How Does Powerline Ethernet Work?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
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Powerline Ethernet uses your home's existing wiring to transmit network data! How does it work, and could it be the right choice for your home network?
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Bought a powerline kit recently and surprised how good it was, breaker box joining garage, extension sockets no problem. The point Linus mentioned about neighbours using your powerline connection is a non-issue as you have to pair it by pressing a button first, so it is a secure connection between the sockets.
Do you know how good the modern ones are such as yours like speed
@@slipperysherman2670 i picked up an old 2nd hand one (~2016?) by tp-link which claims up to 300Mbps, i got around 140Mpbs to the garage, which is enough speed for me to use out the back of the house. I think any modern one would work, it mainly depends on the wiring and distance, if you want to max. speed of course there is no other alternative than a long ethernet cable.
what if your neighbour sneak into your house at night and press the button?
@@fundemort 😂
I'm running a cheap pair by tp link all the way out to my outhouse at the back of the garden. About 100m away from the house. Got my PC and a console in there it's kinda like my man cave but I get nearly my full Internet speed I pay for without having to run a cable all the way out there. Can't tell the difference in games between Ethernet and powerline.
I'm learning to be an ICT engineer. I'm on my first year, and MAN has Linus Tech Tips and Techquickie helped me to understand our hard to read materials and vague class teachings. I have learned to understand or see the bigger picture easier thanks to you guys! Thank you!
I’m studying CGI Animation, and his videos on pc hardware is fun to watch with friends and very informative for us when building our rendering and work rigs
@@CVerse I doubt he's still active on yt that was 4 years ago
@@eyebol looking at there public play lists, they are still active
200th like ur welcom
*This guy looks the same as the guy in Linus Tech Tips.*
You don't say 🙄🙄🙄
Vipe_Droid_Computing
You must be funny at parties.
El Muchacho Serio Yes that's Linus
His resemblance to the guy from Channel Super Fun is also uncanny.
Sounds like him too! Hmmmmmmm XD
My internet suddenly decided to work better while watching this
it doesnt want to get replaced
@@oatmeql lmao
lol thats how it is
Bruh it doesn't want to travel with AC😂
I have one and I love it. Works wonderfully. Speed is 30/5 but I get the same speed and ping as when I’m plugged into the router. The TP-Link one I use is encrypted too, so I assume it would be good for apartments
The moment when you recognize someone in the comments on a youtube video.
I also have the Tp link one
iPhony I also have a TP-link one, they're all encrypted between them. It can't really handle my download speed, but gets close enough. I have it connected to a 2nd router, because the Wi-Fi signal from the main router is really low with this distance and it was no option. Pings are stable, that's the most important part, over low Wi-Fi it was impossible to get them stable.
I have the emissor connected in the same socket as the router and some other stuff, that could be why I see some decrease in download speed, but not significant. The receptor it's not on the same socket as the pc, but close. The decrease is probably caused by the distance, if I try a closer socket in another room, I can get higher download speed.
iPhony so you 100% have to own a router right.
I bought a TP-Link AV2000 recently, and get the full speed of my internet connection (150 Mb/s down). Definitely better than what I was getting over wifi, and Steam Link works flawlessly too. A++ would recommend.
I have my adapter from my basement to my 2nd story bedroom without losing any speed. Pretty cool.
Hey mate sorry to bother, but does it work like ethernet or it's something in between the wifi and ethernet if we compare the internet quality? Like drops etc.
Thanks in advance ☺️
@@dzoni97a In theory it works much more like Ethernet and SHOULD be considerably better than WiFi in practice there are a ton of variants though like how many circuits the signal is going to travel thru before it gets from adapter to adapter, and the load of other electric powered devices that are running on the same circuit. For example if you have a A/C, Fridge, Microwave, Washer and Dryer, Hair Drying cycling on on a shared circuit, it will most likely drop your connection. But in some cases this is almost just as good as ethernet, def. worth a shot like Linus says in the video just buy your first set from somewhere you are confident you would be able to return them if they don't improve your speeds/stability.
@@dzoni97a I have had 3 different power line adapters and everytime I've had them wifi was faster currently I get 1/4 of the speed with power line adapters and my WiFi is almost full speed. Also I've had 3 die so I'm going to try a wifi card now.
@@dzoni97a also the houses I've used them in were all built withen the past two years
I envy you. My room which is only round 10 meters away from where the router is only gets 33% of the strength. Then when a power trip occurred where the electricity went on and off for around 30 seconds, it sparked and I had to have it repaired
This guy is really interesting! He should make a youtube channel!
Idk if your joking or not if your not its linus tech tips
@@tannerpalmer4830 r/wooosh
You dropped this: /s
PenguAviation he did say he doesn’t know if he’s joking. Barely a woosh when he’s acknowledging the fact that he’s possibly joking
@@crazydave1 your mom
lol I never even considered powerline adapters because I assumed they would never work properly. so I bought a cheap pair (€20) on Amazon and plugged them into my grammas house from the 40's with old wiring and no grounded receptacles in most of the house. I am shocked! even in her garage and garden house (literally 30 meters away from her house), it still works excellent. 7 ms ping to a speedtest server, jitter 0,75 ms. I should try pinging something local. wifi can barely go through walls in her house (it's Europe so they're all brick and concrete regardless).
this + a router actually gives me faster reaction times than the built-in 5 GHz wifi antenna in her DSL modem - which is crazy.
I know its europe because you mentoned grounding
Off course it works, it emits from the electric wires in your house, actually turns your house into a giant antenna emitting strong signals on the entire HF band. Just google HAM radio and PLC. Much stronger signals than wifi indeed. Do you want you and your gramma to live on top of an aggressively emitting antenna on 24/7? Ethernet cable is cheap and clean.
A J it's not clean if there's no Ethernet in the walls. Perhaps you live somewhere with cardboard houses and hollow walls so it's easy to run extra wires, but it's easy where I live. you're looking at thousands to rewire your house.
electricity needs to be checked / renewed every 20 years, and it'll be due by 2022. I'll consider running Cat6 or maybe 7 if it's worth it through the walls.
@@arnemaeschaelck5012 Can you tell me the name of the exact product you purchased, I am very pleased by your statement and am tempted to by the product
If I use this for gaming will it slow down people on a wifi connection
Addition: In some contries, where Power groups are a thing, you must use the same power group for each connection, as the megahertz cannot traverse non circuit relays. Furthermore the high wattage groups are often prone to package loss, as conjunction of lower frequency signals can create different cost prices, effectively changing routing of the signals in between packages, this can result in some devices registering bad connections resulting in down graded image streams or stalls for certain things. These are often handshake reluctant protocols, which means a return package can get "lost" in the powergrid. This is mostly happening in old houses with new extensions. Personally I will suggest wiring a house with optics, although that is a solution prone to be very expensive, but also the most future proof as an upgrade can be made in optic modules at either end.
At my current appartment, where i serve as network admin, we are limited to cat5e in the walls, which means we would have to rewire stuff if our mainline gets amped up to 10g/s, and all residents should be able to share that bandwidth without bottlenecks.
Yes, you do need to plug the cable directly into your wall's outlet.
But not mentioned in the video is that by doing so, an electrical surge can fry your computer -- the one that you are protecting with a surge suppressor or UPS.
A power surge needs only one avenue into your hardware. If the surge is strong enough, it will not stop at your power-line network card.
Perhaps here the thing though most rooms have more than one outlet run your computer off on then run the adapter off another and connect with a cable
Chase,
There will be a cable that runs from an unprotected wall outlet into your computer's network port.
A powerful surge can, in addition to frying your network port/card, continue on to fry more of your computers innards.
Yes, you can have your computer's power cord plugged into a surge suppressor. But that does nothing to guard you from the other, unprotected path to your computer, which is via the network/power cable.
I'm in one of those new fangled network wired homes. I paid for Cat6 with the builder, but I came the day they were running wire and asked them to use the box of Cat-6a i bought instead. 10Gbps wired home... MUA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
What switch are you using?
CheapSushi right now just a standard managed gigabit switch. Nothing crazy since I'm not coming close to saturating gigabit bandwidth yet. I will be streaming uncompressed 4k movies from a large Qnap NAS eventually.
I really did it just so I'd never have to worry about internal network bandwidth since we are going to be in this house for the next 20 years and we have fiber up our house... And nerd bragging rights.
How would you even get 10Gbps internet like damn I pay $80 for 60/4 I couldn't imagine how much 10Gbps would cost
JJPlaysForDays 10Gbps is just the wiring. I have 1gb fiber internet. I'm just internally set for futureproof
mattwillis4 rip I'm paying $80 a month for 10/1
Used to use Ethernet Over Power at home until we upgraded to Australia's Optic fiber network on NBN. Discovered I was only getting about 30Mbps with my Powerline adapters, but my internet speed was about 94Mbps.
I also had issues with my PS4 and Smart TV dropping out on these, the wifi was much more stable.
And finally, one other issue I had, the 2 main locations i needed these in, only had 2 power points next to each other. Unfortunately, the TP-Link adapters I had were too wide to plug anything in next to them, luckily though they had power pass through, but this basically meant I had ONE power point to power my PC (which includes the PC itself, 2 monitors, speakers, a lamp, and a couple other things)
I now have ethernet cables running through the walls, and my network is so much faster and more stable now.
These adapters are great, but yeah so many variables that could affect them.
Am I the only one who's expecting the intro everytime he finishes his sentence with a question?
Thanks Past-Linus for explaining to my parents how these things work (and that they don’t ‘make their electricity bad’ ? - I couldn’t follow their arguments tbh). Also 2020 is weird, we’re all in lockdown like petulant teenagers and Future-Linus has finally grown a beard!
2021 and they’re trying to make us lock down again
Damn how's covid
I can't recommend this technology enough. Super easy to use. Beats the hassle of trying to manually run cables all over a house. I've had no regrets since getting one. Thank you Linus!
Me too. Allowed me to run a wired connection into my gaming PC without having to run a 100m Ethernet cable which would look messy and I get the full speed I pay for on powerline anyway with lower ping than WiFi.
Fully agreed.... I used to run meters upon meters of ethernet cables around my home, trying not to get in the way. Tried one of these years ago and never looked back. Very fast and very convenient
Alternatively moca routers can do the same thing but over the coax in your house. I found this to work much better in my house since we have multiple circuit breakers and it was much faster also.
Powerline Ethernet is not a bad option depending on your circumstances (renting, bad wireless interference, etc), but while Ethernet is still king, you may want to consider using MoCA if your already have coax in your house and Powerline Ethernet doesn't work out as well for you and you can't run your own Ethernet cable.
Afaik MoCA is more expensive and not as plug-and-play. Further more (if installed incorrectly or defective) it could be a source of ingress to your cable provider. However, it is a viable option.
MoCA for me was plug-in-play. Actiontec MoCA 2.0 bonded really helped me out a ton! I have a 1Gbps connection and cant run Ethernet. It saturates at 800 Mbps down and up. so the extra 200 Mbps is always available for Wifi uses around my place
Clark Turner same here, was easy to setup! Used it to connect to a switch which has a ps4 and pc connected to it. MoCA is the way to go.
Whats moca?
So I recently got a power line adapter kit just to test and mess around with, fortunately I live in a newer apartment where most rooms have cat5e Ethernet so I didn’t really have a need for this device. I plugged one end into my router and in the wall and the other into a wall outlet in my floor hallway, surprisingly it worked, I tried this with the 4th floor (we live on the fifth floor) and was still able to get a decent connection, I went down to the 3rd floor and still got a connection! I was amazed of the range of the adapters, I lost connection when reaching the mezzanine (2nd) floor, but still, great product!
Edit 1: a great use case could be IP security cameras, they don’t need much bandwidth and could work great with these adaptors!
I absolutely love power line adapters. I had been using a set of TP-Link TL-PA211 (AV200 Mbps) bricks with a connected router as a WiFi access point for around 6-7 years until they recently died on me. Just replaced them with two TL-WPA4220T kits (3x set). Couldn't be happier.
If you live in a wooden house with wood and plaster board walls and you don't mind drilling holes, then a high speed ethernet cable linked to a high speed router would be (slightly) faster. But for anyone who lives in a house with concrete floors and walls, and who doesn't want to destroy their house just to lay a cable, this is the way to go. I have one plugged into a socket in my garden shed, 40 m from my house, and I get excellent speeds and full WiFi coverage for my entire property. 👍
What TP link should I buy if I live upstairs and want to plug it into my wall to connect to the router below and then plug an ethernet cord into the TP link in my wall and into my PC?
I'm trying to connect two rooms but and stuck with switch style D-link AV346. 100Mpbs ones..
Unfortunately, all the cat6 port ones I see now, are all plug-in styles which do not work well when and out place has 4 sets of power points, not seperate ones where a big giant plug can ft in without overlapping any other. And to top it off, these power points are at floor levels just above the skirting, ya its an old house..
Why companies have moved away from switch based ones, I'll never know,... I mean, they have 4 ports... It's still useful today
Its like saying "For our next product, we're gonna do away with 24 port switches". No network geek will like that...
my powerline adaptor works amazingly. i have a BT 1200mbs set, i can stream 4k videos on youtube with ease. used lots of powerline adaptors in the past but these are far more reliable than the older ones i had
Powerline networking won't work well for you if you are already using a lot of electricity hungry devices on the same breaker. I tried to use this as a cheat to get better internet but because I have a gaming computer and air conditioner on the same breaker, the connection was so horrible that the wireless I was trying to replace turned out to be better. When you first plug it in, it will work for a minute but very quickly degrade in performance if you are in a similar situation.
These are best for people those people who are such neat freaks that they don't actually use their house, for them it should work flawlessly to add a wifi router with it wherever they want for their phone and or laptop.
"These are best for people those people who are such neat freaks that they don't actually use their house"
Or, you know, have a properly wired house that has the AC and other high power appliances on their own dedicated breakers like they should be.
Shadow Girl Use roof mounted 5ghz repeaters. More expensive, but consistent. And less prone to interference.
The answer was to Simply install an ethernet cable, all around best solution.
So like are you single
Shadow Girl You should REALLY try to NOT use ANY sensitive electronic device (especially a high end gaming PC) on a circuit with an intermittent high-current service like an A/C., I'd be highly concerned about voltage spikes when such things (like the A/C) turns off. My entertainment gear,PCs and the like are only on circuits that contain either lights (low surge on/off cycling) or like items. My A/C units, Microwave, refrigerator, ETC are on different circuts.
This thing is hit or miss. I bought an expensive one thinking I’d have better chances with it and it only gave me like 40mbps on a 600mbps connection. Go with Ethernet whenever you can. That’s the best way to extend your network and get full speeds. Also tried mesh wifi systems and wifi speeds always degrade when you pick up WiFi from the extender.
I'm thinking about getting one. Did you plug in an ethernet cable to it or did you use it wirelessly?
Shiz Nizzle I plugged an Ethernet cable directly to it. It’s all dependent on the wiring in your home. I’m assuming the wiring in my house must be pretty old, considering the room I was trying to extend my connection to was not even that far from where the my internet is set up at. I think it’s worth a shot but just make sure you buy it from somewhere you can return it if it doesn’t work out.
2800boy alright, thanks for the insight
Thanks
One thing to be aware of for power line adapters is that it will create noise on your power line. I was using Uverse at the time, and when I plugged in my power line adapters, I got so much noise on the line, my cable box was unusable. Soon as I unplugged it, it was fine.
Explain in idiot terms please?
What kind of noise? Auditory?
@@old_H No, electrical noise. Normally alternating current just pulses down the power lines. It goes on then off 60 times a second. And electronic devices count on their power being a steady AC power. But when you use power line your lines in the wall now have another signal. And sensitive devices that were counting on just one signal don't have a method to filter out the internet signal. So now they accept that signal as part of the power and it ruins the function of the devise. In my case, the Uverse cable box displayed mostly static.
@@M_RM. sorry I missed your post. I just posted a follow up on the comments.
Don't forget to make sure you connect the devices to the same phase outlet if having multi-phase balanced household.
My comcast tech was telling me about this AFTER I drilled a hole in my new carpet
Should have planned before you put the carpet in
So comcast provides these ethernet adapters? I have att optic fiber nd got them to install wifie xtenders nd they work fine with wifi but not on my xbox. In progress of buying my home! So i want to know who to get and wether to get extenders or wthernet adapters!
Daniel Torres no they don’t provide them. You have to buy them from amazon or a tech store.
Jimmy Jones hard to plan for something you know nothing about, huh?
F
Speak for yourself Linus. I once took a nasal decongestion pill and crammed it into one of the ethernet ports on my router and another on the modem for good measure. Worked like a charm.
"I recommend buying your first couple of powerline adapters from a retailer with a solid return policy" This MUST be a direct jab at Canada Computers. :).
One of the issues I have with PLEs are that they only tend to last for 3-4 months depending on the model maybe due to the overheating of the device and whatnots. If that is already solved on newer models, then it is a good replacement and/or option if you're trying to run ethernet cables on your house.
The ones I have , tp link 600mbs , have a 3 year warranty and I've been using them close to a year. Still no problems
How does life work?
it lets you sue yourself if you fall on your ass.
from my experience life doesn't work. It's totally random
it doesn't, it sucks
Don't worry about things you don't have
It doesn't
Who else is in the < 100mbps club?
Botsnatch that's a big club
More like < 20 mbps for me ;v AND family crowded.
wtf like if your below 1000kbs dude calm i live in australia u got it good
I was in
I did a speed test I got 3.2Gbps
. . . Why will I never need that . . .
I use MoCA networking over the cable TV coax lines instead. Identical speed to Ethernet and I use it for a 150 megabit connection with no issues, I think it goes even higher than that though. Just make sure to put a whole home DVR filter on the coax coming into your house. Old Verizon Actiontec boxes are cheap on eBay and with a little setup work great.
In Florida, Bright House Networks used MoCA exclusively to send recorded shows between cable boxes, as well as for Internet with their Echo WiFi repeater service. Since the Spectrum buyout they no longer use it though.
I tried it once. They lasted 3 months before being taken out by a power surge here in FL. Never again.
If a power surge took it out, that means that your house's electrical system is not properly grounded. If it was, then a powersurge would not take out electronics, it would just go right into the ground.
@@kaceyhowell6570 The one’s I have used didn’t have ground prongs
@@joecool4656 any decent power line adapter has solid grounding so getting decent units is key. Net-gear for example is a reputable company that actually has enterprise grade equipment with affordable costs(100$-200$). just like PC parts, cheaping out will cause many more problems than it will ever solve!
who would have thought that my electronic device would die after a power surge
Powerline Ethernet networking was truly one of the best home network products I have ever implemented.
Powerline Carrier has been used in the power industry for decades for remote tripping/blocking of breakers in substations. It's good stuff.
Ive had a powerline ethernet adapter for about 7 years now. Ping is so consistent and my wifi is only faster on the 5ghz channel and while being on the same floor as the router. My room is as far as possible from my router and I never have a problem, just make sure to plug it directly into the wall and not into an extension cord or surge protector. I just got fiber installed on my street and im going to be switching to gigabit soon, ill have to upgrade my adapter but I've looked and the speeds have increased for them aswell.
Never knew about this until a few months ago...I bought a pair, works awesome! I bought a dual port, even with a power outlet pass through.
Yea I get inconsistent pings over Powerline with often lower averages than my WiFi... But WiFi sometimes has total breakdowns with huge spikes on ping and I at least get more bandwidth with Powerline most of the time.
But you really have to test multiple different outlets to find the right one. Sometimes you get vastly different performance. And even if you use a Powerline adapter that has a shielded plug you can use, this can still impact you quite a bit if, say, your PC gets its power from it.
Did not even know this existed
i just knew this thing exists......
I didnt
Just found out, about it. Gonna test it out but I think it just solved all my room problems
Literally just now found out about this
@@AdventVFX sooo is this free internet ?? Lmao
You cannot compare these to Mesh APs that have at least 3 antennae, more streams, possibly with TurboQAM & NitroQAM. However I think these are a life saver for those who looking to get a quick and easy boost of Internet connectivity in places of where WiFi is poor. No need to lift up floor boards, install conduit or, clip to walls, skirting boards etc. They are inherently better than repeaters as well.
I use this in stead of wifi. It so much more stable and faster. Perfect for gaming
what games do you play with it? not all of them have high network demands. i'm asking because i want to set one up myself and want to know its general capacity.
^
I really like powerline networking, if you get one with an access point built into one of the devices its a much better way to extend a network than a wifi repeater.
One caveat though that i've learned the hard way (by killing three devices super early): don't plug a heavy noisy drawing device like a vacuum cleaner into the same double socket as an adaptor. it wont kill it the first time, but in a month or two you'll be wondering why your new powerline adaptor is dead already.
These are great for connection outbuildings. I have a overhead power line to my shop and they work great. Use them on the same circut if you can helps allot.
i live in cave.
powerline adapter bad.
cat6 good.
u gay
Dam son
giant wires with distance limits. Caves... I wonder how far his cave goes.
Just an extra Powerline tip, for anyone wanting to try it out! Most packages for Powerline actually tell you the max length that you can space two adapters in the network. Most are right around 100-150 feet. You may also run into problems if you run in a path that crosses a refrigerator, as some can distort the frequencies used by the adapters. Hope this helps!
So 700’ would not be a good idea? I have chicken houses that 2- 600’ long. I was wanting to put a camera at the end of each house. So I’m guessing around 700’. Any idea?
@@jackiehavens5409 you would definitely not want Power line for that length. That's way too long, even for Ethernet or MoCA.
@@chupathingy13 do you have any ideas then? Would WiFi and booster be my best option?
@@jackiehavens5409 chain Wi-Fi APs (you'd need a bunch of APs), or if you just want a single reliable run, use fiber. You could even use a point-to-point antenna system if that's an option.
@@jackiehavens5409 any true wifi mesh like netgear o linksys velop can provide a wider area of coverage with reliable wifi, any old strong ap like ubiqiti can do the job too, or you can run like @DJChupa13 said one single line of fiber plastic for the home
This stuff works but there is a problem with a frequency conflict with DOCSIS. Many of these that go above 86 MHz cause issues with coax QAM upstream, which in most areas is in the 5 to 50 MHz range. Causing major interfere with others that can bleed over onto the coax through the DOCSIS cable modem can add noise on the plant and may result in you being disconnect at tap by your ISP.
Tried the power line stuff advertised at 1Gbps but only managed around 8Mbps down and slighly faster upload at 15Mbps for some reason. Then I got the idea since I don't use cable but there are cable jacks everywhere, bought myself a Docsis 1.1 out of curiosity how fast the uploads can go if maxed out of the theoretical 10Mbps, came with 1 40Mbps downstream shared with everyone on the node and like 8 upstream line cards. The uploads came with two modes one is limited to 5Mbps and the other 16QAM 10Mbps. I set the highest of course. Believe it or not all you need to boot up those Surfboard Modems were a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine or similar with DHCP and with 3rd party TIME software installed (NOT NTP), tftpd64 software and a free config creator (just make sure to set the proper secret on both the CMTS and config before compiling). With a single modem on the line (with correct attenuators so not to blow things up) the downloads were decent close to 40Mbps, but the upload even uncapped were at a pathetic 4-5Mbps at a max 10Mbps @ 16QAM, and at the lower 5Mbps setting it was some pathetic 1Mbps or less! This was with ONE modem online, no wonder ISPs offer packages like 5Mbps/128Kbps-512Kbps back then. Got fed up and just shelled out more cash for a used mini DOCSIS 3.0 with channel bonding and got close to the 1Gbps/200Mbps. It doesnt take much to get a modem online, the software ISP uses just have added billing and customer information, but useless if you just want to use those jacks. Modems are dirt cheap just the CMTS if you can afford it.
I use power line Ethernet as backhaul between floors and mesh wi-fi on each floor. I get solid 500mbps between floors and full wi-fi in all locations.
Alright, gamer perspective here on power line. I was gaming on wifi for a few years and decided to finally switch to ethernet, but my home doesn't have lines running to all the rooms so I figured hey I'll try power line. This was purely for latency, not for download speed. I just can't recommend it. I did get better latency than on wifi, but I also had consistent drops. Eventually I just paid out the money to run Cat5 and I am much happier with it. No substitute for real ethernet ladies and gents.
SectorCodec Depending on homes. Before sorting to Cat5 as my last resort, power line is working just fine with me. Latency much better than wifi, and drops are non existent. Sacrificing top speed for latency is a justified trade.
I'm glad it worked for you. Didn't work for me and I wanted to warn others. Ethernet is simply the better choice if you want top quality.
Wow that's weird, I tried the powerline adapters and their speed sucked compared to wifi 10mbps vs 50mbps but the latency was maybe just a couple ms more than when using an ethernet cable, which is a lot lower than the latency I get over wifi.
SectorCodec Yeah, nothing beats direct Ethernet connection.
I disagree. Of course Ethernet will always be better but in term of bang for the bucks as long as your powerline installation isn't too old or too shitty, it's all good
I had nothing but trouble with powerline when I did network tech support for a certain game console brand. After having issues with wifi, the Blue Shirt at BestBuy recommend a powerline adapter, saying that my tech support experience was biased because I only got called if it didn't work. I thought about all the problems I'd had over the phone with wifi. Okay, Mr Return Policy, I'll try it. Worked perfect! While the other roommates hung out in the same room as the router to get signal, I was gaming on the other side of the house. But yeah, definitely try it first from somewhere with a return policy, because it either works or it sucks, depending on your wiring.
Don’t forget , if you have big power supply’s or switching supply’s. It could interfere with the power line because of the switching noise . Had the same in my previous house that had a big traction battery for 12v lighting that occasionally needed charging
As usual, good simple explanation of the wavelength etc..
I've been using powerline Ethernet for almost a year now and I love it! I'm getting 5x what I could get with wifi.
How fast is your broadband speeds via direct connection and how fast is it on the powerline adapter?
which powerline adaptor do u use
I just moved to a place which had a superfast hub but was left devastated when my room was in a dead spot, opted for a powerline instead of a wifi extender. Worked brilliantly and got a way faster connection than anticipated. TP Link AV600 2 port passthrough. Plug and play, so easy to set up.
Great video Linus. Really well done and you definitely provided great information.
Agreed
I've been using powerline adapters for a few years now, and they're definitely convenient. Mine are Zyxel PLA5456 1800mbps ones, and i'm getting 550-600mbps in actual throughput, which i think is fine. :) My home is from 1903 or something like that, with the oldest wiring being from probably the 30's or 40's. So i'm very happy that i'm getting that throughput. I'm using 4 adapters in all, and so far it has been rock solid reliable for me.
That being said, a friend of mine is also using powerline adapters, and his connection isn't very reliable. He's not using the same ones that i do, it's another brand (don't remember which), and they're also a lot slower, but still, he's not getting anywhere near the speeds that i am. I think it's because his has to go through a breaker and possibly even another phase, as it goes from one apartment to another in the same building (no, he's not stealing the signal from someone).
In any case, it can work wonders, and it can work not so great, depending on your application. :)
600mbps with powerline?
Good job. Do a more in-depth video on this. People in large box apartments need to learn this stuff.
but how does it actually work? what's the modulation scheme? how secure is the password security? what kind of circuitry does it use to couple the data signal to the power lines?
Wrong about apartments, if it metered separately, which 99% are, no ones getting to your network. I’m a licensed electrician.
I imagine that there are folks living in old dwellings, or, perhaps, in other countries, that view these videos.
I just found out being an electrician requires trigonometry. FUCKING SHIT!! >____
n3rdbear
Trigonometry is easy though, thats basic high school level math
no it isnt, theres a shitload of prerequisites before getting to trig.
I did trigonometry in grade 10 math
This, my friends, is a prime example of the failure that is the USA education system
OMG I JUST ORDERED ONE OF THESE TODAY AND THIS IS THE EXACT VIDEO I WAS LOOKING FOR. I am temporarily living with a roommate and the router is in his room and I want the best connection possible for my computer without running a wire across the house or opening any walls. I sure miss living with my parents and having their google fiber
Parents are the goat
I remember when Linus explained this on NCIX tech tips
he did a really shitty test
I watched an NCIX tech tips video on what is raid 0, 1, and 10 a few weeks ago, video is like 10 years old
The modem is hooked up in my bedroom upstairs, but we use a Powerline to run a connection to the television down stairs. For simple tasks like streaming Netflix it works fantastic. We also have a really good ISP so I'm sure that helps, but it works perfectly for us.
The thing with powerline adapters and surge protectors/splitters is that they have in them MOVs(protection component) which have some capacitance which messes up the signal from PLA.
do they have bills?
How did I not find this earlier? This is EXACTLY what I need right now. This video's 5 years old and I only just discovered this now because of a video about Insignia restoring Xbox Live 1.0 for the OG Xbox and emulators alike?!
You forgot something very important!! The majority of those work on single phase AC. If you have 2 or 3 phases then you need other special Powerline adapters for this to work, unless you are lucky enough and have the pair of outlets you want to use on same phase!!!!
what do you mean
Please do a video on net neutrality.
Your style of explaning makes things easy and clear.
omg i was just about to get one of these and you do a video on it ... this is freaky
Are they any good? Do they take all /most of the bandwidth for one device?
Liam McHugh I’m assuming that you bought it already but are they any good?
@@ayub2652 no sorry. Bc my WiFi sucks balls. I might need to fix that first.... Sadly
Google spy’s on you.
@xlkatz Does it take most of the bandwidth to the powerline adapter?
When I set up my parents system, I used these to send the internet signal from the modem to one wifi router on the opposite side of the same wall where I couldn't drill a hole and internet over the cable line to send it to a router in a different room that was farther away. That was before the Aero started advertisibg signal repeaters that were easy to set up. At the time, setting up a repeater was too hard for my skill level. But it works pretty well.
I would assume that a power line adapter on the same circuit would be quicker than splitting it on 2 circuits, and having the signal go through the breaker panel. Seeing as that would cause lots of interference.
I am not sure if Linus was told to slow down on his explanation, but he sure did in this one. Which is great for non-native English user like myself.
To Linus, thank you for being considerate. Appreciated it!
Is there anyone else who gets hypnotised by Linus's voice, then wakes up to realise they're halfway through listening to the end sponsor spot?
"as awesomely convenient as wi-fi is, it certainly isn't without its shortcomings" video immediately buffers
I tried using it in my old house way back (like 2009) and they worked like crap. However this was not the powerline adapter's fault, it was the awful wiring of the house. They did work great for a friend however as I ended up giving the adapters to him.
I've use Powerline quite for a while and it works great in my apartment. I get consistent speeds of around 230-300 MBits and almost no latency(much lower than WiFi). I use 4 Devolo DLAN 1200+. I'm very happy with this.
When I was in high school ~12 years ago, the landlord decided to try this instead of ethernet cables. Even though the connections were less than 5 metres of wiring apart, speeds were abysmal.
This was back when 5 down adsl was considered great in our area.
I honestly don't see the point in doing internet over electrical sockets, unless there's no other way. So much stuff is being put in those, it's bound to cause some grief.
Richard Tønnessen that was 12 years ago, you do realise that technology improves over time right?
@@kacperb1283 ik that's what I was thinking although I was 3 12 years ago
5 down DSL is still considered the best in my area. $120 a month too.
What doesn't get mentioned enough in this video, is that powerlines usually are complete thrash. Maybe the most expensive ones are decent, but often a good wifi connection is simply a lot faster. If you really have trouble with walls and installing ethernet is not an option, look for coax cables installed in your house (for the tv/radio signal). If you have those, you can use MoCa, which, in my experience, is extremely reliable and a lot less frustrating to set up.
Source: years of experience in onsite IT support.
Watched this video on a powerline. It works great, I also have ac wireless on my computer to download large files. However I game on my powerline connection for fantastic latency. since I can't drill holes in my apartment.
Is it good in online multiplayer games?
no need for extra security because signal is not going trough electricity meter, so your neighbor can not enter your lan. also signal is not jumping from phase to phase. so if you have at your home 3 phase system (380V that is standard in europe, dont know in murica) you are pretty limited and you have to be lucky to have power outlets in several rooms on one phase. 3 phase system is distributed is such way so when fuse on one phase blows other two can run the house so 1/3 of wall sockets are on each phase, so you have 30% chance you have 2 wall sockets on same phase to use this technology.
I always wait to see how you bring the sponsor's ad into the video!
Honestly, have you ever noticed any interference from Radio Frequency Interference (RFI)? I recently had someone claim that RFI was causing issues for me, but I haven't noticed any difference in my internet connection. Before switching to fiber, I was only getting around 400 Mbps, so I'm quite happy with the speed improvement.
this was literally the answer to my prayers thank you so much
Does it still work
@@spongybob9011 yea do it still work
does it still sworkKK
I just bought a HomePlug AV-compliant AV600 from TP-Link, though that would only be a temporary solution, as my family might be moving to a new house with built-in Ethernet wiring.
Reasons are simple: no difference from wired gigabit despite me using a gigabit internet and downloading stuff are all under 100mbps so I found no point dumping in MORE money on the AV2 standard.
Linus, have u done network devices?
I want to buy the TP Link ones from Best Buy or NCIX by Black Friday, and it'd be cool if u can make cool facts about it!
David Kahn thanks dude! But dw, Im thinking of buying a TP Link router this Black Friday, as a person not getting a good wifi signal at home
Philly Jones try a WiFi extender at the 1/2 - 3/4 point of routers range limit, as you can get them on eBay as you can get refurbished Netgear ones which I've had decent results with(just don't get it near a microwave lol) for around $20. it's the most easy, and cost effective solution to try first.
goo.gl/mNDbYx
Edit: Here is a TP-Link one for $15, but I can't vouch for it since I've never used their extenders before, but at that price it's worth a shot.
goo.gl/341D7p
Spooky Ronnie im buying what its called "TP-LINK Archer C60 Wireless AC1350 Dual Band Router"
Linksys has been shit ever since they were sold out by Cisco.
Thanks for the simple explanation. We have a total of 4 running through our house. The phone line is at one end of the house so wifi doesn't each everywhere including the flat. Our setup has these powerlines adapters bringing Ethernet to various parts of the house with one that has a wifi modem router attached and this provides the wifi which now reaches everywhere. Now some things still have Ethernet such as the game consoles, TV streamer boxes and a Desktop computer to ensure consistenct performsnce. Our internal wiring is old as so the little boxes have an orange flashing light which indicates that we aren't reaching the full potential of the boxes but there's still a stable connection, it is still enough to meet our needs.
Sad to see so many knee-jerk 'This doesn't apply to me so it shouldn't be used by anyone' reactions in the comments.
I personally use a powerline setup to extend my primary router to a second one to maintain strong signal everywhere.
It's incredibly worth noting if you're thinking of buying a set to buy one marked AV2.
AV2 [theoretical speed] is the later standard Linus alluded to (without mentioning by name) that is orders of magnitude faster than the older standard which is 'AV[theoretical speed]'.
For example my older setup with an AV200 setup got me about 12Mbps of actual throughput and my newer AV2 600 adapters get 350-400 Mbps of actual throughput on gigabit Internet.
Of course your mileage will vary.
I use it too, because my apartment has no Internet and telephone connection, and my landlords don't want to build one...
I've been using various powerline systems in my house for over a decade now, and honestly I'm really impressed, same performance as what my router currently delivers in terms of speed and latency, ideally I'd like to eventually wire my house with Cat5e or Cat6 but with brick walls and an extension that puts a few rooms beyond the original exterior brick and cinderblock wall it was just easier to buy a set of four powerline plugs and a couple of switches to get everything connected. One for my gaming room, one for the office, and one for the TV and consoles in the lounge, it's just plug and play and I've never had a reliability issue with either the plugs or the switches, every time I have an outage it's either cause of my ISP or my router had a crash.
I think the only issue some powerline has is when it's plugged into an extension, especially with another appliance that causes a lot of interference, or if your house wiring is bad quality, but here in the UK by house was built in the late 80's with good quality internal wiring in ring circuits, so the powerline system works incredibly well.
What powerline adapter are you using if you dont mind me asking?
I know what that 500ft spool of wire i bought is going to be used for
nah it's only 12 gauge, would only get me put on watch.
To The GAMES ...
What kind of Ethernet cables are you making using 12 gauge wire?
Is this guy a twin to linus tech tips??
This guy makes it interesting and shows enthusiasm without making me want to punch him. A lot of youtube videos don't achieve this.
You should also remember that the adaptors only work when they are connected to the same power system. Sometimes houses has several independent circuits for different phases.
Also, the vendors typically brag about the bitrate the adaptors support, but that is the speed of the protocol between them and not the payload data. So even without interference, they can not deliver the speed stated, if I understood it correctly.
it still works but the speed is crap, or are you talking about tri fase power?
# yes, that's what I meant. Then the different phases maybe are distributed between floors, so the power lines aren't connected
12 in long 1inch thick drill bit + ethernet cable = win
+ rj45 connectors + rj45 splicer
3:18 also don't plug in your Powerline Adapter next to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs)
they can produce a lot of electrical noise wich interfere with your Data Signals
Powerline adapters turn your house into a gigantic emitting antenna, not sure that is what you want. As they transmit their signals over the electric wires using the full HF band, from 3 to 30mhz, every electric wire in your house starts to emit aggressive digitally modulated electromagnetic radiation. I am both an engineer and HAM radio operator, and can tell you from experience that these powerline adapters are a big problem as they radiate until at least 100 meters away from the house using it and make listening to HF radio impossible because of the strong signals they emit. Unlike wifi which is sent from one single point, using small antennas, power line adapters emit via hundreds of meters of electric wire. Furthermore wifi stays within their band and does not wipe out a large portion of radio spectrum. On top of that, most of these devices emit far more than the specified power (so customers are happy with the speeds and performance), and often more than the legal limit. Just do a youtube or google search on PLC powerline adapters and HAM radio if you dont believe me. Use ethernet cable instead! Fast, cheap and clean, and you dont irradiate yourself and the neighboors, and you dont cause a nuisance for people to listening to weak radio signals.
I had powerline, D-link system. It was absolutely awful, would just randomly drop and say "the dns server is not responding" until I unplugged it from the wall and plugged it back in. It would just be totally intermittent, could do it once a day or once an hour. Made me switch back to wifi - haven't had a problem since. Pretty cool that someone can knock out your internet by turning on a blender or something I guess.
Linus - the alpha male
alpha stage? not even beta? not a full man yet :v? Man version 0.4alpha
Dude in the new LTT video he's swole. He's been lifting for sure.
Nope
Three Reichs and You're Out! All that soy went to his arms
Lifting or bein a muscle head doesn't make you an alpha male
whoever engineered these adapters is a fucking genius. I got a gigabit one today and it works very well. I have a newly built home but they didn't make any available lines to go up to the attic where my pc will be at. And since it's a pre-fab building, there is no way I can run a wire myself..
I use these in my room and there an amazing life saver, my WiFi sucks my room is directly over my WiFi router bit I only get around 2 bars on my phone, these things are perfect I never break 40 ping in csgo and get about 12 in speed tests, there a solid investment
@linus I feel you have missed a vital issue with powerline adaptors. They will NOT work if each adapter is on a different ring main. I wanted to highlight as its a very important for anyone watching from the UK or other parts of Europe. This may not be an issue for the US or Canadian residents as you home wiring may be different
That was a great video dude! I'm going to be setting those up soon, but I wasn't sure just how 'legit' they are. Thanks for the tips!
The way this house is wired up sadly makes it impossible to run that kind of ethernet from the router to the computer... but thankfully, there's conduits running from the attic to every major room, used for coax cables.
Because of this situation I had been running WiFi for over a decade, but when I (finally) got fibre, it turned out that was nowhere near fast enough (topping out at ~20mbps in either direction), so I ordered 150' of ethernet cable, some toolless ethernet plugs and set to work. From one corner in the living room, to the one where the TV box and one computer are, to set up the router there. Then from that corner, to the opposite side of the living room, all the way up into the attic and then down into my bedroom, which houses the gaming/work rig. Took an entire afternoon, but it was *so* worth it: Not a single dropout (which were becoming more frequent on the WiFi over the years), and I get the full bandwidth.
By stirring up the angry pixies in the wire, of course.
I personally use a powerline adapter setup to get Ethernet where I game. I got "high end" adapters and saw a a reduction in overall nextwork speeds. I get 175 down service and only get at most 50 when using the powerline adapter. Ping was a better than wifi but not as good as a direct Ethernet connection. Don't bother with powerline adapters unless you NEED Ethernet access in the area you are using the device. If you've got 50mbps internet or slower and plan to use it when you're not using demanding electrical devices. This works well. Otherwise, find a way to use real ethernet cables.