Speed improvement - Airport Express wi-fi

[McRumour]

Is there anyone out there who's familiar with these?

Extollo LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapters

cnet seem to sing their praises:

http://www.cnet.com/products/extollo-lansocket-1500-powerline-adapter-kit/

Situation:
Router: Airport Extreme 6th gen - simultaneous dual band, 802.11ac
Wireless Extender: Airport Express 1st gen(model with electrical prongs unfolding directly out from it, no power cord. It's 802.11n, dual band but not simultaneous )

Want to improve wi-fi speeds at far end of house where I depend on the Airport Express for wireless connection

When close to Router (Airport Extreme) wi-fi on MacBookPro at speedtest.net is:
Download: 117Mbps
Upload: 11.87 Mbps

At far end of house (35' from Router), near Airport Express Extender, MBP wifi is:
Download: 14Mbps
Upload: 11.75

Though hardly ideal - both devices MUST remain exactly where they are now. They can't be re-positioned.
And the newer Airport Express wouldn't work for me because there's no surface on which to put it.
Nor can I mount anything to the wall.

So - taking all that into account I'd like to know if anyone has experience with the Extollo Powerline Adapters mentioned above?
They appear to have advanced features that other powerline adapters don't have. (B&H told me they don't sell anything even remotely similar)

If I were to connect 1 of these Adapter units to my Extreme Router and the other to my Express Extender ( using the pass through outlet on front of Extollo Adapter - to plug in the Express) - should I expect to see Wi-fi speeds similar to those I get near the Extreme Router?

Hope to hear any opinions/thoughts......

 

[bubsdaddy]

You can buy a "duck head" adapter and use it instead of the power cable on a current gen Airport Express:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-Power-Ad...937656?hash=item3d0ccf9c78:g:Me8AAOSwhkRWfKkF

Apple has the Airport Express refurb for $49
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/FC414LL/A/airport-express-base-station

 

[McRumour]

You can buy a "duck head" adapter and use it instead of the power cable on a current gen Airport Express:

Apple has the Airport Express refurb for $49

Thanks for your reply but can't see how it addresses my issue.
In addition, I just checked their web site - Apple don't support the use of a duck head adapter for the Airport Express or their other Airports.

Meanwhile - still hope someone out there will provide feedback on the Extollo Powerline Adapters

 

[bubsdaddy]

Thanks for your reply but can't see how it addresses my issue.
In addition, I just checked their web site - Apple don't support the use of a duck head adapter for the Airport Express or their other Airports.

Meanwhile - still hope someone out there will provide feedback on the Extollo Powerline Adapters

"

And the newer Airport Express wouldn't work for me because there's no surface on which to put it.
Nor can I mount anything to the wall.

I was replying to this part of your post.

I have had mixed results with powerline adapters trying to accomplish extending the network with Airport devices. In my case, it worked in some outlet locations but other outlets did not due to which side of the breaker box they are on.

I hope someone with more experience can answer your question.

 

[McRumour]

"

I have had mixed results with powerline adapters trying to accomplish extending the network with Airport devices. In my case, it worked in some outlet locations but other outlets did not due to which side of the breaker box they are on.

I hope someone with more experience can answer your question.

Thanks bd
Yeah, so do I - especially in light of the fact that these units are somewhat different from their competition (or so I'm led to believe).
But I'm starting to think I'm the only one in the world who has ever heard of them - aside from cnet

 

[bubsdaddy]

Thanks bd
Yeah, so do I - especially in light of the fact that these units are somewhat different from anything else out there (or so I'm led to believe). But I'm starting to think I'm the only one out there who has ever heard of them - aside from cnet

Amazon has a really easy return process if you wanted to give it a try. $85 for two.

 

[LiveM]

Situation:
Router: Airport Extreme 6th gen - simultaneous dual band, 802.11ac
Wireless Extender: Airport Express 1st gen(model with electrical prongs unfolding directly out from it, no power cord. It's 802.11n, dual band but not simultaneous )

Want to improve wi-fi speeds at far end of house where I depend on the Airport Express for wireless connection

When close to Router (Airport Extreme) wi-fi on MacBookPro at speedtest.net is:
Download: 117Mbps
Upload: 11.87 Mbps

At far end of house (35' from Router), near Airport Express Extender, MBP wifi is:
Download: 14Mbps
Upload: 11.75

Your Extreme is running in n mode because of the Express, and about half the Express's throughout is being used as overhead for the wireless connection. If you are able to use the powerline adaptors then it will make a significant different to both base stations. Your Extreme will be able to offer ac Wi-Fi and the Express will have virtually no overhead

 

[McRumour]

Your Extreme is running in n mode because of the Express, and about half the Express's throughout is being used as overhead for the wireless connection. If you are able to use the powerline adaptors then it will make a significant different to both base stations. Your Extreme will be able to offer ac Wi-Fi and the Express will have virtually no overhead

Thanks for your reply LiveM...
some additional info:
Time Warner Cable is my ISP
I'm subscribed at their 200/20 Mbps tier
Current modem (Motorola SB6580 with internal router disabled) which I own, is only provisioned by TWC for 100/10Mbps
New modem (Arris 6183) arrives this week. TWC will provision that model for 200/20

So:
1.Even tho' you say 1st gen Express extender makes Extreme ac router revert to n mode - that doesn't seem to be impacting the Extreme's wifi speed (or at least, not right now with "old" modem on which Time Warner confine me to 100/10. As my 1st post shows - I even exceed the TWC limit by a bit.)

Given what you suggest - I've just run wifi tests (speedtest.net) on my macbook, positioned close to router.
First ran 3 tests with the Express unplugged - to take full advantage of Extreme on ac.
Then ran 3 with Express plugged back in - to see what happens when Extreme reverts to 802.11n

Seems there's no appreciable difference:
With Express disconnected: 116.79/11.85, 117.07/11.83, 118.27/11.86
With Express re-connected: 117.64/11.91, 117.15/11.91, 117.74/11.97

I don't know whether the n mode will adversely affect the Extreme after I have the new modem and try to avail myself of the higher 200/20 speed tier. In other words...

2.What might be the impact of the Extremes being able to take advantage of its full ac capacity? (As opposed to 802.11n to which it's reduced now without power adapters)? Well, guess I'll know on Wed. when I get new modem. I'm hoping that even without powerline adapters the increased speed the new modem will allow will cause the Express speeds to increase somewhat....(maybe?)

3. What you say about the Express throughput is why I looked into powerline adapters in the first place....

Are you familiar with the Extollo LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapters referenced in my 1st post above?
It's so weird - No store, neither online or otherwise - sells it.
It's ONLY sold by the manufacturer and ONLY through an Amazon merchant - the manufacturer (not Amazon directly).
Not a single review there - tho its been on Amazon since last Oct. when the cnet review was published.

I'm being super cautious because :
1.Trying out these Adapters requires putting the Express back to factory settings.
Did that once, some years ago, took a fair bit of fiddling about...almost gave up, didn't think it would ever revert and when it finally did - didn't think it would ever re-activate. (Had originally used as it as my Router - not as an Extender).
If it gets screwed up I'm sunk - as it's no longer sold.
2. Powerline adapters rely on the house wiring. My house was built in 1926, has real lath and plaster walls (no drywall) and even though wiring has been brought up to code since - that was back in the late 70's.

Anyway...thanks again for your helpful reply - and for any further thoughts.....

 

[maflynn]

Given what you suggest - I've just run wifi tests (speedtest.net) on my macbook, positioned close to router.
First ran 3 tests with the Express unplugged - to take full advantage of Extreme on ac.
Then ran 3 with Express plugged back in - to see what happens when Extreme reverts to 802.11n

Seems there's no appreciable difference:
With Express disconnected: 116.79/11.85, 117.07/11.83, 118.27/11.86
With Express re-connected: 117.64/11.91, 117.15/11.91, 117.74/11.97

I could be wrong, but I don't beleive a 802.11n extender will slow down the 802.11ac, since they operate on different bands, and the router doesn't force all traffic down to 802.11n speeds. Older routers would do that, i.e., 802.11n will slow down if a 802.11g was attached.

I'm not expert but that's my understand, and also my testing as well. I'm in a similar situation where I'd like to extend my network in the house but so far I've not found a workable solution.

I tried some powerline adapters, but I found the performance to be lacking at best, which is disappointing. I had high hopes that it would work well.

 

[LiveM]

You may be right, although they run on the same bands, i.e., 2.4 and 5GHz.

So:
1.Even tho' you say 1st gen Express extender makes Extreme ac router revert to n mode - that doesn't seem to be impacting the Extreme's wifi speed (or at least, not right now with "old" modem on which Time Warner confine me to 100/10. As my 1st post shows - I even exceed the TWC limit by a bit.)

 

[maflynn]

I wonder if a second airport extreme base station would improve things. They'd both talk to each other at 802.11ac speeds (provided they're in close enough proximity for that faster band).

 

[LiveM]

But that would reduce throughput to 50-60%. Powerline must be worth trying.