Power line connectors

[haramo]

Dear

I experience a long time connection problems( WIFI). Even those who lived before in this rented house, complained about bad WIFI.

I know many things can be the cause but I want to first try something out (see below)

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current setup of network:

3 power line connectors without a buil in outlet are used.

modem/router in basement (from ISP, router functionality active, wifi disabled). Networkcable in lan port and goes to the 2nd floor in the house , the cable in hidden in the wall (I think in a tube with other cables maybe).

A power line connector is connected in the plug at 2nd floor and the internetcable that comes from the basement is plugged into it.


2 other power line connectors : one in the ground floor and one in the 1st floor.

at ground floor: a acces point (Cisco wap 200 wireless-G ACCESS point with power over ethernet and rangebooster, the power over ethernet is not used) is connected with the power line connector.

at first floor: a router (setup as bridge, Tplink tl-wr841nd) is connected to the other power line connector.

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what I want to do is to eliminate the cause, I think it's the cable that is hidden or because the first power line connector is at 2nd floor.

I heard that to long distance for a Power line connector is bad?
is this true?

and that only one lan port of modem/router in basement is used to handle the tp link and cisco, can that be a cause of fallouts?

At this moment it's impossible to drill in the house (rented), that's why I want to test out with other power line connectors.

I will get other power line connectors with build in outlet. I know the speed will be less fast then a PLC without outlet but if the fallouts stops, I'm happy.

Reason I have to get these with build in outlet is because lack of enough wall outlets in first floor. But I can borrow them to test so no cost at this moment.

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new setup:

I will use 4 PLC's

I want to use 2 lans on the ISPs modem/router in the basement, I hope I will have two wall outlets, or can I plug the second PLC in the build in outlet on the first PLC?

Then how can I setup the pair of PLC's? I want the plc on lan 1 only to communicate with plc on ground floor, and plc on lan2 only communicate with plc on firs floor. Is this possible?


If I cannot find a second wall outlet in the basement, then I will have to try it with only one lan port used. then I only need 3 PLC's with build in outlet.

Can someone confirm that using 1 lan port and letting the tplink and cisco communicate to this one port is not a problem?

Or maybe I have to disable the router functionality on the ISP modem/router and let the tp link do the work? because maybe the ISP MODEM/ROUTER cannot handle the traffic on one lan?

Please can someone help , as I get tired of this.

 

[sdifox]

how big is the house and are all your devices wireless? you should be able to just bridge one ap from the isp modem to first floor using the ethernet cable and cover the whole house with the cisco. pay attention to antenna orientation.

If you need ethernet conectivity, try using just one pair of the ethernet over power adapters and make sure they are on the same phase of your power.

you can also setup wifi bridges if necesary. I suspect having the ap on first floor and properly located for coverage should be sufficient.

 

[haramo]

how big is the house and are all your devices wireless?

4 levels, all clients (laptops, mac, ipad, smartphones, printer) connect wirelles to cisco Access Point or to tp link. But they all receive an ipadres from the ISP modem/router.

See diagram for the setup at this moment:

http://www.gliffy.com/go/publish/image/8801597/L.png

you should be able to just bridge one ap from the isp modem to first floor using the ethernet cable and cover the whole house with the cisco. pay attention to antenna orientation.

at this moment it is not possible to drill a whole in the groundfloor (basement beneath it) to connect Access Point( AP, is this what you meant when you used ap?). I first want to try a solution without drilling. if really needed, I wil ask the landlord but rather not. and the internetcable that is already installed, goes to the second floor.

As there are rooms for the children, we don't want put any wifi device at that floor. the internetcable that comes from the basement and goes to the 2nd floor, is imbedded in the wall.

If you need ethernet conectivity, try using just one pair of the ethernet over power adapters and make sure they are on the same phase of your power.

so you advice to use only one pair, three is too much? are they interfering? wifi does not cover whole first floor and ground floor. This is the first thing I tried out: tp link in 2nd floor, with only the plc on 2nd floor and the plc on 1st floor plugged.

you can also setup wifi bridges if necesary. I suspect having the ap on first floor and properly located for coverage should be sufficient.

what are wifi bridges? so I enable back the wifi on the modem/router in the basement, then somehow make a wifi bridge with the cisco at first floor? then the cisco with the tp link? hmm I feel I will lose speed if I make those devices connect with wifi to eachother.

 

[sdifox]

4 levels, all clients (laptops, mac, ipad, smartphones, printer) connect wirelles to cisco Access Point or to tp link. But they all receive an ipadres from the ISP modem/router.

See diagram for the setup at this moment:

http://www.gliffy.com/go/publish/image/8801597/L.png




at this moment it is not possible to drill a whole in the groundfloor (basement beneath it) to connect Access Point( AP, is this what you meant when you used ap?). I first want to try a solution without drilling. if really needed, I wil ask the landlord but rather not. and the internetcable that is already installed, goes to the second floor.

As there are rooms for the children, we don't want put any wifi device at that floor. the internetcable that comes from the basement and goes to the 2nd floor, is imbedded in the wall.




so you advice to use only one pair, three is too much? are they interfering? wifi does not cover whole first floor and ground floor. This is the first thing I tried out: tp link in 2nd floor, with only the plc on 2nd floor and the plc on 1st floor plugged.



what are wifi bridges? so I enable back the wifi on the modem/router in the basement, then somehow make a wifi bridge with the cisco at first floor? then the cisco with the tp link? hmm I feel I will lose speed if I make those devices connect with wifi to eachother.

I am confused. You have an ethernet cable to the second floor no? If so why are you using plc with that cable?

wifi bridge is exactly what it sounds like, it connects two network sections wirelessly.

 

[haramo]

correct, the cable was already installed (build in the wall) by those who lived in this house first.

the plc is to transfer the signal to the first floor and ground floor (tp link and cisco).

as the 2nd floor are children rooms, we do not want to setup the tplink there, even if we do, it will not cover the ground floor.

 

[sdifox]

correct, the cable was already installed (build in the wall) by those who lived in this house first.

the plc is to transfer the signal to the first floor and ground floor (tp link and cisco).

as the 2nd floor are children rooms, we do not want to setup the tplink there, even if we do, it will not cover the ground floor.

why are you bothering with the plc on the second floor then? Just connect to first floor from basement no?

my wifi router is also in the basement but I get coverage on 2nd floor.


wait four levels. so you say basement, main, first and second?

 

[haramo]

it's a thick concrete floor, wifi signal will not even cover ground floor, certainly not 2nd floor.

But if you mean: why not put a plc in basement and then at first floor one, well that is want I want to do, but need to replace the PLC's for PLC's with build in outlet, as not enough wall outlet in basement.

 

[sdifox]

it's a thick concrete floor, wifi signal will not even cover ground floor, certainly not 2nd floor.

But if you mean: why not put a plc in basement and then at first floor one, well that is want I want to do, but need to replace the PLC's for PLC's with build in outlet, as not enough wall outlet in basement.

try with just one to ground floor, setup ciscothere and see how wifi fares.

 

[haramo]

I'm not sure if only the Cisco on ground floor will provide wifi for ground and first floor,but will give it a try once I have the PLC's with build in outlet.

 

[sdifox]

I'm not sure if only the Cisco on ground floor will provide wifi for ground and first floor,but will give it a try once I have the PLC's with build in outlet.

Should be able to try with what you have no?

 

[haramo]

There is no empty wall outlet in the basement. So I must first get a Pair of PLC's with build in outlet.

 

[haramo]

I'm going to try out with the marmitek iptv plc 650

it should work better on long distances.

the PLC's that are used are: tp link av500 mini powerline adapter (TL-PA411 version 1.2 )

I think the marmitek are better no? it has smartlink (same as MIMO I think?)

I will not use the cable that goes to 2nd floor. as these marmitek have a build in outlet, I can plug it in the basement where the ISP modem/router is.

then like you said, will give it a try : PLC on ground floor connected with the cisco AP.

See if this will give wifi everywhere (espeically also 1st floor).

But I doubt it.

If not enough wifi signal arrount the house I just have to connect a 3rd PLC at 1st floor? no settings to do?

I will then connect the tp lnk (bridged) to it. so this one can provide wifi for 1st floor.

I still don't know if the ISP modem/router will be capable of handling all the traffic (all laptops, tablet, smartphones, printer, mac) that enters only one LAN port?.

Another question:
If I use a plc with wifi build in, with this work better?

 

[Mushkins]

I feel like this would be a whole lot simpler and easier if you scrapped the PLCs and just used wireless access points.

Put one in the basement directly plugged into the modem/router. This should cover the basement and ground floors even with a concrete floor. Put another up on the second floor using that ethernet cable that's already there, this will easily cover the first and second floors. Dollars to donuts that's how the previous tenant was doing it.

 

[sdifox]

I'm going to try out with the marmitek iptv plc 650

it should work better on long distances.

the PLC's that are used are: tp link av500 mini powerline adapter (TL-PA411 version 1.2 )

I think the marmitek are better no? it has smartlink (same as MIMO I think?)

I will not use the cable that goes to 2nd floor. as these marmitek have a build in outlet, I can plug it in the basement where the ISP modem/router is.

then like you said, will give it a try : PLC on ground floor connected with the cisco AP.

See if this will give wifi everywhere (espeically also 1st floor).

But I doubt it.

If not enough wifi signal arrount the house I just have to connect a 3rd PLC at 1st floor? no settings to do?

I will then connect the tp lnk (bridged) to it. so this one can provide wifi for 1st floor.

I still don't know if the ISP modem/router will be capable of handling all the traffic (all laptops, tablet, smartphones, printer, mac) that enters only one LAN port?.

Another question:
If I use a plc with wifi build in, with this work better?

what makes you think you are overwhelming the modem/router?

 

[haramo]

Because only 1 lan port is doing the job. Normally one lam port is for one pc, other lan port is for another laptop, .... .

 

[sdifox]

Because only 1 lan port is doing the job. Normally one lam port is for one pc, other lan port is for another laptop, .... .

what speed is the internet service you have? unless you have gigabit service to your house, I doubt you are saturating your plc link.

usually when you use the plcs you set them up as mesh and not distinct pipes since they are running on the same physical medium. I am not sure you can run two pairs as distinctlinks.