Networks Ethernet slow v Wifi

Hi,

I'm terrible with networks and am having an issue I can't seem to work out. I got fttp broadband this week through Sky (the wonderful chaps at Openreach also drilled through a power cable to make that a fun day!) delivering around 400mbps.

As the router is on the ground floor I run TP Link power devices, wired to my wife's office on the 1st floor and mine on the 2nd floor. initially my problem was the old TP Links I had as the Link Speed was only displaying 100/100 mbps. I have swapped them out for new ones and also bought new Cat 6 cables to make sure that wasn't the issue. Link Speed is now displaying 1000/1000 Mbps so that looks fine but my speeds are only 85 Mbps down and 42 Mbps up. Anything using wifi is around 300 Mbps but my Motherboard doesn't have wifi and I'm also 2 floors away from the router so not great for online gaming. Another annoyance is my laptop doesn't have an ethernet port so can't test porting directing in without the power lines.

Any help/ideas would be warmly welcomed.

Many Thanks,

Plastic

 

Almost certainly your powerline connection slowing things down. I am on 100mb FTTP and my current powerlines shave a little bit of the top speed despite being "over rated".

Running some Cat 6 through the loft is on my list to do (already have the cable from a previous house) but my to do list is very long!

Small tip: I found that running a power line adapter off an extension lead drastically reduced its speeds so make sure to plug straight into the socket at both ends.

 

wire it up or buy a wifi mesh system with addition wifi backhaul channels if you are not prepared to wire.

 

I didn't realise that powerlines were that bad as had good experiences up to 60mb. I have ordered a wifi adapter to have done with wires until we do any major work and then will stick good ethernet cable in the walls. Thanks for the reality check.

*Edit - Could you recommend any mesh systems at all, this looks like an interesting solution to ensure good signal on each floor?*

 

If you're in a modern house or an older property with modernised distribution board, that'll likely be your issue. Modern power distribution boards have power filters to clean up the mains and they have a significant impact on powerline throughput. You could rule this out by trying powerline speed test over two sockets in the same room or on the same ring main but if your powerlines are transferring data between two ring mains (read two floors), they're going via the distribution board and therefore the filters.

I had the same issue and got a chap in to run an external weatherproof ethernet between the floors and terminate in wall sockets at each end. Now have gigabit piped into the office upstairs and get 970mbit, so only a small loss. Didn't cost much more than the powerlines tbh... YMMV depending upon area...

 

Thanks Sentinel, I suspect you are right as I am on a different ring with the difference in floors and the house is around 20 years old. I'm waying up mesh wifi vs getting an engineer in to put cable in currently but was able to get up to 120mb by testing out various different sockets and taking it of an extension cable. Still a frustration as was able to test a laptop wired directly to the router and that was 450mb.

 

Having the ethernet installed was cheaper than a mesh wifi system for me. I found a local aerial/satellite installer who also did ethernet. £120 all in and terminated. Might be worth getting a quote before you shell out.

Edit: Also, once you have full speed ethernet upstairs, you could easily add an access point wired into that ethernet and have increased wifi speeds upstairs too. Just a thought for future planning considerations.