The other, and perhaps simplest, choice is a powerline adapter, which does the same thing as a MoCA but using your electrical wiring system. For the curious minds out there, both of these adapters work thanks to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Very roughly speaking, OFDM lets a signal provider change the frequency it broadcasts on.
To get started with powerline, you need at least two adapters. You’ll connect one adapter to your router with an ethernet cable, and then plug it directly into a wall outlet. The other adapter plugs into an outlet near where you need internet access, and is connected to your device via another ethernet cable. Most starter kits include two adapters and two ethernet cables, making getting started with a basic point-to-point network simple. There are also adapters that create their own Wi-Fi network, but as we already covered, ethernet is more reliable.
So, how fast is powerline? You’ll see systems advertised with speeds anywhere from hundreds to thousands of megabits per second. Don’t expect to ever hit those maximums. Regardless of whether a product promises 400Mbps or 1,200Mbps speeds, your actual results will be capped by the wiring in your home.
To get the absolute best performance, all the outlets you’re using for powerline should be on the same breaker, and no appliances should be sharing that circuit. In that unicorn setup, you might expect reliable speeds of 600Mbps from a high-end adapter set. Things degrade further as the path for the signal gets more complex. If the adapters are on different breakers but the same side of your electrical panel, you might see speeds drop to 300Mbps, whereas if they’re going to a breaker on the opposite side of your panel, they could drop all the way down to 100Mbps.
The important thing to know about powerline is that other things plugged into outlets can introduce noise and interference to your wiring and mess with signals. If you have a powerline adapter plugged into the same duplex outlet as a blender, for example, your signal could cut out every time you use that appliance. And turning on major appliances like HVACs and dryers can seriously degrade performance, especially when your adapters are on different circuits. The further the signal has to travel, the more likely it is to be degraded by bad wiring or experience interference from appliances somewhere along the way. Older buildings with, let’s say, creative A/C grids might not be a good fit for this system at all.
With that said, many newer powerline models do a good job of canceling out the “noise” of your wiring, and the system as a whole has the bonus of taking advantage of a standard outlet, making it a good fit for more homes than MoCA. Regardless of your setup, keep in mind that complexity is the enemy of powerline, and always avoid using extension cords or plugging large electronics into the same duplex outlet as an adapter.
