Older powerline functions identically to modern Wi-Fi boosters
Older powerline functions identically to modern Wi-Fi boosters
I also owned an RE650 for a while. It offers a solid range extender for its price. Regarding your questions, could you clarify how your network is configured? The main issue for me was understanding device connections and the testing methods. You talked about powerline and a wireless range extender. Powerline typically doesn’t support wireless, and range extenders generally don’t provide Ethernet options. Did you run tests entirely over Wi-Fi or also use Ethernet, since I know the RE650 has a gigabit Ethernet port? Also, were your speed tests conducted via WAN (to a site like speedtest.net) or LAN (by moving files between devices)? If it was WAN, then your speed is limited by your ISP. If it was LAN, then the bottleneck might be on either the source or destination device, or both could be performing similarly.
Thanks for the update. Your setup is quite standard—router on the first floor and an extender on the second. The powerline adapter did provide a wireless extension, and I conducted tests using both Wi-Fi (via Ookla speed tests) and streaming YouTube videos. I skipped checking the Ethernet ports because the powerline only has a 100Mb port. I’m not sure what you meant by being limited by your ISP in option 1; based on my experience, connection strength should mainly depend on the Wi-Fi extender rather than the fixed ISP line.
It’s clear the fixed speeds from your ISP help identify areas with weaker signals and lower performance. However, they don’t fully evaluate how much faster or slower real-world speeds actually are beyond what your provider guarantees. For instance, if you’re on a 50/10 connection and tests show consistent 50Mb downloads and 10Mb uploads, you might assume equal performance. But when moving files between devices—like copying from laptop to NAS—the actual transfer rates can differ significantly (e.g., 10MB/s vs. 30MB/s). This gap highlights a real difference that could impact other applications even if it doesn’t affect your internet connection.