> The Wirecutter test setup was the most ideal environment possible. It was as if a manufacturer dictated the setup.

The thing with comparison tests is, you have to use a reliably reproduceable, documented testing environment. Everything else just ends up with nasty letters from lawyers complaining about the test being unfair or whatever.

Your uncle's shoddy 1960s-era farmhouse wiring may be the ultimate stress test for a powerline adapter in real life, but no way you can use that house as any basis for a comparison test looking like resembling science...

I have several college friends who made serious money during COVID "fixing people's Zoom dropouts" by installing MoCA adapters. They installed them for hundreds of people during the last two years, and some of those installs had issues. They ended up getting testing gear to look into the issues and be able to give people a definitive answer for why. Every single time, it came down to something wrong with the wiring. Maybe you're special, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Dirty power and poor wiring are terrible for many things. It's not a surprise it might cause issues with this too.