In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

DON’T do the powerline thing .... it’s a recipe for disaster.

Well I already do the powerline thing, so I reckon the 75mb upload won't be a problem, but it's hard finding any evidence of people using it successfully for fast download speeds, so that may suffer, and if so I'll be considering my options.

In reply to a post by Banger:

If you have the TT hub you can set the Asus up as a wifi repeater and use that for all your devices. I was getting 500-700mbps link speed between the two routers on 5ghz from downstairs to upstairs.

You know, this might not be a bad idea. My main goal was to setup remote gaming (from my pc) and remote access to my files (from my router/HD). However I've been able to successfully remote game (away from home) with great performance and quality on my current 17mb upload (through powerlink adapters) set at a 15mb bitrate.

So my only concern by going wifi instead of ethernet or powerline was the increase in latency. But tbh now I'm thinking of it, it might not be a big problem. I mostly want to play single player games, and I believe a ping of 80ms is the maximum I can have, so I'm assuming it could be doable.

Any idea what your link speed ping is (just between the routers)?

In reply to a post by burble:

Have you had initial survey? I 'signed' with TTB on 22nd, on 24th OR engineer came for initial survey, I was quite surprised how quick it was organised.

No they were meant to come in a couple of days but never did. What did the initial survey entail? Could you ask about placement?

I did ring up Talktalk, as we have had 0 email confirmation on the order. I did ask about the initial survey, but the guy couldn't get through as openreach were closed (it was bank holiday Monday), and told me to ring tomorrow, but I didn't bother. But he did confirm I am booked in for the 28th.


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My plan is to ask the engineer if he could put the entry point under my stairs, if not and he has to install it where my current landline is, then my testing will go like this.

Test powerline speeds.
Test WiFi speeds.
Test router linked WiFi speeds.

I'm hoping the 5GHz will be fine. However if the speeds are poor (which I don't think they will be), I will buy a 15m ethernet cable, run it around my room (most of it goes behind sofas and tv), then there's a 3m gap where I will need to hide the cable under the carpet. Now I've never had to do this before and it's new carpet so I don't want to mess it up. But I've done a small trial run and it doesn't seem that bad (pliers, crowbar). However the tricky bit is the carpet isn't one straight line, but goes in to meet the tiles in my kitchen.

While I'm confident I can probably do this without ruining the carpet, it's not ideal, and the wifi repeater idea doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Ok I've just tried to lift up the carpet and put it back near the kitchen tiles, didn't go bad at all. I'll probably go this route if I can't get it installed under my stairs. But I'll test my cable out before putting it under the carpet, just to make sure it's working normally before I do all that work.

Powerline will be inferior to 5GHz WiFi from a reliable throughout and latency/jitter perspective.

Where I've had to do powerline, I've done it through gritted teeth. The promise is never as good as the reality and especially so in the good old UK due to the way domestic wiring is typically done here.

In reply to a post by mannypee:

In reply to a post by burble:

Have you had initial survey? I 'signed' with TTB on 22nd, on 24th OR engineer came for initial survey, I was quite surprised how quick it was organised.

No they were meant to come in a couple of days but never did. What did the initial survey entail? Could you ask about placement?

I did ring up Talktalk, as we have had 0 email confirmation on the order. I did ask about the initial survey, but the guy couldn't get through as openreach were closed (it was bank holiday Monday), and told me to ring tomorrow, but I didn't bother. But he did confirm I am booked in for the 28th.

In our case we were told there would be an initial survey and we didn't need to be home. Very surprised to see him 48hrs later on Christmas eve.
As it was the OR person saw the pole had 'no climb', so knew to order van with hoist, then he could see from pole to house was clear, as we had unlocked the gates he 'wheeled' from pole to house to check distance. Didn't discuss anything in house as it's going in where the present line goes. I'm surprised he didn't have a laser measure.

Any idea what your link speed ping is (just between the routers)?

Date, DL Speed, UL Speed (not tested so -1), Ping to BBC in ms
24/12/2020 01:23,59976,-1,8,
24/12/2020 02:23,56085,-1,27
24/12/2020 03:23,56836,-1,51
24/12/2020 04:23,57149,-1,11
24/12/2020 05:23,57079,-1,11
24/12/2020 06:23,57472,-1,12
24/12/2020 07:23,55614,-1,20
24/12/2020 08:23,60287,-1,8

Above is a record of when I was using repeater mode, normal wired ping is 8ms starting 01:23 so looks like average extra time added between routers is 3ms.

Hey guys thanks for all the replies, they’re really helpful.

But I have to tell you the strangest story which happened to me yesterday/early hours of this morning, this is 100% true and completely bizarre.

So I wake up and all my devices are off. No tripped switches, the extension lead went, well it was a special one I had for like 6 years now with a car battery in it, 4 plugs normal extension lead, 4 plugs run on backup power, the backup power plugs are the ones that stopped working completely. So I chucked it, went to bnm and got a 10 socket extension cable, and plugged everything back in.

Now later on, around 7pm I’m streaming/playing games to my iPad from my PC. Usually get 120mbs no problem. Take a break for a few hours, and think hell it’s Sunday, let’s have another go around 11pm. The streaming is dropping out like crazy. I tell my wife to get off the WiFi, still dropping out like crazy. Use steam link network test, see massive dropouts I can’t explain. Start doing WiFi diagnostics, no interfering channels (I had set this up previously), and tried all sorts of channels and settings to no avail to fix the problem. Now I do a normal Speedtest, and I’m only getting around 30mb Internet speed, which should easily be full speed (around 62mb) on 5ghz WiFi as I get 120mb streaming locally, so it seems like my WiFi was working at around 30mb with constant drop outs. I re-enabled the 2.4ghz band, experienced the exact same problem with speed. Then I thought let me test the connection right next to the WiFi (as I was testing it from the room above, my bedroom where I stream my games to), and I was getting the exact same speeds and dropouts! It didn’t matter how close I was, it was truest bizarre that the exact same thing was happening with both bands. Then I tried adding a power line into my bedroom wall and connect my iPad via an Ethernet adapter, and was getting a smooth connection up to 100mb, so wired connection was completely fine.

So at this point I think I burnt out my brand new ASUS routers WiFi from playing games a couple of hours earlier at 120mbs. But I think cause the power line Ethernet connection to my bedroom is working 100mb, I’ll get the official talktalk router out of the garage, plug it into the power line upstairs and use that WiFi. So I do just that, get the talktalk router, disable dhcp, put it on a fixed IP, make sure the channels aren’t contflicting with my current router or the neighbours.

And here is the most absolute bizarre thing. It suffered from exactly the same problem! Max 30mbps, dropouts, the exact same problem, and it was right next to my bed. I even turned off my ASUS WiFi, still same problems. Tried both bands, still same problem. Done all sorts, I couldn’t fix it. And remember the Ethernet through powerline was getting me a smooth 100mbps, so the speed should be there, but both bands were completely interrupted.

Then I did a factory reset on the talktalk router, put it down stairs replacing my ASUS, and still the exact same problems. At this point I’ve pretty much given up, and am looking to return my ASUS router and get an even more powerful one. After half an hour doing this, it’s really late 4am, I’m in bed, give the speed test another try, and all of a sudden it’s working normally again. I’m actually getting better speeds than before 150mbits streaming (no dropouts), and full internet speeds, but this is because I discovered a new channel for better signal earlier when testing. Then I remove my talktalk router and put the ASUs router back in, both WiFi bands are working as they should normally, and I disable to 2.4ghz again.

The whole thing is totally bizarre because nothing I did, changing settings, changing channels (including non dfs channels), changing distance, adjusting the attennas, changing routers, all resulted in a capped 30mbits with major drop outs (and I’m talking about lan here, not wan).

So for some reason there was major interference with my WiFi (and no appliances were running either). Oh and my cat decided to sleep in the bathroom during this time (the most insulated place in the house tiled walls/floors), so I wonder if he felt something.

Anyway I just had to share this bizarre experience, not sure what anyone else could make of this. I’m just glad I don’t have to return my router lol.

Edited by deleted (Sun 03-Jan-21 16:09:17)

Sounds like your WiFi was picking up some quite severe noise/interference. The actual source of the interference could be just about anything. If it becomes a recurring thing, might need a bit of further investigation.

In reply to a post by mannypee:

So for some reason there was major interference with my WiFi (and no appliances were running either).

You can have interference on WiFi that does not show up on a "WiFI channel checker" because the interference itself is not a WiFi signal. E.g. it could be a neighbour with a faulty microwave, or some industrial machinery nearby, or even an airport.

The bands used by WiFi are not exclusive to WiFi, they can be used by other "unlicensed" users.

In reply to a post by Banger:

Any idea what your link speed ping is (just between the routers)?

Date, DL Speed, UL Speed (not tested so -1), Ping to BBC in ms
24/12/2020 01:23,59976,-1,8,
24/12/2020 02:23,56085,-1,27
24/12/2020 03:23,56836,-1,51
24/12/2020 04:23,57149,-1,11
24/12/2020 05:23,57079,-1,11
24/12/2020 06:23,57472,-1,12
24/12/2020 07:23,55614,-1,20
24/12/2020 08:23,60287,-1,8

Above is a record of when I was using repeater mode, normal wired ping is 8ms starting 01:23 so looks like average extra time added between routers is 3ms.

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to get me these results, I really appreciate it.

This idea was a brilliant, until I had that problem that occurred once. Well today it just occurred again just now around 7pm. Constant dropout speeds, only getting 21mb max. So I will have to go a hard wired route regardless now.

These drop out speeds wouldn’t be so much of a problem for streaming videos I doubt, but for streaming games to my iPad, I need a good 5GHz connection, which most of the time it works fine, when all of a sudden it doesn’t.

So I doubt I’ll ever be able to fix this, because it seems to be a strong interference from somewhere else. I do live near an industrial estate, but can’t see any businesses on there that would interfere, but regardless it’s out of my hands now.

Anyway 24 days to go until the engineer comes, though I still haven’t had an initial survey that I know of.

Edited by deleted (Mon 04-Jan-21 19:26:36)

Wired is always best.