Tech Tip: Powerline

Have you tried watching Netflix on the other side of your house only to not be able to connect to your WiFi? Maybe you were able to connect only to lose the connection. Perhaps you’re a gamer and you’ve experienced lag that ruined your gaming experience. As long as you have an available outlet near your router and one available near the device you’re trying to use to access the internet then I may have a solution for you. Powerline require two adapters hence the need for two available outlets. Powerlines use the electrical wiring in your house instead of running network cables behind walls or through your attic. If you decide to give Powerline a chance keep in mind that you’ll want to avoid plugging the adapter into a power strip or surge protector because this can interfere with the connection.
Currently Powerlines are able to reach a maximum of 600Mbps. Keep in mind that means megabits not megabytes. If you divide the 600Mpbs by 8 you’ll get your MB’s. You should be able to reach a maximum of 75 MBps. This all depends on a number of variables such as your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Another major factor that I personally experimented with is the “noise interference”. If you have major appliances running while you’re using your Powerline you can experience a decrease in speeds. I went from an 8 millisecond ping time to a 32 millisecond ping time while my girlfriend was running the dryer. This probably won’t matter to those of you that are just streaming videos or shows but to gamers ping time is important. Download speeds went from 40 Mpbs to 22 Mpbs. If you’re trying to download music or more importantly a video game or movie this could be an issue. Fortunately for me we don’t seem to use any major appliance while I’m doing any major downloading or uploading. Also keep in mind that the closer you are to the main Powerline the better your speeds will be.