Hi
So i have ADSL2+ and based on ozpeedtest, my line speed is approx 17-18mbps. I'm using TP-link av500 powerline adapters to my ps4 on the other side of the house, and the speed test on the ps4 is around 10-11mb. My question is (to hopefully improve speed)
1) I'm currently using cat5 cables, would a change to cat5e or cat6 help performance of my ps4?
2) Would a change of the powerline adapters to AV1200 or even AV2000 make a difference? Is it even worth the price?
Thanks in advance!
1) and 2), no the difference would be very minor if at all. The reduced speed is to be expected due to the distance and there isn't much you can do about 7-8 mb/s. At my house, I have ethernet cables connecting my router directly to my computer on the other side of the house, running through the attic and I experience a loss of 15mb/s.
Did you DIY cable through walls?
Yeah, my house is one storey. I opened the powerpoint plate for the co-axial cable, pulled it out a fair length and piggybacked the ethernet cable onto it. Then I climbed into the attic to feed the ethernet cable up over the ceiling and ran it back down through the wall on the other side of the house in a similar fashion.
TP-Link AV500 [TPA411] powerline adapters don't even support gigabit Cat6 anyway. They are all 100mbps ports. Go have a look at the data sheet or manual that comes in your retail box… it says it matters not if the cable is 100 megabits or gigabit.
If you want to increase speed, then you need to decrease the amount of appliances connected on the same phase. Or you need to try a different power point, one that is shorter in distance and has less appliances plugged in.
And you also need to avoid sticking the powerline adapter on any powerboard or double adapters, this kills the speed.
In my opinion, cat5e/6 wouldn't do much of the speed improvement unless you have a bad cat5 cable which you gets a lot of error in transmissions. However, bad cable is quite a bit of rarely happened issue nowadays.
Powerline (and even wireless) is half-duplex layer 1 in OSI model. So basically, your AV500 (500Mbps) will get around 250Mbps (or 31.25MB/s) uplink/downlink theoretical speed. Due to the nature of the powerline (line noise), it is not possible to reach its theoretical speed. For AV1200, you may get higher speed but I would still recommend you think about running a cat 6 cable around your house if it is possible because wired connection is still one of the most practical and affordable way of high speed connections.
In my past experience, powerline usually gave me wifi-alike latency which sometimes a little bit annoying for online gaming. Since then, I've been running a Cat6 cable to every room and now I get a really good internal network.
I am using TPG and I am 2K from DSLAM. My link speed is around 12Mbps.
Did you DIY cables?
Well, yes. If I need to run some 50m cable and then I would go for DIY cables.
But in my case, I could easily run some off the shelf 15m to 20m cable from switch. The reason I am using off the shelf is the connector is more durable and hassle free.
Next step I am considering run POE device from my switch, which can power some 5 port small switch in bedroom without running power cables.
PS: I am the IT guy as well but I also have a lot of AV gadgets :-)
IT guy here who has tons of gadget interest - pretty much what everyone says here is true.
The rule of thumb is that power line adaptors are essentially wifi extenders.
Don't forget that bandwidth speed is only one measure of gaming performance. More importantly is your ping times and having an error free connection.
If possible I'd recommend trying to stay away from plugging your PS4 into a powerline adapter. I think from memory it can add around a 200 millisecond delay to your ping times (depends on quality of your powerline adapter, home wiring and appliances plugged in).
What's worse is if your internet connection loses network packets it can pause or drop out of the game. I'm not familiar with powerline adapters but I'm confident of wifi being a mature and robust technology. Am skeptical about how mature the technology is for powerline adapters, all I know is that there is electrical and magnetic interferrence from appliances but not sure if it will cause loss of network packets.
Depending on the condition of your power line that runs through the house, is it an old place? Usually the speed is quite good, does the PS4 have a gigabit port? or is it 100 megabit?