Help with poor powerline connections

[rednal]

Recently, I bought and built my first gaming PC. I completed the build a few weeks ago and installed Windows over winter break however I had to use my mom's wireless adapter because I didn't have anyway to connect to the internet. While using wireless, I was averaging around 1-1.3mbps downloads. Since I decided I was going to build the computer, I planned to use a wired connection instead of wireless since it would help reduce lag. I thought I had an ethernet port in my room however I later found out it was a phone port and I couldn't use it. Upon researching what to do, I found I could use a powerline to connect to my router upstairs (AT&T) to my PC which is downstairs in my room. I finally got around to buying this Linksys powerline adapter at MicroCenter and when I got home and set it up, I was severely dissapointed. As I type this, I am attempting to download Garry's Mod from Steam and I am averaging around less than 100kbps with a peak download rate of 428.4kbps. I don't know what I should be getting with the powerline adapter, however I think it's a lot more than this. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Is this a bad adapter or is it my connection? What can I do to fix this? Changing my ISP is almost impossible because I don't think there's anyway my parents will do it. If it is a bad adapter, can you link to a good one?
All help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Fardringle]

Powerline networking is very dependent on the power lines. If you aren't on the same power circuit, the connection has to (try to) go through the circuit breaker and that frequently doesn't work well if it works at all. If the wiring is old or sub-standard, the connection won't work.

If the phone plug in you room is wired with CAT5/5e cable, then you can probably use it as an ethernet connection by changing the port plug/panel from RJ11 to RJ45 (just re-wire the ends).

 

[rednal]

Is this how I would go about doing it? How can I tell if I have it or not? Would I need something like this or this? How safe would it be for a fifteen year old to do it? (Sorry about all the questions)

 

[Fardringle]

Yes, that is how you would do it. It is very safe and easy to do. Just make sure the colors on the wires match the color coding on the jacks for both ends of the wire and you shouldn't have any problems as long as the wires are firmly punched down into the slots. You don't really need the tool for a single installation since you can push the wires in place with a credit card or something similar that is thin and sturdy, but the tool does make it a little bit easier.

 

[rednal]

Can you reccomend a good tutorial for this? Also, how can I tell if doing this is possible with the phone port in my room?

 

[Engineer]

Powerline networking is very dependent on the power lines. If you aren't on the same power circuit, the connection has to (try to) go through the circuit breaker and that frequently doesn't work well if it works at all. If the wiring is old or sub-standard, the connection won't work.

If the phone plug in you room is wired with CAT5/5e cable, then you can probably use it as an ethernet connection by changing the port plug/panel from RJ11 to RJ45 (just re-wire the ends).

The bigger problem with powerline networking usually results from one adapter being on one 110V connection and the other one being on the other 110V connection in the home. Breakers have very little effect on the connection, but distance may.

If they are on opposite sides of the 220V mains (i.e. the 2 -110V to neutral connections), they will have to find a bridge to each other. I have read that you can install a small, bandpass filter (sometimes as easy as a capacitor) across the two 110V circuits in the breaker box and actually fix this issue. The value of the capacitor would depend on the frequency of the networking adapter.

Oh, and to test this, you can turn on a resistive 220V source (oven, dryer) and see if the connection speed improves as the signal now will bridge the 220V elements of those devices (not without some interference though).