Unstable Powerlink with non-reproducable, irratic outages and throughput reductions
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Hi,
I built a new study in the basement over last winter, with an entire new, professionally installed circuit that runs the study and an adjacent bathroom. After initial troubles (I could not have the receiving unit on an outlet that runs my PC, light etc.), the PowerLink network has worked just fine. Occasional hiccups, but restarts are helpful.
Our internet setup works like this: We receive internet through an optical antennae on our outside wall, connected to a router (slave) that, via an ethernet cable to the opposite site of the room, feeds The Glorious Everything into a TP Link sending unit. This is on circuit 4 from 1968. It comes out on circuit 14 from 2019. My PC is an older stationary gaming PC connected to the TP Link receiving unit by ethernet cable. We live out in the middle of nowhere, so contrary to the rest of Norway, our internet speed sucks to begin with - we might expect 20ms ping, 10MBit/s down, 4Mbit/s up.
Since it started getting cold though, issues have arrived. I have a little heater in the study, that will completely block internet access via the powerline adapter when in use. Which outlet I use doesn't matter. So I unplug it to use my work (WiFI) and gaming PCs (ethernet). The thing is, sometimes, I don't get my internet back when I unplug the heater. I restart the entire system, to no avail. Other times, it works the instant I unplug the heater (rarely), or after I restart both circuits with a few minutes waiting period (sometimes). Most of the time though, I still have barely any internet access, or none at all. Typically, after a PC restart, I will have some access, but it disintegrates quickly.
There is another huge power consumer on circuit 14, an 800W floor heater in the adjacent bathroom. But even if I turn that one off (and it has been on during all summer, too, see: basement), it produces absolutely no result whatsoever for my internet access. Nothing else except for the PC, only turned on after I restart the entire system, uses this circuit.
Sorry for many words, but I struggle to get reproduceable results and I am totally baffled as to why this works (occasionally) or not (recently; most of the time). It reduces my productivity and I don't get to play. This sucks. Every single bit of advice is highly appreciated, as this forum post is an act of despair...
My worst measurement bar a sudden loss of connection:
What I can expect, consistently, on the basement network on a good day:
@Tony thank you for your reply, even though it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.
Please realize that traversing circuits is not a problem per se here, as I can achieve the maximum throughput we pay for if the stars align:
So I wouldn't need to test an optimum configuration, as the system occasionally achieves that in the current setup.
The problem is more that it is erratically, unpredictably, unreproducably unstable. Today, I went to the office, proper. Coming home I eventually went to my study to play. A speedtest revealed top values, even slightly better than the above screenshot. In-game though, I struggle with a ping of 300-1200 ms, it is literally unplayable, no pun intended.
Every bit of advice I have gotten, manual included, says that extension cords are not a viable alternative - and even if I try, it is highly impractical. Am I supposed to have my door open, and have cable lying around here all winter, possibly indefinitely? No, that's not a good solution. I am really hoping for a procedure or piece of advice that could offer a solution here. Putting a 50m through three stories of our house is a way too cumbersome fix.
