Making Powerlines Work Properly

'My broadband is rubbish!'

I hear that all the time. It's probably not their broadband, it's the problem of getting the broadband signal to all your devices! I could bore you to tears with hours of technical jargon about Wi-Fi but quite frankly, the quickest and easiest way to fix the problem is usually to pop in a powerline adapter. Yesterday I went to see clients who said they had already done this and they didn't work. Within one hour we had the maximum 22Mbps download speed they were getting from their router from the Wi-Fi all over the house. All it took was a bit of experimentation and a couple of top tips.

1. Powerlines work best when they are plugged in directly to a mains socket.

2. Powerlines never work when they are plugged into a surge protected mains adapter.

3. Powerlines can be flaky when they are plugged into a socket next to an old-fashioned iron core transformer.

4. The Wi-Fi signal from powerlines can be completely overwhelmed by a mobile phone signal booster. Just move the mobile phone signal booster 1 m away and they will both work so much better!

5. Test the results with each change with the Ookla Speedtest app on your phone.

To get this customers system working we just rearranged all the plugs by the TV. The powerline was plugged in to one of the two sockets that were available. The mains extension lead was plugged into the other. We then made sure the mobile phone signal booster was as far away as possible.

It was a big old Victorian house and nothing would make its way through the central stack the containing the scullery and the toilet. We popped another powerline Wi-Fi adapter in the lounge and that sorted the other side of the house out.

If you need any more help and advice then please let me know.