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"Plug 'em in. It's just...that...simple!" on by joel2665
Pros: Compact units plug directly into power outlets, so there's no need to fumble with the ubiquitous power and data cables that plague most PC devices.
Cons: A little pricey for me personally, though if these rebates are worth the paper they're printed on, I should end up with one sweet deal.
Summary: My kids, and consequently I, had suffered long enough with our wireless setup (D-Link DI-624/DWL-G520). That setup had received some very good reviews, but it just wasn't working for us--poor signal, router rebooting, choppy video and audio, and so forth.
I'd heard of powerline networking, and the concept made sense to me. Initially, I had concerns that the wiring in my 15-year old house might present a bottleneck. However, I bought and "installed" two NETGEAR XE102 wall-plugged ethernet bridges, and it's been nothin' but 'net ever since.
I have a 5 Mbps fiber optic connection to my house, and the data rate between these two NETGEAR devices is currently 12.45 Mbps, although I've seen it as high as 13.49 and as low as 10 point something, which as you can see is more than adequate for my internet connection.
One note about the installation: Plug 'em in. It's just...that...simple! -
"Forget wireless" on
Pros: This is the easiest way to network your house. It took me longer to get both adapters out of the box than it did to get them up and running. I plugged my router to one adapter and my PC in my bedroom into the other adapter and I was up and surfing. My spe
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"Quick, easy, and mostly reliable" on
Pros: Probably the most effective networking equipment I have bought to date. Just plug it into the wall and off you go. No real security concerns (this is a household system) unlike wireless, and it rarely if ever drops. All you have to do is unplug and rep
Cons: Every once in a while the devices will desynch from one another. I believe it may be due to heat concerns. The inner surface of the device (the one facing the plug itself) gets rather hot, and you can tell the insides get hotter still. Pull one straigh
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"Simply outstanding" on by Sat Kartar
Pros: Fast, stable, reliable
Cons: Runs a wee bit hot
Summary: Suffered with Linksys Powerline products for nearly 2 years, which were an absolute nightmare, required constant rebooting of router, dsl modem, and computer, tended to freeze when other computer was accessing the internet via shared dsl (yeah that was a hit with my wife). Took courage based on ratings on this thread, 6 months ago purchased 2 XE102s and 1 FA120 (USB to Ethernet adapter for the notebook which lacks an ethernet jack) and it has been a complete dream! Nearly perfect stability, very fast (no discernable difference between powerline connected computer and the other which is direct ethernet, both measure at 2.4 Mpbs download, 400 kpbs up), almost no need to ever reboot.
Highly recommended -
"Watch Out!" on by coachdaley
Pros: Easy set up
Cons: Package doesn't tell all!
Summary: The device was easy to set up but was not clear about needing to apply software to change passwords. Novice user may not know to do this.
The worst was that the package says it will work with any company's router and this is true. However, when I tried to set up WEP security on the wireless remote devise I could not do so unless my computer has an ip address consistent with ip addresses you would get when using a netgear router.
I have a linksys router so can use the devise just fine if I want my whole neighborhood to be able to tap in.
I can only think that Netgear believes you will go and buy their router to solve this. I will take this devise back and find a linksys model instead.
Now it has become a $150 pain in the neck of wasted time and making a return.
Netgear XE102 Powerline Adapter user reviews
