Streaming is one of the online activities that’s become just a part of many people’s daily lives and internet habits, but there’s no denying it needs a lot of bandwidth and a strong connection. Wi-Fi cannot always provide this in all cases, but what about powerline adapters? Can they help with streaming? If so, how do they help, and are they preferable to using Wi-Fi or extenders/boosters?

Powerline adapters can help with steaming by providing a high speed ethernet connection even at distance from the router, using the existing electrical wiring of the house. This bypasses the need for Wi-Fi, which can be unreliable and inconsistent over longer distances, and can provide the bandwidth required for HD streaming.

However, it’s not all a bed of roses with powerline adapters, since performance is variable and they definitely aren’t guaranteed to work in all cases. However, when they do work, they are excellent home networking solutions that are in a sense perfect for streamers who need a strong, reliable connection further away from the router.

Let’s dig into this issue more – how powerline adapters work, how they can help with streaming, and also potential drawbacks and problems you can encounter using them.

How A Powerline Adapter Works

Powerline adapter kits consist of a pair of adapter plugs that go into wall sockets like any other plug. You plug one adapter in and connect to your router. You plug the other adapter in in the room where you want to receive the internet connection and connect it to the streaming device.

The two adapters then communicate through the existing house wiring to deliver a wired internet connection to the receiving end plug and therefore the connected device.

It’s basically roughly equivalent to running a long ethernet cable from the router to the device directly, except you’re using the existing house electrical wiring most of the way, which is easier (and tidier – no need to run cables along walls and up stairs). Copper wiring can transmit data as well as electricity.

See the excellent short video below for a quick demonstration of how powerline technology works.

Click here to view the best-seller entry level TP Link Nano Powerline adapter on Amazon.

More advanced models are available with passthrough plug socket, multiple ports and Wi-Fi capability as well on the receiving end. The Nano model is prefect just for trying out these products for the first time for streaming.

How Do Powerline Adapters Help With Streaming?

Powerline adapters can be an excellent way to bypass the need for using Wi-Fi, especially at distance from the router when the signal may be weak or unreliable.

Streaming does tend to require a decent amount of bandwidth – typically 3-5 Mbps for HD streaming and 15-25 Mbps for 4K streaming. It’s not always possible to achieve these speeds over Wi-Fi connections, especially the further you get from the router. The signal can drop out, leading to slower speeds, buffering and poorer video quality when trying to stream.

Powerline adapters can be a solution to this problem by using the existing house wiring to deliver a stronger, more stable, higher bandwidth connection even at distance from the router. They can in many cases be superior to a Wi-Fi connection and deliver a connection strength at least closer to being plugged into the router direct with a cable (some speed is still shaved off using powerline, but often far less than using Wi-Fi connections at distance).

Best use case for a powerline adapter for streaming – You’re streaming several rooms away from the router and the Wi-Fi connection is either weak or unreliable. It either doesn’t provide you with enough speed, or the signal keeps dropping and videos/movies keep buffering, or the quality is very low. As long as the house wiring is in decent condition and allows the adapters to communicate, using powerline connections instead can be a great solution to deliver much better speeds for to allow HD streaming, gaming, downloading etc.

Are Powerline Adapters Reliable?

It should be mentioned that powerline adapters are not a be-all-end-all solution for streaming. They don’t always work in every case, since they rely on a reliable signal being transferred through the house wiring, which may not always be the case in all residences.

Here are some less ideal use cases for powerline adapters:

• If the existing Wi-Fi connection is already pretty decent and good enough for streaming.
• In old houses where the electrical wiring is very worn and may not allow for a decent connection between wall sockets.
• Particularly large houses or houses with otherwise complex circuitry (adapters may not be able to communicate).
• In external buildings like garages/extensions etc. (may or may not work)
• Any time the signal is having to cross over different legs/loops/rings/phases within the house circuitry (again, performance varies and can’t be guaranteed).
• Powerline adapters also work less well when plugged in near high energy use devices (washers, dryers, electrical tools etc). It may interfere with the signal and deliver a less reliable connection.
• For portable devices that don’t have ethernet ports. Powerline models are available that also provide a cloned wireless access point on the receiving end as well, but the primary mode of connection with powerline is ethernet.

However, cheap entry level Nano and second hand models are easily available online to at least try out this technology. In a decent number of cases, powerline adapters can be a good product that helps with streaming. But performance can’t be guaranteed in all cases as house layout and circuitry is so variable.

Ranking Different Connections Types For Streaming

In residences where you can get them to work, a powerline adapter connections ranks pretty high in terms of the quality of the connection and potential speeds that can be delivered. This means it’s a favorable type of connection to be on for serious streamers who prefer not to be on wireless connections.

Here are different connection types broadly ranked:

1. Connected to the router with Ethernet cable – Maximum possible speed, should be close to the maximum of your package during off-peak hours, perhaps lower during peak hours.
2. Using the Wi-Fi router, right next to the router – Again the speed should be close to the maximum speed, as the signal should be very strong.
3. Connected to the router via powerline adapter – Again this should be 70-99% of what you would get by connecting directly, provided the wiring in the house is good.
4. Using the Wi-Fi router at medium distance – Signal strength and therefore speed should start to drop, but may still be acceptable for streaming etc. In this case you tend to lose even more speed by using an extender, as adding an additional “hop” halves the speed or more.
5. Using a Wi-Fi extender in the “dead zone”– This is where these products prove effective and increase the effective speed of the devices compared to using the router directly. If installed properly, they offer better speed than direct router use when the signal/speed is very low, and may allow at least acceptable SD/HD streaming.
6. Using the Wi-Fi router in a dead zone – The slowest type of connection. You get very low speed or no connection by trying to connect to the main router, and can’t stream at all, or get a very broken, poor quality stream.

You Main Home Networking Solutions To Help With Streaming

Therefore if you can get powerline adapters to work in your home, they are a favorable solution to help with streaming. However, if they don’t work well in your house, here are your other main options to get a better connection for streaming content:

Alternative #1 – Direct wired connection – Is a pain and requires some DIY when at distance from the router and sometimes looks untidy, but is your best way of getting a strong streaming connection to devices that have an ethernet port.

Alternative #2 – Wi-Fi extenders – Cheaper products that capture and amplify the existing signal from the router, providing at least a usable connection for SD/HD streaming when there wasn’t one before because the router was too far away. Can work for streaming, but not an ideal solution. See our article on using extenders/repeaters in this way.

Alternative #3 – Wi-Fi Mesh – A more expensive and advanced version of Wi-Fi extenders, where you buy a kit with several nodes/pods you place around the house to boost wireless coverage over a larger area. Can work in much larger homes where you have a high speed internet service, but need to make sure a usable connection is able to reach all parts of the house to service several different streaming devices at once.