Improve signal? Powerline Questions..

[lostmenoggin]

Looking at the powerline options to improve signal to my desktop in my room but I had a question.. Does powerline need to be running on the same circuit or breaker? My room is upstairs in an addition on the house and that part of the house has its own separate wiring/fuse box. The router is downstairs in the office in the older part of the house on a different circuit. I am skeptical of the powerline only because the rooms are on different circuits and i know powerline catches a ride on the preexisting wiring to communicate. I have a DLink WDA2320 wireless PCI card and currently get 1-2 bars of wireless.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127075R

Would it be worth it to get a newer card? Any help or other options are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[bill001g]

Powerline works best when it is on the same circuit but it will work sometime even to your neighbors house depending on how the power is hooked up in the street. If you live where 120volt power is used then you have 2 mains in the breaker box. You prefer they be on the same hot circuit to avoid having to go all the way out to the transformer on the street and then back again. Generally because of how the back bus is built in most panels every other breaker is on the same hot. Still it does work even on different hot circuits. If you are on 220 then this is a non issue.

Pretty much with powerline stuff you need to try it and see what happens. It is almost impossible to predict if it will work and how well it will work. In general it works for most people. Then again some house it just refuses to work anywhere, things with small motors like refrigerator and vacuum and even ceiling fans cause interference and can make it not work depending on how the wiring in the house is.