a media bridge