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Ethernet is a world of difference, it just works reliably 100% of the time. My experience with powerline was shit, a few years back but the dlink ones I had only managed 60mb.
I bought a CAT 5e cable, but one that was specifically shielded out of concern for it running alongside mains. Had to chop one end off for the sake of access and crimp on a new plug - which I was strongly advised against doing - but it's been absolutely fine. Near enough to 1Gb across the LAN when I tested it.
Brun-
powerline
I have 1000mbps powerline between my broadband router and the box room that is my home office. It's good enough most of the time (given that my BB is <100mbps) and everything that could benefit from >100mbps network is all on gigabit switches in my home office.
However the powerline stuff is temperamental when run 24/7. I have to unplug and plug them back in about once every 2 or 3 weeks otherwise they're a bit flaky. They also seem to last about 18-24 months before they stop working altogether.
Replacing with a length of Cat5e or (future proofing) Cat6a would be a dream, but there's too much stuff that would have to come up or be worked around to do it.
a) Under the floor would require 3 carpets to be lifted (box room, hall, sitting room) and lots of floor board nonsense.
b) Along/around the skirting boards would be a big faff with two doors to bypass (either going around the door frames or under the carpet door strips)
c) Outside is a possibility but I'd need a hole drilled in a 30cm thick wall, plus 20m of cable secured to the side of the house (and a whole 10m section in a really inaccessible area down the side)Network cabling is on the list of things to do if the place gets rewired, but need at least ~£10k for that to happen anytime soon (to cover the work, redecorating and a couple of new carpets).
For now a £50 set of powerline adapters every couple of years is enough.
Greenbank
On the subject of cables. We have a router downstairs near the front wall. It's virgin and shite. My ping has been through the roof lately (though previously it was single or low double digits, now it's 100+). Rather than problem solve I was going to piggy back on some work being done in the house on Monday. Floorboards are coming up for some gas pipery so I was going to slip some cat 6 down at the same time. Any particular cable to look for? I don't know how much I'd need so was going to presume a roll and then a tool to add a port to the end. Is that a silly idea? Or just measure it and coil up the extra meters at either end for slack?
I'm assuming if I run ethernet direct from the virgin router to my computer (upstairs, also front of the house) it'll be faster than the powerline I'm currently using.