Using intermediate adapters as boosters

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Using intermediate adapters as boosters

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Using intermediate adapters as boosters
Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-09-26 00:17:40
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I've hunted everywhere for an answer to this question, but can't find one. I'm trying to connect two buildings which are on the same site and power grid using AV600 powerline ethernet adapters. The adapters do connect, but the red "poor signal" light is permanently on. The link is stable for about 90% of the time but there are occasional drop outs of a minute or two (perhaps once per hour).

There is a third building on the site, which houses the master power distribution board and is (in electrical terms) half way between the buildings I wish to connect. I can get a reliable "green light" connection between this building and both of the buildings I wish to connect. If I buy a third powerline adapter of a compatible type and pair it with the existing two adapters, will it act as a booster to improve the reliability of the connection between the other two adapters, or do the two original adapters have to be able to communicate directly?

If a single adapter can't operate as a booster, could I use two pairs of adapters with different network names (configured according to the instructions here: http://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-258.html) to relay the connection? The first pair of adapters would link the router to the intermediate building, while the second pair would link the intermediate building to the farthest building. The two adapters located at the intermediate point would be connected with an ethernet cable in order to relay the network traffic between the two power line networks.

There are a number of other points on the site which might be added to the network at some point in the future, but they are (with one exception) within range of the intermediate building.

There is very little money for this project which is why I'm looking at powerline ethernet, rather than running cables. We don't care to much about the speed of the connection, as long as it manages ~20Mbps and is stable that's good enough. Most of the traffic on the network will be going out via the site's ADSL line, there are no internal network services, or shared drives. An internet speed test run on the link from intermediate point to the router gave similar results to one run directly from the router, so the throughput looks good, the results from the "red light" link between the two buildings I wish to connect were also acceptable.
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-09-26 16:15:40
You could - in theory - erect two separate powerline networks, each with its own PLC adapter in that intermediate building, and bridge the two with a LAN cable.
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-09-26 17:27:56
Peter M, That's the "backup plan", but I was hoping that I could avoid this if it's only necessary for each adapter to be able to talk to one other adapter in the network. A traditionally wired lan can have multiple switches in the network, but it is not necessary for them all to be directly connected to each other, you can daisy chain them together and with the packets being passed along the chain until they reach their destination. So I suppose another way of putting the question is, does a single power line adapter work like a network switch, processing every packet it sees and passing on those that are for another adapter that is out of range of the original source.
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-09-27 00:31:26
" If I buy a third powerline adapter of a compatible type and pair it with the existing two adapters, will it act as a booster to improve the reliability of the connection between the other two adapters"

No.

" could I use two pairs of adapters with different network names (configured according to the instructions here: to relay the connection? "

Yes with a reduction in bandwidth if both are in use.
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-09-27 00:45:40

The Vogon wrote

"

" could I use two pairs of adapters with different network names (configured according to the instructions here: to relay the connection? "

Yes with a reduction in bandwidth if both are in use.


Ok, in which case that's probably what I'll do, the bandwidth reduction is of little consequence.
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-12-15 22:53:44
Interestingly I had a similar issue today inside a very old house - the link speed between the near and far (PA411) powerline adapters was reported at 22 Mbps, but only useable at around 2 Mbps.

The adapters are only around 16 metres apart. By fitting one half way between the two, pairing it, but not connecting anything to it, the link speed between the other two adapters increased to about 120 Mbps, and the useable speed increased to (at least) 20 Mbps (it may be more but that is the broadband speed).

From this I would deduce that the intermediate adapter is forwarding packets....

(It seems impossible to find out how they work from publicly available information)
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Re:Using intermediate adapters as boosters
2017-12-19 21:42:02
Thanks dereke, that's good to know!
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