Powerline adaptor question

I'm moving over to BT Infinity 2 in a couple of days and the wife wants BT TV as well. However the TV is located about as far away as it can be from the router. TV in the lounge and router in upstairs back room.
Powerline adaptors for the TV Box seem the obvious solution.
My question is, will these work as like most houses there is a ring main for upstairs and one for downstairs however both use the same consumer unit.
I've looked around the internet for answers but am getting conflicting views.

Can anyone here give me a definitive answer?

Edited by DooGie (Wed 14-May-14 20:16:47)

In reply to a post by DooGie:

Can anyone here give me a definitive answer?

The only definitive answer is given by what happens when you try it- if it works then it works, if it doesn't then it doesn't

It's not normally recommended to use them between different rings, but I've used them that way on numerous occasions with no problem. They don't run at maximum speed, but plenty fast enough to stream HD TV.

Cheers Bill, that's what I wanted to hear

Bear in mind- I'm not guaranteeing anything except that it works for me!

In reply to a post by billford:

Bear in mind- I'm not guaranteeing anything except that it works for me!

Yes I realise that Bill but at least it gives me some hope.

Works on separate rings here as well.

In reply to a post by DooGie:

I'm moving over to BT Infinity 2 in a couple of days and the wife wants BT TV as well. However the TV is located about as far away as it can be from the router. TV in the lounge and router in upstairs back room.
Powerline adaptors for the TV Box seem the obvious solution.
My question is, will these work as like most houses there is a ring main for upstairs and one for downstairs however both use the same consumer unit.
I've looked around the internet for answers but am getting conflicting views.

Can anyone here give me a definitive answer?

Mine works fine in this way i have BT TV my router is in my bedroom i have 1 youview (BT branded one) box in my bedroom directly in the router and i have a talktalk branded one in the living room on the home plug, we have separate rings and the home plug in the living room is even on a 8 way gang extension so not the ideal set up at all yet it can still play the HD IP channels flawlessly and if your wondering both boxes work perfectly together and at the same time free multi room really is nice compared to skys £11.25 per extra box lol .

Ash

Can you get the bt tv content on the talktalk youview box? Been looking at getting a youview to replace my bt vision box ( I have this and a bt youview, it works as the unofficial multi room solution but the youview platform is much better than bt vision .

yes all IP channels / BT on-demand work perfectly and to boot the box only cost me £30 from the local cash generator store lol, I bought the TT youview box as a standard FV HD PVR for a different TV while i still had sky so already had the box, Sky started to get too expensive as we dont use it as much and basically BT TV fits the channels we do use but at the fraction of the cost so i placed an order got all set up to my delight when i moved the TT YV box from my sky connection to my BT one it updated and re branded its self as a BT YV box and all things started to work except recording unfortunately TT still control the updates for the box and TT have not enabled this on their boxes yet thought apparently its coming soon

Ash

I use TP-Link 200Mbps units. Can't fault them, but the speed you get depends on the distance the signal travels over your home wiring and whether the adapters are on a ring main, rather than spurs. If your home office is in a shed at the bottom of the garden then the output speed can be very disappointing and effectively unusable. It really does make a difference to performance if plugged directly into the wall socket.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

It really does make a difference to performance if plugged directly into the wall socket.

That's certainly true, but for the usual sort of extension a couple of metres long the effect is slight in my experience.

The real killers are the extensions designed for computer use with a built-in mains filter; you can use those OR you can use powerline adaptors, but not both!

(Note that surge protectors are usually OK, they work differently)

As Billford suggests, the only definitive answer is MAYBE!

I know one location where they work between ring 1 and ring 2 but ring 2 to ring 3 does not!

Personally, I would install a single Cat5e run from router to TV. Infrastructure cable can be reasonably well hidden in the gap between carpet and skirting board - take a little time and one in you will never know it is there. Or run external Cat5e round the house on the outside.

Are there really two ring mains, or is it just the lighting circuits that are separate?

That is absolutely standard
In fact I have three ring mains - upstairs/downstairs and kitchen plus the usual spurs (immersion heater, cooker and garage

Edited by Oldjim (Thu 15-May-14 14:43:21)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Are there really two ring mains, or is it just the lighting circuits that are separate?

Yes Roberto, most houses are wired like that. One ring for upstairs and another ring for downstairs. Also seperate upstairs and downstairs lighting circuits.

One piece of advice is to buy from an outlet which allows you to return items if they do not work satisfactorily. Amazon is one such and Argos allows you to return many items

I say this because I tried more than one make of Powerline before I got a good result with Devolo. Two other makes just did not work at all

However I'm sure you'll find a good result with one consumer unit and plugging directly in to a wall plug

First I'll try the BT ones as not requesting them from BT was an oversight on my part and it's less than 30 days since I placed my order for Infinity 2.
I may be lucky and the OR engineer may have a couple in his van when he comes to do the installation tomorrow. If not I'll give BT a ring and ask them to supply me with a pair foc.

I run the BT ones, from the ground floor to the 2nd floor and can't tell the difference on speed tests on here. They are very impressive! Got the ones with the wireless access point so now got wireless cover upstairs that was very poor before.

If bt infinity and bt tv are to be setup on the same day, the engineer has a 'while we were there' appointment to hard wire the bt tv box to the router . Bt no lnonger supply powerline adapters foc on any order, they are chargeable.

Only 3!

I have two primary rings on the ground floor and two on the first. Then my kitchen has two of it's own - one for appliances and one "above worktop". Add to that the Comms Room ring, another that feeds the utility/store rooms, another for Hifi/AV equipment, an "Outdoor" supplying three weatherproof points outside and a switched Economy10 ring. Then there are the additional radials for cooker, fridge, immersion heater, aircon &c. There are two 16-way and one 4-way consumer units!

I didn't include the various electrical heating rings because that would have confused things
I have eight of those

Are they not spurs or radials? You wouldnt have 8 rings for heating and there wouldnt be any point. Rings are used to spread the load.

You are of course correct - they are indeed radials

Mine built in the late 60's doesn't, and I've never heard of it except in flat conversions . I'll take everybody's word for it - at least for more modern buildings .

Well the OR engineer arrived at 8:00 AM this morning and when I asked about powerline adaptors he said that they were not allowed to fit them anymore as there had been too many problems with them due to the way ring mains are set up. Maybe true, maybe he was just making an excuse.
He set the router up, don't see why you need a home visit for that, a self install would only have taken a couple of minutes. So for now I can't use BT TV.
I'll possibly give BT a ring and see if they'll let me have a pair of PAs foc. Failing that you can get the BT ones on Amazon for around £19 a pair so maybe I'll just do that, makes it easy to return them if it doesn't work.
As for the FTTC connection, it's good

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/14002...

In reply to a post by DooGie:

Well the OR engineer arrived at 8:00 AM this morning and when I asked about powerline adaptors he said that they were not allowed to fit them anymore as there had been too many problems with them due to the way ring mains are set up. Maybe true, maybe he was just making an excuse.

The OR Engineer is part of the Wholesale are of BT, effectively act as a sub-contractor to BT Retail. As a sub-contractor, they are ONLY there to set up the Fibre connection.

Since the Powerline adaptors would be supplied direct from BT Retail, I would have been very surprised if OR would have fitted them!

I think your OR Engineer was telling "porkies"!

As a matter of interest I use the Devolo 200 series across 2 different Ring-Mains & I've never had any problems with them & I normally get in excess of 100M speed across my internal network.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Are there really two ring mains, or is it just the lighting circuits that are separate?

My house (built in the mid-70s) has 2-off Ring-Mains & 2-off Lighting Circuits.

Bizarrely, whilst the Lighting is split on an upstairs/downstairs basis, the Rings are split on a Front/Back basis!

In reply to a post by johnjburness:

My house (built in the mid-70s) has 2-off Ring-Mains & 2-off Lighting Circuits.

Bizarrely, whilst the Lighting is split on an upstairs/downstairs basis, the Rings are split on a Front/Back basis!

Sounds similar to mine (late 80's), except that the rings are (more or less) on a north-south basis

There's a third ring for the kitchen too.

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by johnjburness:

My house (built in the mid-70s) has 2-off Ring-Mains & 2-off Lighting Circuits.

Bizarrely, whilst the Lighting is split on an upstairs/downstairs basis, the Rings are split on a Front/Back basis!

Sounds similar to mine (late 80's), except that the rings are (more or less) on a north-south basis

There's a third ring for the kitchen too.

This thread seems to have started to go round in circles...

[/ducks rapidly and exits stage right!]

Just to confirm that the results from these plugs are impressive (I have Devolo) on the same ring but not so wonderful over two IMHA. My router is upstairs and all the bedrooms get >60Mbs (BT Infinity). Downstatairs 30 if I'm lucky, but fast enough I suppose. I found that the Home Hubs perform very differently over wireless depending on the channel you use and it might be worthwhile seeing if your TV responds better with a new wireless channel. You could fit a range booster/amplifier somewhere too.
The reason the engineers won't fit them is apparently because of security/safety issues (I have a friend who works for BT). Something about adjacent houses sharing supply cables which could mean that your internet connection is available/viewable next door.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

The reason the engineers won't fit them is apparently because of security/safety issues (I have a friend who works for BT). Something about adjacent houses sharing supply cables which could mean that your internet connection is available/viewable next door.

That's rubbish.

For a start adjacent houses don't share a power cable, they'll be on different phases. Only every third house shares a cable, and even then the signal has to go through two consumer units and two electricity meters in order to be even detected, never mind demodulated.

If that were the actual reason they don't supply them you have to wonder why they're so happy to provide wireless routers, which can certainly be picked up over much more than adjacent properties!

It's purely a cost-saving exercise.

An adjacent property on the same phase could in theory use the connection (not the same cable, of course). I agree that most configurations and ancient wiring make it unlikely. It has apparently been reported in a new build estate where the wiring is sparkling new and the properties are very close together. Then there is the question of radio interference which is another reason why they are not pushed out as much as before.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

An adjacent property on the same phase could in theory use the connection (not the same cable, of course). I agree that most configurations and ancient wiring make it unlikely. It has apparently been reported in a new build estate where the wiring is sparkling new and the properties are very close together.

Which is why the security methods in homeplug should be used, although not everyone does, they now generally come preconfigured if bought as pairs.

Then there is the question of radio interference which is another reason why they are not pushed out as much as before.

That has been a hot topic, mostly caused by the non-homeplug AV units that BT and others were fitting a long time ago. The AV spec (200 and 500) ones are apparently radically different, but I don't know any local radio amateurs to test/check with.

The reason the engineers won't fit them is apparently because of security/safety issues (I have a friend who works for BT). Something about adjacent houses sharing supply cables which could mean that your internet connection is available/viewable next door.

Is that why BT have branded thier own powerline adapters source http://www.ebuyer.com/620076-bt-200mbps-smart-powerl... and http://www.shop.bt.com/category/networking,network-d...

Edited by jamie543 (Mon 19-May-14 00:04:16)

To conclude this thread, I got a couple of BT 500 powerline adaptors, hooked them up and they are working perfectly.
Thanks for all the replies everyone, much appreciated

The only thing I need to check out is to try a bit of online gaming and see if I get lag from the wife watching TV.