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Halon
06-17-2015, 10:15 PM
Got the belkin set identically to the modem now, same SSID, same password, etc . Seems to be working like a charm so far. Thanks again dude!

A//// Guy
06-17-2015, 11:01 PM
Sweet! Reaches the further spots in the house now? Are both units next to each other in the theater room?

asshanson
06-18-2015, 01:39 AM
Haha, glad one of my random suggestions last night helped. Sounds like what I had setup in my townhome, except I used existing phone line wiring to connect the modems instead of those powerline adapters. I hadn't heard of using TCP/IP over power lines, that's a cool idea. I know you can embed other various signals in them, but hadn't thought of internet. Basically eliminates the need for ethernet cable routing in the house.

I used to broadcast both my routers with the same SSID, but I think they sometimes got confused because I had the upstairs router acting as a sub-network with it's own DHCP assignments. So it would be transmitting to both, and it wouldn't work. So that's why I keep mine with different names now. A wireless access point setup should just act as a pass-through to the main router for IP addresses. So maybe yours is setup better and you won't have an issue. I just didn't want to spend any more time on it, and I never really use the basement one anyway, except for the tv/bluray which is always downstairs.

Speedfreak
06-18-2015, 03:58 AM
I'll have to digest the nerdery in this thread and see if I can figure out what I'd have to do in my house. I have areas which suck as well and been meaning to address it somehow.

Halon
06-18-2015, 07:51 AM
Momin, those repeaters that Peter linked to for $40 would probably be kick ass and probably the route I would have gone. I just happened to have a spare router that I could use as well as a few of the AC adapters that I bought when Amazon had them on uber sale once.

Peter, I had to play around a little bit last night. I ended up removing it from the office and for now I actually have the Belkin in the basement as well, plugged into a 3rd powerline adapter of it's own, but it's at the other end of the basement (right under the master BR). So the entire basement has a badass signal with the wifi modem at the West end of the basement, and the Belkin at the East end of the basement. And the entire upstairs has a good signal now too, must travel through the floor pretty good. The master that had an aweful, sometimes unusable signal previously is now getting a good stable signal. I'll probably end up moving the Belkin upstairs on top of our entertainment center or something, I just had it downstairs while I was tinkering.

Halon
06-18-2015, 08:18 AM
Haha, glad one of my random suggestions last night helped. Sounds like what I had setup in my townhome, except I used existing phone line wiring to connect the modems instead of those powerline adapters. I hadn't heard of using TCP/IP over power lines, that's a cool idea. I know you can embed other various signals in them, but hadn't thought of internet. Basically eliminates the need for ethernet cable routing in the house.

I used to broadcast both my routers with the same SSID, but I think they sometimes got confused because I had the upstairs router acting as a sub-network with it's own DHCP assignments. So it would be transmitting to both, and it wouldn't work. So that's why I keep mine with different names now. A wireless access point setup should just act as a pass-through to the main router for IP addresses. So maybe yours is setup better and you won't have an issue. I just didn't want to spend any more time on it, and I never really use the basement one anyway, except for the tv/bluray which is always downstairs.

Andrew, the powerline adapters are nice, but I don't think they're as good as an actual CAT5 connection would be. The ones I have are advertised at 200Mbps, but I don't think anyone ever gets anywhere near that speed. I'll try and do a test again one of these days to let you know what actual speed I'm seeing. It kind of sucks because my main PC is hooked through that. So when I have say a BluRay size file that I want to transfer from my PC to my NAS, it literally might take 10hrs. Where if I had a straight CAT5 connection, it'd probably take a small fraction of that time.

A//// Guy
06-18-2015, 08:35 AM
Thats awesome! Those powerline adapters are very cool, you taught me something as well haha.

turbotalon1g
06-18-2015, 09:18 AM
Great thread as I also have an extra router, and need to extend some signal.

Halon
06-18-2015, 08:56 PM
Did some speed tests, thought I'd quick share the results. Keep in mind my CL internet is a 5Mbps service.

PC Speeds through my 200Mbps powerline adapter:
Internet speed = 4.13Mbps Download / 0.79Mbps Upload
Home LAN speed = 24.75Mbps Download / 25.14Mbps Upload

So I'm getting 10-15% of the rated speed through my powerline adapters. Still plenty for internet use, but kind of sucks when transferring a 30GB from my PC to my NAS. Getting the full 300Mbps or whatever a real CAT5 connection would be would make a huge difference there.

asshanson
06-19-2015, 12:12 AM
25mbps actual throughput isn't all that bad over your home power lines, obviously not spectacular but enough for streaming video for sure. I can usually stream HD netflix on 20mbps on my home internet connection. You're right though, hard wired cat5 with a decent switch would def be at least 10x the speed.

Rough calculation here: 30 GB = 30,000 mByte = 240,000 mbit / 25 mbps = 9600 seconds = 2hr 40min to copy file, if you get max speed the entire time with nothing else using network bandwidth. That's a long time to copy 30GB, when you hard drive could do it in a few minutes over gigabit ethernet.