Are Powerline Adapters actually a good choice?

Question

I was thinking about buying the 200mbs ac pass or 500mbs ac pass powerline adapters, but I have heard more bad than good about them.
I do have wi-fi but, there is a a solid wall between upstairs and downstairs which blocks the signal (the router cannot be moved before you say)
I would really just like some information if you have used them before or know someone who has, (do they really do what they say)
thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Powerline adapters are the next best thing to a direct Ethernet connection and are not affected by wireless inteference.



As far as the speed goes it depends on your intended purpose. For fast LAN transfers get a adapter faster than your slowest device. For Internet access it just needs to be faster than your ISP Internet plan.



Let me explain,



There are basically three Ethernet standards in use:

IEEE 802.3a - 10BASE2 - 10 Mbps

IEEE 802.3u - 100BASE-TX - 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet)

IEEE 802.3z - 1000BASE-X - 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet)



Ethernet standards are backward compatible and all use standard RJ45 (8P8C) modular connectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8P8C#8P8C



Most Ethernet connections today are 100 Mbps fast Ethernet using CAT5 UTP cable. Gigabit Ethernet is 1000 Mbps using CAT6 UTP cable and devices.



The connection speed will auto-negotiate to the speed of the slowest device.



For example if you have CAT6 Ethernet cable connected to your router which has Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps) ports, and it is connected to a old PC with a 10 Mbps NIC (network interface card) then your connection speed would be limited to 10 Mbps.



If you were to use a 100 Mbps powerline adapter, then you will have a 100 Mbps connection between your powerline adapter and your router or gateway which is plenty fast for any Internet connection up to 100 Mbps.



Remember if you only have a 3 Mbps Internet connection you will only get 3 Mbps.



Here's how this works,



A fast router or powerline adapter connection can not make your Internet faster.



A router connects two separate networks and manage the traffic between them.



In most home network applications the router connects your local group of computers and devices known as the LAN with the Internet, commonly called the WAN or Wide Area Network.



Your WAN speed is determined by your ISP and is measured in Mbps (Millions of bits per second).



If you pay for a 3 Mbps Internet connection, you will get 3 Mbps.



No router or connection will change your 3 Mbps Internet speed. This connection bandwidth is shared by your entire LAN via your router.



If you have a 3 Mbps Internet plan and one user is utilizing 2.5 Mbps of the bandwidth to stream a Netflix movie that only leaves 0.5 Mbps for all of the rest of the users on the LAN.



Fast wireless routers and WLAN adapters are designed to stream large files on your LAN quickly. The high speed routers permit fast transfer of files between devices connected to your LAN, however WAN speed is still limited by your ISP.



You can test your Internet (WAN) speed here: http://speedtest.net



Only way to speed up Internet connection is to get a faster plan or ISP.



Good Luck...

Answer 2

I've used a few sets of the TP-Link ones sold by amazon for various friends and relatives, and they work extremely well.



They also do one with a built-in WiFi access point as well as an ethernet socket, so you can extend your existing WiFi network without using a repeater (which cripples the speed).



Just set one with the exact same SSID, security mode and password key as your existing WiFi, but on a different channel out of 1, 6 & 11.



Any WiFi gadgets will 'roam' and use whichever access point has the better signal at the time.

Answer 3

I need my Comcast internet to reach rooms on the other side of my house.