Powerline Adaptor or Mesh Wifi

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Gazed416

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I've always known a bit about Powerline, and since owning one it has worked well for me. I know that in simple terms a wifi extender basically repeats a weak wifi signal and is therefore a waste of money.

The router is currently in the lounge and we have a 100mbps fibre line with OpenServe. A quick speed test with my phone connected to the powerline's wifi in my room shows a minimum speed of 46mbps, which is fair enough.

The only con that I have with my powerline setup is the fact that the main adaptor needs to be next to the router, which is okay for now since I'm the only one in our household with one, but I fear that we'll soon need better wifi signal to the other bedrooms. The con would be multiple adaptors being plugged in next to the router.

Is mesh wifi worth it? It would eliminate the above con.
 
I recently picked up a TP-Link Deco Mesh kit (3 units) via Amazon. Works like a bomb, and really straight forward to set up. Nice clean solution.
 
Gazed416 said:
I've always known a bit about Powerline, and since owning one it has worked well for me. I know that in simple terms a wifi extender basically repeats a weak wifi signal and is therefore a waste of money.

The router is currently in the lounge and we have a 100mbps fibre line with OpenServe. A quick speed test with my phone connected to the powerline's wifi in my room shows a minimum speed of 46mbps, which is fair enough.

The only con that I have with my powerline setup is the fact that the main adaptor needs to be next to the router, which is okay for now since I'm the only one in our household with one, but I fear that we'll soon need better wifi signal to the other bedrooms. The con would be multiple adaptors being plugged in next to the router.

Is mesh wifi worth it? It would eliminate the above con.
Click to expand...
Then why not just plug in another PL adapter in the room you want better coverage in? I have the TP-Link AV600 and you only need one adapter plugged into the router.
 
bwana said:
Then why not just plug in another PL adapter in the room you want better coverage in? I have the TP-Link AV600 and you only need one adapter plugged into the router.
Click to expand...

Not sure but I'll think about it
 
igeorge said:
I recently picked up a TP-Link Deco Mesh kit (3 units) via Amazon. Works like a bomb, and really straight forward to set up. Nice clean solution.
Click to expand...
How's the speeds compared to your actual Internet package? Example, if you have a 100/100 line, are you getting at least half of that with the mesh?
 
bwana said:
Then why not just plug in another PL adapter in the room you want better coverage in? I have the TP-Link AV600 and you only need one adapter plugged into the router.
Click to expand...
THIS!
I used to run WDS on Apple Airport expresses throughout the house ... however, with new devices and what not, signal interference really becomes an issue.
I went the TP-Link route (bunch of AV600 units):

Study (connected to Fibre router) and feeding into one Airport Express for coverage there
Lounge feeding into Netgear DGN2000 for Mi Box (Wired) and 2 Exploras (wired) and of course WiFi
Dining Room feeding into Airport Express for Wifi Coverage to the downstairs "West Wing"
Lounge upstairs - this is a Wifi unit with two Ethernet out. One out goes to the PS4, the other out goes to Airport Express to provide 5Ghz Wifi (better speed with all the interference) and provides WiFi coverage for the full upper level
Son's bedroom feeds directly into his gaming PC

I had all the Airport Expresses, so the TP-Link units all and all cost me about R2400, to cover the whole house (Airport Expresses are not necessary, but because I had them, I didn't opt for new TP-Link PL Wifi units)
 
LandyMan said:
THIS!
I used to run WDS on Apple Airport expresses throughout the house ... however, with new devices and what not, signal interference really becomes an issue.
I went the TP-Link route (bunch of AV600 units):

Study (connected to Fibre router) and feeding into one Airport Express for coverage there
Lounge feeding into Netgear DGN2000 for Mi Box (Wired) and 2 Exploras (wired) and of course WiFi
Dining Room feeding into Airport Express for Wifi Coverage to the downstairs "West Wing"
Lounge upstairs - this is a Wifi unit with two Ethernet out. One out goes to the PS4, the other out goes to Airport Express to provide 5Ghz Wifi (better speed with all the interference) and provides WiFi coverage for the full upper level
Son's bedroom feeds directly into his gaming PC

I had all the Airport Expresses, so the TP-Link units all and all cost me about R2400, to cover the whole house (Airport Expresses are not necessary, but because I had them, I didn't opt for new TP-Link PL Wifi units)
Click to expand...
Sounds like we're in the same boat. I'm running two networks - one TP-Links, the other Airport Expresses/Extremes. :) Any future expansion will probably be done with TP_Links
 
bwana said:
Sounds like we're in the same boat. I'm running two networks - one TP-Links, the other Airport Expresses/Extremes. :) Any future expansion will probably be done with TP_Links
Click to expand...
LOL ... Yep, the son's room was an addition over the weekend, as he moved his PC from study to his room. It was literally as simple as plugging the TP-Link unit in the wall, press a button and sorted!
 
I can vouch for Powerline Adapters, they work so well. I have been having endless issues with Plex buffering from the laptop to the TV.

I bought a pair of gigabit Netgear powerline adapters. I moved our fiber router into the area with the laptop and tv. Plugged the laptop and TV directly into the router with Cat6 cable. 1 powerline adapter connected to the WAN port on the router and the other one to the unit where the fiber comes into the house.

Plex is now streaming perfectly. Crystal clear and no buffering.
 
4ftersh0ck said:
I can vouch for Powerline Adapters, they work so well. I have been having endless issues with Plex buffering from the laptop to the TV.

I bought a pair of gigabit Netgear powerline adapters. I moved our fiber router into the area with the laptop and tv. Plugged the laptop and TV directly into the router with Cat6 cable. 1 powerline adapter connected to the WAN port on the router and the other one to the unit where the fiber comes into the house.

Plex is now streaming perfectly. Crystal clear and no buffering.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned, I also have a PA in my bedroom and it works. I'm just thinking what'll happen if there's more than one PA in the household. Do you think having two PAs would slow down one another?
 
Gazed416 said:
Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned, I also have a PA in my bedroom and it works. I'm just thinking what'll happen if there's more than one PA in the household. Do you think having two PAs would slow down one another?
Click to expand...

I don't think it will slow things down. I did have to plug it directly into a multiplug, plugged into the wall. I had problems when I tried to use an extension cord.

I made sure to run some tests to ensure there wasn't any degradation. I did a speedtest on my phone (20Mb/s). Then I connected one pair, ran a speedtest again, and then again after adding the second pair. Make sure the speeds don't deviate too significantly.
 
Gazed416 said:
Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned, I also have a PA in my bedroom and it works. I'm just thinking what'll happen if there's more than one PA in the household. Do you think having two PAs would slow down one another?
Click to expand...
PA?
 
Gazed416 said:
Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned, I also have a PA in my bedroom and it works. I'm just thinking what'll happen if there's more than one PA in the household. Do you think having two PAs would slow down one another?
Click to expand...
Nope. Works like a charm
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bought the 8730kit from tp link and yeah they work well once you find the right outlets ... could not complain with throughout

replaced with unifi only because I needed 5ghz full strength signal near my consoles.
 
Would only go mesh if its Wireless AC or higher...otherwise the interference will kill performance.

i also went the powerline extender route like 5 years ago...didnt work so well at my dads plot though due to a huge house and very old infra, which I had to go the mesh/wifi extender route again (no interference on his plot)

So yeah, depends on your setting u suppose
 
Does anyone else have issues with the TP link powerline dropping internet through WiFi (ethernet connection has internet and WiFi signal is strong)
 
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