I added the Fibre Boost to my package a few days ago, up to 76mbps. I noticed yesterday that my Upload speed has doubled, but my Download speed remained at about 38mbps. This was measured both through my SamKnows Whitebox and when I ran speed tests using speedtest.net.
After some jiggery-pokery, I've managed to get my Download speed to about 50mbps consistently. I know my max speed is around 64mbps, as this is what I get if I plug my laptop directly into the back of the router and run a speed test. My TalkTalk router measures the "Downstream line rate (kbit/s)" as 69455, which is 67.82mbps.
My setup:
- OpenReach modem
- TP-LINK TD-W8960N router
- SamKnows Whitebox
- TP-LINK powerline boxes, 2x AV500 & 5x AV200
- everything is measured using ethernet, not wireless
Route from the 'phone line to a computer:
master socket > OpenReach modem > router > Whitebox > AV500 > ...my house electrical wiring > AV200 or AV500 > computer
Details of my jiggery-pokery:
- Waited until everyone was asleep and all devices were turned off
- Switched off all powerline boxes
- Plugged my laptop into the back of the router and did a speedtest of about 64mbps. Unplugged laptop.
- Turned on AV500 that connects to the Whitebox
- Turned on AV500 that is connected to my main PC
- Did a speedtest of 58mbps
- Turned on the other AV200 boxes in the house one by one. Speedtests from the main PC (which was still the only connected device) were now consistently 50-52mbps. No other computers or smartphones were switched on, but all the AV powerline boxes were now all active on the network.
It sounds like if I upgraded my AV200 boxes to AV500 ones, I might get 58mbps back...but the AV200 have a speed of 200mbps. I understand that my ethernet network will probably run at the speed of the slowest powerline box, so this would be 200mbps, but if I only have one computer switched on and all the other computers and smartphones in the house are switched off, I should still be getting 58mbps when I run my speed test, which is what I got when the only powerline boxes that were switched on were the AV500 ones (so my ethernet would have been of the order 500mbps).
(I've also run speed tests without the Whitebox connected, and by using my TalkTalk router instead of the TP-LINK router+OpenReach modem, but there was no difference in speeds).
The other conclusion is that my house electrical wiring that the ethernet runs over is causing the limit.
Can anyone suggest how I increase my 50mbps to the 64mbps I see if I plug directly into the back of the router?