What are your Powerline networking tips n tricks

Powerline is the tech that sends data around your home over the same wiring as your electricity, with adapters that plug one end into your power sockets and the other an ethernet port or built in wifi access point.

Homeplug is the predominant standard. And just like Wifi, there have been many generations over the years that have improved claimed connection speeds. v1 of Homeplug maxed out at a theoretical 14mbit/s.  The latest kit is described as AV2000, which I assume has a max throughput ot 2000mbit/sec.

There have been a few mentions here of Powerline in the context of mesh solutions: https://community.fing.com/discussion/59/why-is-mesh-better-than-wifi-extenders/p1. 

I've had varying degrees of success with Powerline adapters, usually plugged into non-mobile devices that need high-throughput and low latency, such as TVs and games consoles.

Installation is one of the most joyful aspects. You just plug one into your router and another into your device and they just work - like connected by an ethernet cable. And most recent devices are compatible with each other. Of course data rates have been nothing like the claims - but usually good enough for 1080p HD. But I have a home that's over 100 years old and has been extended several times, so I imagine the wiring is a little dodgy. Plus early devices seemed to get very hot and die regularly - I've lost quite a few.

My biggest home networking challenge has been getting decent rates in the new extension, 2 floors up. Wifi is or course notorious for not dealing as well with vertical distances. And the addition of 5GHz - which carries more data but travels less - has been of no benefit to this challenge. Wifi extenders placed in various positions on the ground and first floors did not work well enough. Its's worth noting I'm in central London which has very high wifi/RF congestion. And early variants of Powerline proved extremely inconsistent. Sometimes rates reached a decent 30mbit/sec but often collapsed to under 2mbit/sec - unusable. I understand noise from particular equipment - say certain types of lighting - can cause such short term issues but I never tracked down the source of my problems. That this is an extension with its own electricity switch is undoubtedly part of the challenge.

I finally got something consistent in the loft extension with the addition some TP-Link Av1200 kit and have plugged a Netgear wifi AP into this. Data rates are typically around 10-15mbit/sec - a 10th of the theoretical max but good enough for most needs.

Do you guys have some tips on getting the best from Powerline and maybe recommendations on kit that performs better? Has anyone tried the latest generation (is that AV200?) - how is that working out. Is Powerline still a viable option? Has it been integrated into any of the mesh solutions?