HomePlug FAQ *Part 2*

williamchung90

Yes I have previously pair them up but are no longer working now for some reason. Plugged both in, held plug A button for 10 sec then held plug B for 10 then plugged in ethernet - no luck. Tried holding both buttons down at the same time and still doesn't work.

chaz

Hope somone can help here at the moment I have a BT home hub 4 but will be getting the upgrade 5 model on friday my speed is as follows ping21 download 73.08 upload 16.66. Now I have 3 D Link DHP-306 AV Plugins one in the router one in the bedroom and now have 3rd one for the front room ready for my smart Tv when it comes the problem i am having is the the 2 plugins that I have upstairs are fine giving  a reading of 200 Mbps the other giving a reading of 175 Mbps but the one downstairs is only giving a reading of between 70-80 Mbps. Now i do not know if the plugins i have got are good enough to download HD stuff to my new TV  with that speed I have in the front room or is there something better plug ins to use or have i got the wrong type in the first place and if i have can some one tell which one is the best to buy

benbow

Hi
Do you have any instructions with the plugs? If so it is important to follow these exactly when connecting. Have you tried disconnecting your set up - tv box from router from pc from plugs and then reconnecting as advised by the various suppliers.
I started off with a pair of Hercules homeplugs 200mb and then bought another pair to complete my network. These soon started to give problems. I thought that it was my fault (as we do!) but after 12 months fiddling around with them I changed them for TP-LINK 500mb which solved the problem.
I suppose you have tried connecting using wires and that works?
My advice would be to borrow a couple of working plugs from a mate and test with them. Failing that I would replace them with a new pair (to try) from Amazon (you can send them back!!) and see what happens.
Let me know how you get on.

Brodel

Hi,

I'm moving home next week and would like to buy some powerline adapters before I move. I'm finding it pretty confusing trying to decide which is the best deal.

I think I'm going to buy the TP-Link TL-PA551KIT AV500  Gigabit Powerline Adapter with AC Pass Through Starter Kit. However, one review I read said that it only comes with CAT5 cable and you need to buy CAT6 for best performance. I also read quite a few people saying that there is no difference between 200mb and 500mb plugs but is that just for the ones with 10/100 ethernet ports?

I don't want to spend about £50 if a set for half the price will do the job. I'm not too worried about transferring files across the network, it's mainly for an internet connection but I'd like to get as fast a connection as possible. Any advice is much appreciated.

MilhouseVH

Cat5 will be fine.

There's a large difference between 200 and 500 AV gear, however it's somewhat complicated by the fact that more recent 500-AV gear uses a newer and cheaper chipset (AR7420) that comes with only a 100Mb PHY unlike the original AR7400 chipset that used a 1000Mb (1Gig) PHY.

So even though 500-AV gear based on AR7420 might be able to transmit more than 100Mbits along the mains wiring, the interface between your computer/router and the Powerline device is bottlenecked at 100Mbits! Crazyness.

500-AV is certainly better than 200-AV, but avoid the AR7420 products if you want to tap into the full bandwidth potentially available to you. There's also 600-AV products now, but I have no experience of those, although they are based on AR7450 and DO have a 1000Mbit (1Gig) PHY so shouldn't suffer from bottlenecks.

Pretty much every 500-AV Powerline product will be based on one of the aforementioned chipsets - cheaper units most likely AR7420 (avoid).

Solwise have a good range of products, clearly stating which chipset is used, and also a good returns policy which is always important to consider when buying Powerline products (link). I'm not associated with Solwise in any way...

Brodel

Thanks for that reply MilhouseVH, I wasn't aware of the difference in chipsets. I guess the Solwise 500AV will do the job, although it's tempting to get the 600AV for an extra £6 each...

Brodel

For what it's worth, I went for the NET-PL-600AV-SMT-PIGGY. I figure I'd rather pay a little more just to be sure I'm getting the most out of my line. The cheapest I could find a pair for for was £56.95 delivered here Solwise Homeplug AV 600 Pass-Thru High Performance Powerline Twin Adapters | eBay

FredC

Has anyone tried anything like the video below to improve the conditions of Powerline?

                               
Frankly, I sell the product but am here to just share and gather some opinions if that's cool with everyone (or you may point me to where I can do so).

Hope it helps.

MilhouseVH

That video has been around for a few years (it's dated Feb 2011), yet I've never seen any independent confirmation that this product does what they say it can do. Nor has any retailer/distributor brought it to market in the UK (as far as I can tell), not even a fairly nimble outfit like Solwise that are willing to carry some pretty esoteric stuff.

Google searches for the "Powerline Ace" only bring up links for the guys in the video - it's as though it never got off the ground. Searches for the alternate title "Surestreamer" are all dated 2011, there is nothing recent about this product anywhere.

I guess I'm saying that all the signs are there for me to consider it snake oil, though I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong. Maybe you should get samples of the Powerline Ace/Surestreamer into the hands of independent testers, FredC.

FredC

Thanks Mil.

I do have some samples for testing and would love to share it to any recommended tech gurus who'd be interested to test or run some reviews of it, though I suppose the only drawback is that I ain't from around UK.

Shall look into it. Thanks again!