Powerline vs Wifi

[JaegerB]

Hey!

So I posted a thread last night asking about internet solutions to my upcoming build which will have a vertical GPU and thus no space for a pci-e wifi card.

So what I gained from that was that wifi or powerline were really my only feasible options. However, after doing a bit of research, I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

 

Wifi seems to be sometimes less reliable (I looked into m.2 cards with antennas) but still fast, and my house is small so there's about 5 meters between the PC and the router in another room.

 

Powerline seems to be very reliable (if you have the right wiring, and my house is small and was built in the 70s, so I don't know about that) but often with a severe speed degradation, something that would be of significant concern to me, since I currently get 3mbps down, and any less would make the already painful process of downloading 10GB+ games all the more painful. Powerline is also significantly more expensive for me (80-120 dollars AUD compared with <$50 for wifi).

 

So what I'm planning on doing is buying an intel m.2 wifi card and an antenna for it which will sit on top of the case. Then, if it's significantly worse than my other devices with direct connections, I'll look into powerline.

 

It seems (by most of the reviews on amazon) that by and large these cards are being put in laptops, so would putting it in a PC make any difference? Can it even be put in a PC? M.2 form factors are confusing, and I'm not sure if it even fits on an X370-F.

 

So, is this a good plan? Would it even work? 

 

Thanks in advance!

[mynameisjuan]

Powerline.....always.

 

I mean the fact that its an older house means you probably have much thick plaster walls and who knows about the wiring so you signal will be dog poo right from the start and ping might suck. 

 

Also with a 3mbps connection, both wireless and powerline will barely be used, so dont worry about speeds. But just go power line. More reliable and lower consistent pings. 

[JaegerB]

18 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

I mean the fact that its an older house means you probably have much thick plaster walls and who knows about the wiring so you signal will be dog poo right from the start and ping might suck. 

 

No, it's a brick house with quite thin internal chipboard walls. I currently use wifi on my laptop and get the same wifi speeds as my directly connected PC in the other room. My ping is also under 20 all the time.

[mynameisjuan]

1 minute ago, JaegerB said:

No, it's a brick house with quite thin internal chipboard walls. I currently use wifi on my laptop and get the same wifi speeds as my directly connected PC in the other room. My ping is also under 20 all the time.

Pings fine until someone else uses it or has low signal. Like I said, at 3 mbps you will get full speeds no problem. Its the stability that is important. 

[JaegerB]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

Pings fine until someone else uses it or has low signal. Like I said, at 3 mbps you will get full speeds no problem. Its the stability that is important. 

At least 8 other wifi connected devices in the house, most of them active at all times. Still no change. And while 3mbps might not see a difference, my house gets NBN (fiber optic) next year, so if my internet speed becomes, say, 50-100 mbps, will I see a drop then?

[mynameisjuan]

1 minute ago, JaegerB said:

At least 8 other wifi connected devices in the house, most of them active at all times. Still no change. And while 3mbps might not see a difference, my house gets NBN (fiber optic) next year, so if my internet speed becomes, say, 50-100 mbps, will I see a drop then?

I guarantee there is a difference in ping. Try running a constant test and you will see. Its just how wireless works. 

 

When you get fiber, ping will drop to 5-8ms and if you go the wireless route, at 50-100mbps, depending on signal, might not see a drop in speeds but pings spike will still be a thing. If you go power line, most can handle 250mbps no problem so speeds are still not an issue but pings will be stable. 

[RileyTheFox]

11 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

I guarantee there is a difference in ping. Try running a constant test and you will see. Its just how wireless works. 

 

When you get fiber, ping will drop to 5-8ms and if you go the wireless route, at 50-100mbps, depending on signal, might not see a drop in speeds but pings spike will still be a thing. If you go power line, most can handle 250mbps no problem so speeds are still not an issue but pings will be stable. 

TechQuickie did a video on power line only a few weeks ago and mentioned that with power line the most you'll get is 100Mbps. I'd go with Wi-Fi. Unless your networking is really awful you won't experience that many drop outs. I've used Wi-Fi before, the speeds are fine, the signal is fine. Plus, OP mentioned that there's only about a 5M distance from the PC and router. You will have full signal strength all the time with that setup

 

18 minutes ago, JaegerB said:

At least 8 other wifi connected devices in the house, most of them active at all times. Still no change. And while 3mbps might not see a difference, my house gets NBN (fiber optic) next year, so if my internet speed becomes, say, 50-100 mbps, will I see a drop then?

If your ping is anywhere between 10 and 20, you're good. With Wi-Fi you can get really good speeds. And with what I mentioned above, powerline can only reach about 100Mbps, and that's not real world use either.

[JaegerB]

2 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

I guarantee there is a difference in ping. Try running a constant test and you will see. Its just how wireless works. 

 

There's a difference of 3-2 ms. Nothing noticeable in gaming, and the only time my ping in games is above 50 is when I'm connected to an overseas server, and there's nothing I can do about that.

[JaegerB]

3 minutes ago, EvilCat70 said:

TechQuickie did a video on power line only a few weeks ago and mentioned that with power line the most you'll get is 100Mbps. I'd go with Wi-Fi. Unless your networking is really awful you won't experience that many drop outs. I've used Wi-Fi before, the speeds are fine, the signal is fine. Plus, OP mentioned that there's only about a 5M distance from the PC and router. You will have full signal strength all the time with that setup

 

Thanks for the answer  However with wifi, I'm stuck as to what is the best solution. After digging around, I haven't been able to find any wifi m.2 cards that fit form factors supported by the X370-F (only 2230). And I've heard that USB adapters can be poor quality and unreliable, with often slower speeds.

[RileyTheFox]

1 minute ago, JaegerB said:

Thanks for the answer  However with wifi, I'm stuck as to what is the best solution. After digging around, I haven't been able to find any wifi m.2 cards that fit form factors supported by the X370-F (only 2230). And I've heard that USB adapters can be poor quality and unreliable, with often slower speeds.

Pretty sure Ethernet to Wi-Fi exists too. I certainly wouldn't use power line if you're getting faster speeds for your home.

[JaegerB]

2 minutes ago, EvilCat70 said:

Pretty sure Ethernet to Wi-Fi exists too. I certainly wouldn't use power line if you're getting faster speeds for your home.

I've never heard of ethernet to wifi? I can't run a cable to the room the PC will be in.

[mynameisjuan]

15 hours ago, EvilCat70 said:

TechQuickie did a video on power line only a few weeks ago and mentioned that with power line the most you'll get is 100Mbps. I'd go with Wi-Fi. Unless your networking is really awful you won't experience that many drop outs. I've used Wi-Fi before, the speeds are fine, the signal is fine. Plus, OP mentioned that there's only about a 5M distance from the PC and router. You will have full signal strength all the time with that setup

 

If your ping is anywhere between 10 and 20, you're good. With Wi-Fi you can get really good speeds. And with what I mentioned above, powerline can only reach about 100Mbps, and that's not real world use either.

 

First is no....you will see more than 100mbps. Ive seen speed reach much higher than 100mbps on powerline. And on top of it, his speed might be max 100mbps so going wireless for more speed is really really pointless. And even if he is 5m from the router wireless still is not stable enough. One device with shit signal fucks every other device over as it has to wait for its time slot to talk again leading to a ping spike. 

 

15 hours ago, JaegerB said:

There's a difference of 3-2 ms. Nothing noticeable in gaming, and the only time my ping in games is above 50 is when I'm connected to an overseas server, and there's nothing I can do about that.

2-3ms without spikes, literally right next to the router and no other device fucking with it. I mean go wireless if you want but not going to say I told you so when ping spikes ruin everything. 

[RileyTheFox]

8 hours ago, mynameisjuan said:

 

First is no....you will see more than 100mbps. Ive seen speed reach much higher than 100mbps on powerline. And on top of it, his speed might be max 100mbps so going wireless for more speed is really really pointless. And even if he is 5m from the router wireless still is not stable enough. One device with shit signal fucks every other device over as it has to wait for its time slot to talk again leading to a ping spike. 

 

2-3ms without spikes, literally right next to the router and no other device fucking with it. I mean go wireless if you want but not going to say I told you so when ping spikes ruin everything. 

If you are saying ping spikes because it goes to a 100 for a second, that isn't the end of the world. If it works without being completely shite then go for it. I just wouldn't do power line because in most house holds the most you'll get is 100 meg