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rtate · 2014-09-28, 00:08

I am going to purchase a streaming device for a bedroom and this room does not have the ability to connect wired.
I have an Asus dual band router that supports ac and coverage in the bedroom is pretty good but not great.
I have been waiting for the boxes that support ac wit the AP6335 chipset but there seems to be alot of issues with the new devices and kodi. I don't even know if ac support will help me over regular dual band but I have read that the AP6335 is the latest and greatest.

I have never tried to stream content wirelessly yet so have no experiece with it.
Would I be better off using power line adapters if possible and avoid wirless?

I realize alot depends on the house wiring for the powerline adapters but in general terms is it better that wireless ?

Thanks

nickr · 2014-09-28, 00:21

In general terms powerline whips wifi's ass.

Christian Ro-Jo · 2014-09-28, 00:34

it all depends on how far away from the router your poweline adapter will be.... my wifi isnt great so i use a powerline adaptor to make the connection smoother, this is only in the next room, however if you put the powerline in the other end of the house (my room) the powerline sucks but the wifi just about reaches... its about playing with the two to see which is best

rtate · 2014-09-28, 01:39

So are there some things that I should look for when buying a powerline adapter ?
Eg. is a gigabite connection alot better than the 10/100 ?
Any other tips would be great !!

nickr · 2014-09-28, 01:40

Smallnetbuilder.com

steeb · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-28, 02:43 by steeb.)

(2014-09-28, 00:21)nickr Wrote: In general terms powerline whips wifi's ass.

Totally with nickr here. BUT exactly in 'General' terms! There are so many factors to take into consideration.

A structured cabling solution will still give the best backbone to your set-up. But probably not if you live in a 1 bed flat. Not much point. Anything wired should currently give better performance than wifi, unless your device/client that you are connecting is only going to be a wifi device anyway?

Don't think you stated that?

Quote:I am going to purchase a streaming device for a bedroom and this room does not have the ability to connect wired.

If I have understood correctly at this point it is irrelevant as to whether that room is wired but whether the device you have has the ability to be wired?

If you have the ability to plug in a wired connection from your device then that will always give best performance. If you are connecting only via wifi from your device then it becomes dependant on your distance from the wifi router/hub or a wifi extender.

But then you may not want to plug in a cable if you are walking round your room with the device anyway Wink

As nickr said check out the link. It is best to read a bit and work out what exactly you would like to achieve and with what equipment and what budget!

suku_patel_22 · 2014-09-28, 03:06

How would power lines ne work if it is multiple circuit breaker?

steeb · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-28, 03:31 by steeb.)

Unfortunately with the Powerlines there is a degree of QED, but the QED is only great when you have them and have demonstrated for yourself!

I am in the UK. We have some pretty tight regulations on electrics here.

Also there are varying choices of cost of Powerline adaptors, and frequently that can mean quality and support and service too :-(

With quality adaptors from devolo (and No I don't work for them or have any affiliation!) I could get a transfer rate of about 450Mbps through a circuit board with multiple breakers.

But now for example I have a bridge of 2 Circuit boards in my home, where one board feeds off the other, and the max I have got is 195Mbps.

Personally that still is a pretty sound option for a cabled solution.

sgibbers17 · 2014-09-28, 03:58

My AC wifi is about twice the speed of my power line adapters at about 40 feet going through a floor and wall, so I would have to disagree about power line adapters being better. Also you have to make sure both PL adapters are on the same electrical phase. If not I think there is a device that you can install in you breaker box to cross over phases.

steeb · 2014-09-28, 04:19

(2014-09-28, 03:58)sgibbers17 Wrote: My AC wifi is about twice the speed of my power line adapters at about 40 feet going through a floor and wall, so I would have to disagree about power line adapters being better. Also you have to make sure both PL adapters are on the same electrical phase. If not I think there is a device that you can install in you breaker box to cross over phases.

Totally respect your point here sqibbers17 but don't believe you gave enough background info about your PL adaptors, or home set up, to make that a valid call Confused

sgibbers17 · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-28, 04:37 by sgibbers17.)

I no longer have them but I believe they were 500 Mbps the fastest I could get at the time. My WiFi hits at about 900 Mbps according to windows network adaptor signal strength. There are so many variables for both.

With PL you have to have good wiring in your house, be on the same phase, and if you live in an apartment with shared electric if someone else is using PL adapters you may have interference issues.

With wifi you have to take into account what you are broadcasting through and what they are made of, how far you are from the AP, other wifi in the area can cause interference but the 5ghz band should have more than enough channels for that not to be an issue.

For wifi in my case I was having signal issues till I realized I was transmitting through the back of my basement tv which was on the other side of my wall the router was on. Having a huge peace of grounded metal in between the AP and my HTPC was like putting my router in a faraday cage. Once I moved my router 2 feet to the left I had no issues.

Milhouse · 2014-09-28, 05:43

Why is everyone quoting the theoretical bandwidth when discussing WiFi or Powerline? It's absolutely pointless (not to mention, inaccurate) when what people want to know is your actual, real world, achievable throughput.

I can achieve a solid 135Mbps between a pair of 500-AV Powerline devices but much like WiFi, the performance is heavily dictated by the environment (cabling, circuit breakers etc.).

Since 500-AV can achieve well in excess of 100Mbps actual throughput, you will want to buy devices with a GigE PHY - this means devices based on the AR7400 chipset. Cheaper devices will be based on the AR7420 chipset that only supports a 100Mbps PHY, limiting your maximum throughput to 100Mbps.

I'd always advise Powerline over WiFi, just buy your Powerline gear from a reputable dealer with a good/no quibble returns policy as there is no guarantee it will work as well for you as it does for me.

rtate · 2014-09-28, 06:03

Thanks guys
@steeb , I meant that the room will not be wired, I haven't decided on a device yey but was hoping that it would have both options
like the minix x8 or the fire tv ?

jammyb · 2014-09-28, 10:32

(2014-09-28, 03:06)suku_patel_22 Wrote: How would power lines ne work if it is multiple circuit breaker?

They work.

Milhouse · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-28, 14:46 by Milhouse.)

Yes, they should work with circuit breakers.

500-AV devices using "SmartLink" technology may work better in "challenging" environments, as they can use all three conductors (live/neutral/earth) not just live/neutral.

Also, there is a new AV2 standard of Powerline adapters recently introduced using 2x2 MIMO technology to "double" throughput (the older models now referred to as SISO). The new MIMO devices use the QCA7500 chipset, eg. this Zyxel.

If you're in the UK, I highly recommend solwise.co.uk for their wide range of Powerline (Homeplug) devices, good support and returns policy. Their 1.2Gbps MIMO devices are due in October (hopefully). No affiliation etc.