Netgear XE102 Powerline Adapter

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!