Alternatives to powerlines

[nammynake]

We have recently had a garden office built and I’m currently using a Tenda power line (Wi-Fi output) to get internet connection. The internet (BT fibre) in the house is sufficiently fast (150 Mbps upload) but in the garden room is at most 20 Mbps, but annoyingly drops to almost zero and loses connections frequently. My understanding is that powerlines can lose speed but this seems excessive. Worth noting that the garden room electrics come straight from our house consumer unit but the garden room does have its own consumer unit too.

Is there a better solution? Should the powerline work (user error)? The garden room is off the side of the house so probably 15m in a straight line from our router (through 1/2 walls).

Thanks

[Dsdans]

Do you have a duct going to the garden room? Could you run an ethernet cable

[Blockbuster]

Get a mesh system.

I’ve got the Deco M5 3 pack and with one node placed beside the router, one at an upstairs window at the back and one in the garden room itself, I’m getting about 110Mbps there, as well as having coverage all over the patio and garden.

The distance is probably around 25m from the router to the third node.

I was previously using power lines and got around 17Mbps so it’s a big improvement.

Better mesh systems do exist.

[Whoozit]

Blockbuster said:

Get a mesh system.

I’ve got the Deco M5 3 pack and with one node placed beside the router, one at an upstairs window at the back and one in the garden room itself, I’m getting about 110Mbps there, as well as having coverage all over the patio and garden.

The distance is probably around 25m from the router to the third node.

I was previously using power lines and got around 17Mbps so it’s a big improvement.

Seconded. I tried powerline systems for a while, they were finicky and took up a socket. A Tenda three-node mesh system improved things no end. And I also found you can add more nodes to cover poor spots + boost the signal to further away nodes. The Sky mini box had to be reconnected around once a week as it kept dropping the connection. With the new node it's been stable (fingers crossed)

[_dobbo_]

If you're using Tenda now, they also have a mesh system that isn't expensive, that's what I went with. I switched from powerlines to mesh and I now get decent wifi everywhere, even right at the end of the garden, which was unthinkable before.

[Cloudy147]

I used to have power lines and moved to mesh and it’s far, far better. I use the Tenda one which is generally very good and doesn’t cause much problem - but the app is temperamental and it’s needed to do any troubleshooting or config.

Currently my Tenda app doesn’t know that it’s connected to a Tenda mesh, so it’s useless. As soon as I have another issue with the mesh that requires troubleshooting I’ll be binning it and get a different provider.

BUT it will be a mesh again as it works well.

[Rushjob]

Cloudy147 said:

I used to have power lines and moved to mesh and it’s far, far better. I use the Tenda one which is generally very good and doesn’t cause much problem - but the app is temperamental and it’s needed to do any troubleshooting or config.

Currently my Tenda app doesn’t know that it’s connected to a Tenda mesh, so it’s useless. As soon as I have another issue with the mesh that requires troubleshooting I’ll be binning it and get a different provider.

BUT it will be a mesh again as it works well.

Possibly a stupid question but have you or a close neighbour recently installed Sky Q? It can have an impact on mesh systems.....

[Whoozit]

Cloudy147 said:

I used to have power lines and moved to mesh and it’s far, far better. I use the Tenda one which is generally very good and doesn’t cause much problem - but the app is temperamental and it’s needed to do any troubleshooting or config.

Currently my Tenda app doesn’t know that it’s connected to a Tenda mesh, so it’s useless. As soon as I have another issue with the mesh that requires troubleshooting I’ll be binning it and get a different provider.

BUT it will be a mesh again as it works well.

The app needs to be regularly re-logged in to your account. A bit annoying and it's not obvious in the app why it's falling over.

[Murph7355]

Using something from the same vendor you already use would be simpler...

...but if you have no joy with their mesh set up, try a pair of Ubiquiti Airmax Nanostations.

You plug one end into your router, and the other out in your garden room , pointing at one another (fewer obstructions the better). It effectively extends your network out to the garden room (it's slightly more involved than that, but not that much).

I have this setup from my house to my workshop (30-50m or so. They will go a lot further if required) and get a 300mbps connection between the buildings without worrying massively about alignment/obstructions.

[t2007p]

Have to agree with Murph7355

Have fitted these for a few people and works solid not quiet as good as a solid Ethernet link but solid none the less.

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/41152-ubiq...

[Murph7355]

Mine are these:

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/30942-ubiq...

(Other vendors exist ).

I think the ones at the link don't come with PoE injectors, so if you need those, buy separately.

[skedaddle]

Before spending money on mesh or whatever, make sure your powerlines are optimal - https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-tips-improve-speed...

A gl.inet Slate in extender or router mode is another option. It's meant for travelers but does a great job extending home wifi. If you are not technical, then a mesh solution from what I can gather will be a better option.

[Lucas Ayde]

Another vote for mesh. Although I still use powerline for streaming games from the PC to the TV downstairs or for anything that has an ethernet connection and doesn't get moved around.

It doesn't just provide better performance and coverage than standard wifi ... it is all around better at handling large numbers of WiFi devices. Most ISP hubs have awful WiFi and have all sorts of stability issues that can lead to random speed drops, freezes or disconnections, so spend a bit extra to get a mesh system. You can continue to use it even if you change your hub at a later date.

[biggiles]

Mesh is the easy answer (votes for Deco here), but what you're describing should be easy for a Powerline connection. I have one working fine here (latency is slightly better than wifi, not as good as pure ethernet) over a longer distance.

Check you aren't using extension leads for the Powerline unit, they really don't like extension leads. Especially fancy ones with USB sockets or "surge protection". Also try a wired connection to the Powerline unit, rather than wifi.

[eein]

Also using mesh to a shed about 20m away. Got one unit near the back doors of the house, another just inside in the shed wall nearest the house. Getting around 60Mbps from a possible 70 from my broadband provider.

I happen to use the Asus mesh system as you are able to mix and match the mesh node types - essentially any Asus device that has asus mesh can be in your cluster of nodes. I use an old Asus router I got in 2013 as the node in the shed (you can buy old asus routers on ebay, upgrade their firmware and have a cheap node).

A note on power line systems - they are rubbish. I did some signal processing design engineering on them around 2000 and they were just utterly compromised from the start and hugely susceptible to the variances in different house's wiring setup (not just new vs old, also how circuits were connected and what appliances were drawing power at the time). Of course the signal processing has got better over the last 22 years, but those limitations still exist.