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Comment by nly | Hacker News Reader

I use a set of G.hn ethernet over powerline adapters in my (small, rented 2 bed) flat. I can get 200 Mbps with no latency, packet loss or drop outs from the modem in the living room to the office upstairs.

This is a distance of about 10 meters with 2 brick Victorian internal walls in-between. No matter how much you spend on WiFi equipment you can't get more than 20 Mbps with high packet loss here.

Even downstairs, with no walls to worry about, only 5 Ghz is usable. 2.4 GHz is completely occupied by neighbours, and the lower 5 Ghz channels are all crowded out because of compatibility too.

I hate WiFi with a passion.

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I hate high rate data links over power lines. Power lines are not impedance controlled. At every bend, every approach to some metal in the building, they are going to radiate interference and accept/receive interference from their environment. Using powerline networking is irresponsible and rude. The fact that any are approved by the FCC at all is entirely due to contrived testing setups that are never replicated in real building wiring.

If you use real transmission line like ethernet cable (~70 ohm twisted pairs) or coax the impedance remains constant and they might even have a bit of shielding. You'll get faster, more reliable speeds and pollute the radio spectrum significantly less.

Sometimes you can't do that if you don't own the tenement you're living in.

That doesn't prevent you from running cable along the walls and under/over doors.

- It's fiddly and ugly compared to hidden cables. I wouldn't do that in my own home, I'd run them in the walls.

- It's disruptive and time consuming. It would likely take me a whole day

- I don't see why I should invest further in improving the property when I will likely move out in 1-2 years time and won't reap the long-term benefits. I've done that already in other areas.

- It's hassle. My landlord could protest that I've done a shitty job when I move out, or, even if I haven't, make me remove it.

- I need multiple WiFi adapters anyway to cover both upstairs and downstairs effectively.

- It's not as flexible (in terms of moving things around) as plugging an adapter in to any electrical outlet.

- I needed a quick solution when I moved in so I could work.

Because ethically you're almost certainly negatively affecting the people around you and legally you're almost certainly violating part 15.

You're both breaking the law and being an asshole for aesthetics and your convenience. That's why.

I'm not in the US.

Your country almost certainly has rules about emissions in the HF frequency ranges too. Even milliwatts of radiated interference at these low frequencies will bounce around the world and interfere with everyone.

Mind sharing which adapters you are using? WiFi works for my situation at the moment but would be useful to know in case I need an upgrade.

I have four adapters in my house, I have one TL-WPA7510 and three TL-PA7010. They are sold as pairs so when I wanted the version with an access point built-in, I had to buy another wired version. But, you can add them individually to an already existing network. The Homeplug protocol is a standard so as long as you buy the right versions, you get max performance. These things are great. I have one in the basement for the Verizon router to plug into, one on the second floor for my PS4, the AP version behind the 4K TV in the family room, and another at a desk in the guest room. The Verizon router has a lot of interference nearby so quality is poor in some spots in the house. Quality is good, it sometimes reaches gigabit speeds but it's way more robust than wifi extenders. The apartment I lived in previously was built like a brick shithouse so wifi dropped off pretty fast once you got to the other end.

These: https://www.devolo.co.uk/magic-2-wifi-next

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