Slow network speed on wifi and powerline extender

Question

My network setup looks as shown below.

Measured internet speed on various devices is indicated. On the NAS directly wired from the router I measured ~800 Mbps. But, my wifi connected devices and powerline connected PC both measure only around 70 Mbps. Why? Any suggestions on where the bottleneck might be?

Some additional info. Both Router and extender are Gigabit compatible. Wifi supports n/ac/ax and channels are not overcrowded. All my devices support up to n/ac. Even, if I stand directly in front of the router I read only about 170 Mbps. If we ignore the wifi, the wired powerline extender also measures only 70 Mbps. I use CAT6E cables for all connections. It's a small apartment, so distance shouldn't be an issue.

Router, Powerline adapter

Update:

Got rid of the powerline and laid 12 meters of CAT6E network cable. Everything works great. The laptop is a bit slow but I think it's something to do with the wifi adapter on the laptop. When wired, the laptop gets ~700Mbps.

Answer 1

Slow network speed on powerline extender

There are a number of possible causes that you need to investigate:

1. Powerline adapters need to be plugged directly into the wall. Don't use surge protectors or power strips, as both can block the frequencies that powerlines use. Ideally, you should also put the adapters on the same mains circuit. Powerline signals can cross from one circuit to another, but they lose strength each time they do.

2. For most powerline adapters, the theoretical range is 300 meters. In practice, you should try to keep it below 200m. And remember, we aren't talking about the straight line distance from point A to point B. The amount of wire the signal passes through may be considerably longer than you think it is.

3. Tests have shown that certain types of circuit breaker—specifically, a few brands of AFCI circuit breaker—can block powerline adapters. Since you won't want to change the circuit breaker itself, all you can do is ensure you don't plug your adapter into an outlet protected by one of them. It's also worth noting that performance depends on the quality of the copper lines in your home. If you live in an old building with old wiring, then your powerline speeds may always be limited beyond your control.

4. A lot of mains-powered devices can produce electrical noise that interferes with the performance of powerline networks. In particular, this includes devices that use switch-mode power supplies such as mobile phone or tablet chargers. the best solution for dealing with noise is to use powerline adapters with built-in filtered outlets, like the NETGEAR Powerline Adapter Kit. These feature pass-through sockets that enable you to use the power outlet for other devices without any effect on performance.

5. A 1,200Mbps adapter is potentially providing 600Mbps upload and download at best. And when you factor in noise, distance, cable quality, and so on you can expect to get half, or even just a third, of what it says on the box.

6. When choosing your gear, you should always look to standardize on a single system. Don't mix and match standards or speeds. There is some level of compatibility between certain standards, but it won't produce anything close to optimal performance. And if you have mismatched speeds, you will always be restricted to the speed of the slowest one.

Source: 6 Tips to Improve the Speed of Your Powerline Network

Answer 2

PowerLine devices typically do 60-80 Mbps. To get nearer to the rated speed you need to be on same circuit in same room. This is evidently not your case.

You may test the PowerLine devices when placed in the same room as the router. The tpPLC_ Utility may help with visualizing the data rates.

If the electrical schema of your house in unsuitable for using PowerLine, I would suggest instead to either upgrade your WiFi access point or run an Ethernet cable between the router and the desktop.

Answer 3

Honestly? You have two unrelated but similar problems.

Powerline I've never had much luck with these things.

You may be better off running real cable and removing the powerline adapter link. Given it is a small apartment, then length shouldn't be an issue. Look for the "low cross section" cat6 cables which are about 4mm in diameter, and can be hidden around the edge of wall/skirting board/carpet. You can often get similar-coloured wire so it blends in much better.

This is also good for a leased/rented space where you're not really supposed to permanently install wires.

Wireless Again your "small apartment" might be related. If its a concrete box with steel in the walls, or made with steel framing then that can mess with your wireless signal even when standing nearby.

Cellphones generally don't accept wired connections - so you might just have to live with it. Is 70 Mbit/s not fast enough for what your phone is doing ?

Router there's a third option that your router might be not up to the task. Plenty are "GIGABIT-RATED" because they have gigabit ports, but there's more to throughput than simply link-speed on a gig port. If your router is doing firewalling and IPv4 NAT, then it could be resource-constrained which is hampering the Access Point parts of the router.

See if there are any CPU usage readings that you can access in the router, and potentially borrow a router from someone to see if anything improves.

Answer 4

This is actually really simple what you want done and I found out by trial and error. I had fast internet downstairs, I used the powerline adapters one from the router to plug in same and the receiver in a plug upstairs connected to my computer via Ethernet. Slow as ever that way. I thought it might have been crowded channels but we were the only apartment on channel 11. I could not access certain websites or get them to load. My wifi was fast no problem. I looked under ever forum under the sun and kept getting the same trouble shooting methods. Well here was my fix.

From the powerline upstairs to the computer I was averaging 11 download or less. I decided to pull out an old TP-link WiFi router and plugged the powerline Ethernet into the TP-link and from TP-link to my computer. Holy shit. I am getting 120 download speeds now and can access any website without lag and disconnect.

I have done this on the same circuit and still works better with the router between the powerline and the computer.