[Gaming] Powerline adapters vs WiFi Extender?

Mozendo · Oct 3, 2019

Hey Era,

I have an issue, I recently had to switch rooms and noticed my connection is just awful. Getting D/ced a lot especially when I'm gaming.
I live in student housing so I can replace the modem, nor can I really move it.

I want to avoid using a large ethernet cable just because my room mates are not okay with that.
What options are good for me? I've been looking at powerline adapters, specifically the TP Link AV600 but should I consider something else like a wifi extender or a used router? I'd say $40 is my max limit, $35 if possible

Consequence · Oct 3, 2019

I use a powerline kit and get great results but it really depends on the wiring in your house.

MoosetheMark · Oct 3, 2019

I have tried multiple WiFi extenders in multiple apartments and they have never, ever worked. They're a total placebo.

Deleted member 8860 · Oct 3, 2019

Powerline has worked better for me, but it's very dependant on your home's wiring.

Jaded Alyx · Oct 3, 2019

Go with Powerline.

Deleted member 21411 · Oct 3, 2019

My powerline is incredible, it's almost perfect

Themaddestgamer · Oct 3, 2019

Powerline. Especially for gaming and latency..

Mozendo · Oct 3, 2019

Drats, didn't know powerline adapters were dependent on wiring. Guess I'll have to try it to see if it works.
Does anyone have a suggestion for router under $40 in case this dorm doesn't have good wiring?

Hace · Oct 3, 2019

neither is ideal but powerline is the better option

MajesticSoup · Oct 3, 2019

Routers these days will cover every corner of a 2000 sq feet house easy. Not sure if you can find a nice used one for $40 though.

Razgriz417 · Oct 3, 2019

you use school internet? Kinda doubt you'd get a router configured but good luck

Deleted member 28962 · Oct 3, 2019

I have those exact powerline adapters, it works in some rooms but not in others. Also the speed ratings on powerline adapters are a lie, even with good wiring you're not going to be getting anywhere near the rated speeds, powerline adapters are more for connection stability than high speeds. Coaxial adapters work better if you've got the wiring in your house but the adapters are also more expensive.

SecondNature · Oct 3, 2019

I use Powerline from basement to upstairs and it works great. Figure its more reliant than wifi too

LCGeek · Oct 3, 2019

ideally a powerline would crap on most wifi especially if latency or consistency bandwidth transmission is involved.

Unless the wires are bad there's little reason to go wifi.

Sorry dave taht wouldn't vouch for it in the battlenonsense video he managed to make it on. Only use wifi as a last means, it's not horrible unless you got range or interference issues but it's not the best.

Pikelet · Oct 3, 2019

benigngerm said:
Also the speed ratings on powerline adapters are a lie, even with good wiring you're not going to be getting anywhere near the rated speeds, powerline adapters are more for connection stability than high speeds.

Yes, the speed ratings are all bullshit in absolute terms, but they are useful for determining relative speed.

In my experience you get roughly 20% of the theoretical max speed of the adapter, e.g. a 1000mbps adapter will give you a max speed of about 200mbps.

Crayon · Oct 3, 2019

I've had good success with Powerline adapters in home. Never tried an apartment. I imagine it wouldn't be that good in an apartment complex.

While the total bandwidth was bottlenecked, the latency didn't appear to take any hit, and the connection was perfectly reliable. I thought it was great for online gaming.

FF Seraphim · Oct 3, 2019

I say powerline is the way to go.
This is the one I used to use:

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powe...apter&qid=1570158000&sprefix=powerline&sr=8-7

I know its out of your budget but its the only one I can say for sure works well.

Radnom · Oct 3, 2019

In my experience Powerline has not been completely reliable, a few times a day it'll completely lose connection and I'll get DNS issues for a few minutes which can be frustrating. Speed is OK, better than wi-fi but not as good as being connected to the router.

TitanicFall · Oct 3, 2019

MoosetheMark said:
I have tried multiple WiFi extenders in multiple apartments and they have never, ever worked. They're a total placebo.

Mesh extenders work well if you're willing to pay the money. Those cheap extenders aren't worth your time.

mistur niceguy · Oct 3, 2019

Any chance you have coax cable in both rooms? If so, MoCA adapters might be an option, but you'd want to put a filter upstream from those two rooms. If all of the rooms in the building feed into a main wiring closet, MoCA may not be an option.

Multiverse Moo · Oct 3, 2019

Mozendo said:
Drats, didn't know powerline adapters were dependent on wiring. Guess I'll have to try it to see if it works.
Does anyone have a suggestion for router under $40 in case this dorm doesn't have good wiring?

I have a TP-Link AV600 Powerline Ethernet Adapter that I'm not using. it's brand new, but... wiring in my house sucks, apparently.

If you cover shipping I can send it to you.

VariantX · Oct 3, 2019

I use a powerline adapter simply because they're far more stable than Wi-Fi. The only issue I had was one day I couldn't get more than 3 up and 0.5 down and it was fixed by simply resetting the thing.

Mozendo · Oct 3, 2019

mistur niceguy said:
Any chance you have coax cable in both rooms? If so, MoCA adapters might be an option, but you'd want to put a filter upstream from those two rooms. If all of the rooms in the building feed into a main wiring closet, MoCA may not be an option.

I'm not to knowledgable in this area, do you have any products you recommend?

MultiMoo said:
I have a TP-Link AV600 Powerline Ethernet Adapter that I'm not using. it's brand new, but... wiring in my house sucks, apparently.

If you cover shipping I can send it to you.

Sure thing, I'll PM you right now

Hace · Oct 3, 2019

tbh if you can get 5ghz that's the best option, but it seems like that aint gonna happen

h0mebas3 · Oct 3, 2019

I've had mixed results with powerline--mostly with sustained throughput. I would suggest running several iperf tests to get a true idea.

Honestly, MoCA is a much better choice if you have coax pre-wired. I got 850Mbps real-world sustained using iperf.

Annihilator · Oct 3, 2019

I have a PA and it works great...gets about 80% of my speed.

LCGeek · Oct 3, 2019

Hace said:
tbh if you can get 5ghz that's the best option, but it seems like that aint gonna happen

It's non duplex
worse than older formats if interference is present or you have thick walls
like any form of wireless subject to ap problems that kill latency or bandwidth
has packet aggregation.

Nelson · Oct 3, 2019

Powerline is a better choice, if it works in your house. The biggest drawback with powerline is the equipment tends to fail in a couple of years.

WiFi is really bad for gaming. The problem isn't speed, it's jitter and packet loss. Riot Games had a good study on it a year or two ago. For the purposes of this article, powerline is more like ethernet than wifi. Ethernet vs WiFi.

eathdemon · Oct 3, 2019

Nelson said:
Powerline is a better choice, if it works in your house. The biggest drawback with powerline is the equipment tends to fail in a couple of years.

WiFi is really bad for gaming. The problem isn't speed, it's jitter and packet loss. Riot Games had a good study on it a year or two ago. For the purposes of this article, powerline is more like ethernet than wifi. Ethernet vs WiFi.

eh that depends on equitment tbh. I use a ubiqueti acess point, and get no jutter, but that is also a Enterprise piece of hardware rated for 50 users at the same time.

h0mebas3 · Oct 3, 2019

eathdemon said:
eh that depends on equitment tbh. I use a ubiqueti acess point, and get no jutter, but that is also a Enterprise piece of hardware rated for 50 users at the same time.

Agreed, but it's still a half-duplex technology susceptible to interference during transmission which can cause fluctuation of speed due to the nature of the medium. I deal with WLC's all day and there is no way around the flaws of wireless...

Neverfade · Oct 3, 2019

I upgraded from a power line extender to a mesh network and its fucking magic. The deepest recesses of this place get blazing speed.

LCGeek · Oct 3, 2019

eathdemon said:
eh that depends on equitment tbh. I use a ubiqueti acess point, and get no jutter, but that is also a Enterprise piece of hardware rated for 50 users at the same time.

interference is environment dependent.

as the other user said if it's present wireless becomes unusable or unstable.

Neverfade, mesh is great if you can wield it. Wish it could be applied to ethernet.

The Albatross · Oct 3, 2019

MEsh network would probably be your "best" bet but obviously much more expensive (~$200 to get started probably, and your roommates would have to be on board with you swapping out the router).

Korezo · Oct 3, 2019

Been using a power line adapter for like 5 years, think its going bad though because it starting to lose signal when ever i start to dl. but it works great.

Mozendo · Oct 4, 2019

Neverfade said:
I upgraded from a power line extender to a mesh network and its fucking magic. The deepest recesses of this place get blazing speed.

I would love too, sadly out of my price range

The Albatross said:
MEsh network would probably be your "best" bet but obviously much more expensive (~$200 to get started probably, and your roommates would have to be on board with you swapping out the router).

We don't have a router, it's just a modem that has built in wifi which is why I'm assuming the WiFi is really poor.

jotun? · Oct 4, 2019

Powerline doesn't work very well in my house. I've tried a couple different adapters, but I've always gotten well below full speeds, and the connection drops every now and then.

mistur niceguy · Oct 4, 2019

Mozendo said:
I'm not to knowledgable in this area, do you have any products you recommend?

Here's an example product: https://smile.amazon.com/Actiontec-Bonded-Ethernet-Adapter-ECB6200K02/dp/B013J7O3X0
Scanning ebay, there are some pre-owned/open box MoCA adapters that would fit into your price range, but feasibility would depend on how the coax cabling is configured in your building.

Follow up question: are you currently using the 2.4GHz or 5GHz radio on your router? And what device are you connecting to it? Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or PC?

Iucidium · Oct 4, 2019

Strive to route a cable into your room OP.

Neverfade · Oct 4, 2019

Mozendo said:
I would love too, sadly out of my price range

Don't know what your price range is, but while a lot of them are pretty pricey, I'm just using the 2 piece TP Deco set from Walmart. Its $99 bucks.

killerrin · Oct 4, 2019

Powerlines can be great. But like everyone says, its very much depending on the wiring of your hous. How old it is, when it was last redone, is the circuit clear and straight forward, how much load you have on and between those circuits. If your house is compatible, it's a high speed alternative to having a high-end wifi router.

Though keep in mind, WIFI isnt perfect either. The higher-speed-frequencies basically require you to be in the same room or only have 1-2 walls between you and the Router. And if there is Concrete or any hard building material, you can basically kiss that goodbye as an option.

Hellers · Oct 4, 2019

My powerline (claims to be gigabit) worked fine when my connection was 54meg down. When I upgraded to 350meg it couldn't cope at all and capped out at about 90meg. I switched to a mesh wifi network (129 uk pounds for three nodes) and the first speedtest I did on my phone clocked in at 387meg. I'd go with mesh over powerline if you can afford it.

MCD · Oct 4, 2019

Powerline is the better choice if your wiring got no issue.

If you can't powerline, then look for Mesh wifi extenders and not your regular wifi extender.

One example is the Netgear EX8000. Same idea but they extend your wifi network by using a separate 5ghz signal so they don't cut your speed etc. Reason I have Netgear EX8000 is that I don't need to change my current router as opposed to other typical mesh devices. It's a standalone product.

There is also a UK brand device that offers powerline+mesh wifi. Forgot the name.

Deleted member 20297 · Oct 4, 2019

For latency you want to have power line, for bandwidth wifi would be the better option.

Afrikan · Oct 4, 2019

It's not that powerline adapters just work... I installed mines yeeears ago and I've never once had to check on it. I'm not used to electronics working this long without an issue... or hell just not breaking.

Edit- and I have the one that has a socket pass through on it. And I have a surge protector plugged into that. The surge protector has like 7 electronics plugged into it. (2 TVs, PS4 Pro, Lamp, Router, 1080GTX Laptop, etc at various times)

Mozendo · Oct 4, 2019

Thanks for all the suggestion everyone, I would honestly love to get mesh, but my budget is $45 due to the fact that this is a temporary housing situation that is honestly just a few more months, but I have taken the replies into consideration when I move out.

mistur niceguy said:
Here's an example product: https://smile.amazon.com/Actiontec-Bonded-Ethernet-Adapter-ECB6200K02/dp/B013J7O3X0
Scanning ebay, there are some pre-owned/open box MoCA adapters that would fit into your price range, but feasibility would depend on how the coax cabling is configured in your building.

Follow up question: are you currently using the 2.4GHz or 5GHz radio on your router? And what device are you connecting to it? Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or PC?

I'm using 5Ghz and I use PC, I do have a PS4/XBox One but I don't then to use them that much

Deleted member 20297 · Oct 4, 2019

mistur niceguy said:
Here's an example product: https://smile.amazon.com/Actiontec-Bonded-Ethernet-Adapter-ECB6200K02/dp/B013J7O3X0
Scanning ebay, there are some pre-owned/open box MoCA adapters that would fit into your price range, but feasibility would depend on how the coax cabling is configured in your building.

This sounds interesting but how do I use that when my uplink is also cable? The ports are already used in one room for the modem.

upinsmoke · Oct 4, 2019

Powerline but as everyone else said it depends on your wiring. I do get drop outs and lag spikes

I'm in the process of installing a couple of wall sockets and running the cable that way because wifi and my powerline adapters arent a perfect solution

Falchion · Oct 4, 2019

I live in an old house where wifi has trouble getting through all the walls and my powerline has been amazing.

chandoog · Oct 4, 2019

Anyone have any experience using a powerline adapter in a house built circa the 1970's ?

Is the wiring OK enough for that ?

johancruijff · Oct 4, 2019

mistur niceguy said:
Any chance you have coax cable in both rooms? If so, MoCA adapters might be an option, but you'd want to put a filter upstream from those two rooms. If all of the rooms in the building feed into a main wiring closet, MoCA may not be an option.

Fuck, why I've never thought about this

[Gaming] Powerline adapters vs WiFi Extender?

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