Does this not still work using either wi-fi or your ethernet / power sockets?
Yes it does Nigel thanks with the power sockets - no way wifi gets through our 50cm old stone walls. But Prime particularly can be temperamental and I thought the much faster fibre download time would make that a thing of the past. But not if we’re losing most of that speed through our internal networking.
At the moment OH has Devolo plugs and I gather one cannot mix and match brands. Their high speed plugs seem to be more expensive than the TP-Link ones, but it would mean replacing the lot.
(I haven’t mentioned the [several] digital radios elsewhere in the house!)
Sue, it sounds like you computer has a gigibit ethernet port. Before you start spending money, does the OHs computer also have a gigabit ethernet port ?. If it’s the older 100mbps, then you of course won’t get more than this. If you’re unsure, you could always try his computer directly connected.
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Sue, I had much the same problems as you.
I also have very thick internal stone walls. Including the cellar, my house has 4 levels, our main TV is a long way from the incoming fibre and Orange Livebox, and I also wanted good internet access available in most of our fairly long garden.
The solutions that I adopted were:
- had Cat5e cabling installed throughout the property (1 days work for an electrician);
- TV connected via the Cat5e cable to the Livebox;
- Cisco 8 port switch with POE (Power over Ethernet) connected to the router;
- Cisco switch connected to a mini patch panel;
- cat5e cables run from the mini patch panel to each house level and the garden;
- each level in the house and the garden patio has an Access Point (these are a mixture of TP-Link APs and reconfigured BT Smart hubs).
The cabling was made easier because the electrician was able to run cables through the cellar.
Using POE meant that there was no need to run power cables to the TP-Link access points which simplified the installation.
The solution wasn’t cheap, but we now have very good internet access throughout the house and garden.
Second hand BT Hubs only cost a few pounds each and only take a few minutes to reconfigure as an Access Point.
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Thanks Nigel. I’m passing all this on to OH. 
Good point Ray. I’ve just raised that with OH and he says possibly not. So after he’s finished reading the Sunday papers we’ll try your suggestion.
Thanks to everyone here - this discussion has been so helpful.
Thanks Ray, just tested it with a 6cat wire trailed through the door - he now gets the 390mb I do, so looks like a hole through the wall it is and maybe some more powerful Devolo electric socket plugs.
If ever we get our finances back on an even keel post COVID we might go for some of the more sophisticated suggestions here.
Again, thanks all.
Look at MESH before trailing cables and holes everywhere
Google / TP lin and the big players all do them - north of £200 - but so do the Chinese (less than 100). Literally plug and play - and they work so much better than plug in extenders of old. Can’t be a****d to understand how they work - but you basically get a second wi fi network. Plug one into your router - then the others just need a power point - they “mesh” and create a strong network that’s much more forgiving. Goes through our granite walls and half way down the garden.
I use Tenda (80 off Amazon) - 3 little white boxes size of a coffee cup.
They can do a lot more - you can split the network so guests have a seperate network and other things - but I never even downloaded the app - it took less than 5 minutes from opening the box to having wi fi everywhere
Always worth a try if Amazon have them at sensible money - `if they don’t work just return them
Mesh is just multiple AP’s with the same SSID/Password and on the same network allowing clients to “roam” between them as they move around.
The arrangement that you describe - where each AP just gets a power point is not especially efficient. Each AP has to act as both client and access point on the same channel so cutting overall bandwidth and increasing latency if you are connected to a node which is a long way downstream of the router.
If you do need multiple AP’s to cover your property, it is better to run wired Ethernet to each one, use power over Ethernet to simplify the power wiring.
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Note if you do choose do DIY this topology you need to make each AP a pure bridge between the wired network and the wireless and disable DHCP on the “slave” AP’s - this is how I have things set upin the UK and it works well.
For France the “final” setup will be one AP in the house, and one in the garage. the place is very open plan so even with the temporary arrangement of a single AP in one corner of the property behind the telly it reaches almost all of the house. I need to drill a couple of holes in 50cm walls to get the Ethernet to the “ideal” spot centrally on the upper landing which has basically a free air path to almost the whole of the house but when I do WiFi reception should be pretty good everywhere.