Powerline adapter issues

[#1]

Recently we build an extension onto our house (new living room and front door built into what was an outside wall). The wiring from BT comes into the living room and the router sits beside it, all great. Unfortunately now the signal in the old part of the house is non-existent. The signal doesn’t seem to be able to reach through the thick walls which are lined with foil-backed plasterboard. We have tried a wifi booster from TP Link. The wifi works only very slow, comparable to 3G speeds. We then tried a Powerline adapter kit from TP Link however we have discovered that the electricity supply in the old part of the house and the new part of the house are not joined and so they have completely failed too. Is there anything else I can try? We also have a Sky Q box issue in that the new box is in the new part with the Q mini in the old part which we cannot get to work due to low signal problems.

[#2]

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@Millreef06 wrote:
 The signal doesn’t seem to be able to reach through the thick walls which are lined with foil-backed plasterboard.get to

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The foil-backed plasterboard is blocking the signal.

Hopefully one of the more technically-minded Community members will come back with a possible solution.

[#3]

Thank John. Yes that’s what we thought, I hope someone cleverer than me has an idea we can try!

[#4]

Also, if the two areas are served by different ring-mains, Powerline adapters are going to be next to useless, so I can't see an elegant solution.

[#5]

Odd thing is, we have had a tenda Powerline adapter that fixed the issue for the last 14 months. They suddenly stopped working about a week ago and I have honestly no clue how they ever worked in the first place because as you say there are two different electrical circuits - I didn’t know this had to be the case when we first got them.

[#6]

@Millreef06 

Any chance of running an Ethernet cable between the rooms. If not, could an external cable be run - out one wall, round the house and back in to the new extension. You might need to get someone in to do it, but it's your best chance of getting anything good in the new room.

Brian

[#7]

Hi Brian, we have one Ethernet cable running from the router in the new part into the old part. I would say it is about 20 metres long. It will allow me internet with one thing but I’m not sure how I can get it to enable the internet in the whole of the old part of the house. I tried plugging the TP Link Powerline adapter into the wall socket in the old part and have connected this Ethernet cable to it but it hasn’t given me any wifi. Any thoughts?

[#8]

I should mention the new part of the house there are 3 new rooms (kitchen, living room and utility), old part of the house has 4 bedrooms, an office and a bathroom. Bungalow.

[#9]

Moderator's note(s):

Thread moved from Full Fibre to Tech Help.

[#10]

@Millreef06 

A bit old now but still relavent. https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Distributing-Data-around-Larger-Proper...
Ethernet cable and wireless access points are the most economic option. Alternatively you could use Mesh units with an Ethernet backhaul.

[#11]

@Millreef06 

Put an ethernet switch on the end of the cable in your extension, with the other end connected to your router.It doesn't matter which port of the switch you connect this to. Plug your other wired devices, including a WiFi Access Point in to the switch split your internet across all your devices.

Ethernet switches are available in many port sizes - I have 5, 8 and 24 port versions!

Some examples of ethernet switches:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-SG105S-Ethernet-Lifetime-Warranty/dp/B07HP5TN4S

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Managed/dp/B07QHD134G

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-SG1024D-Ethernet-Rack-Mount-Lifetime-Warranty/dp/B003UWXFM0

I would recommend that you only choose a Gigabit switch - 10/100MBit are available, probably cheaper, but can be much slower.

[#12]

@Millreef06 

Amazing what you can learn after the fact. Running Ethernet to all rooms during the build would have been the ideal solution.

However you do have one ethernet in the new build. Try plugging your Powerline adapter into that and your other untis in the new rooms. As they're all on the same power circuit they should work.

Failing that, as suggested, an Ethernet switch gives you extra ports to play with. Note they need their own power supply.

Brian

[#13]

Good Ethernet over power adapters should work between ring mains so long as the ring mains are on the same phase / distribution board.  I have run a pair of Develo adapters between two buildings** ... in a situation where Netgear and TP link kit would not work.

** Phone line in the main house to a purpose built office in an outbuilding 30 yards away.  The outbuilding's distribution board being connected back to the same distribution board serving the master end but on a totally distinct ring main, all on the same phase.  I would be very surprised if your property has a multi-phase supply.

Brian's (@bmc ) advice is the most practical and pragmatic - use the existing ethernet cable to "bridge" between the new and the old and stick the powerline adapters / wifi APs on the end of the cable in the old part of the house.