Extollo Lan Socket 1500

[mike_carton]

I've been reading the site and waiting for AV2 MIMO devices from TP-LINK for 16 months or so. They were originally expected in 2014 Q3. Now I see good reviews for Extollo lan socket 1500 in some places. None that I respect as much as Higgins reviews, though. But the Extollo seem to be from the next speed-class.

Is there any hope to see them reviewed? Much easier to evaluate them if they are comparable under similar circumstances and test procedures. (Download throughput at location E is my favorite)

 

[mike_carton]

In the absence of data, I'll settle for anecdotes. Anyone with experience of using this product?

Any links to reviews other than the CNet one?

 

[L&LD]

16 months? I think you're too patient.

Hope you're using something in the meantime.

(I have not seen a powerline product that I couldn't hate, for performance and security reasons).

 

[clintb]

Just received a pair of these yesterday and plugged in this morning. In short, they're awesome.

If you'd like some background on my usage, ask away.

 

[mike_carton]

16 months? I think you're too patient.

I usually buy a mature, well-reviewed product at a technology/performance level and then live with it for a few years before looking to upgrade. The cost in money, time to configure and integrate with our lives is worth it that way. Last time I looked to buy, I heard about AV2 MIMO being on the horizon and wasn't sure I liked to buy the then current products. I currently use a router and NetGear's FastLane extenders; 5 GHz connection to router and 2.4 GHz connections to clients. Works out OK with some of the older iOS products being in the mix.

I like to get to a place where all stationary devices (TVs, Toasters and Toilets included) get wired connections from end-to-end and there is Wi-Fi coverage all over the house and some of the rest of the property. (The latter part if almost true now. With a single SSID on both bands and all devices, I hope to get a true, seamless coverage once I upgrade some of the older mobile devices; I have another such SSID for guests' devices too.) The choice for the wired part is to put in Cat 6a throughout the house or use Powerline devices; in my reading, MOCA or G.hn seemed to be less desirable. Powerline seemed to offer lower cost, greater flexibility but the then current products seemed be stop-gaps to the AV2 1200 MIMO products. So, I've been waiting.

TP-Link announced their product initially in early 2014 as I remember it, and seem to be the last of the usual suspects to release their product. Their 8030 seemed to be what I wanted (due to better downlink performance at Location E) and then I hear about the Extollo; there are two reviews that are referred to across the web, neither of which mentions the conditions under which the tests are conducted. Intriguing enough, but not enough to support a purchasing decision.

(I have not seen a powerline product that I couldn't hate, for performance and security reasons).

What has been your experience with them? Especially, the more recent products? I'm particularly interested in the security aspect.

 

[mike_carton]

Just received a pair of these yesterday and plugged in this morning. In short, they're awesome.

If you'd like some background on my usage, ask away.

I'm looking for subjective evaluation of connection reliability and performance that owners might be able to provide.

 

[clintb]

I'm looking for subjective evaluation of connection reliability and performance that owners might be able to provide.

At the moment, I can only give you a limited amount of information due to the limited amount of time I've had them, but something is better than nothing.

• Residence: 50 or so year old house, with wiring to match. Probably 1,500 square feet.
• Shape of house: L-shaped, with converted garage at front.
• Location(s) of adapters: Converted garage is my man cave with computer, internet connected TV, XBox One, Western Digital TV Live Hub, and Asus RT-AC66 (acting as AP and switch), and one Extollo LANSocket 1500. The other LANSocket is in my landlord/roomate's office at the back of the house.
  • Converted garage > kitchen > hallway > landlord's office.
• Internet service: AT&T U-verse. Not sure of the speed package as I don't pay the bill, but speedtest.net is testing at 20 or so Mbps down.
• Other adapter used: Netgear XAVB5004 kit. Amazon link

I already had the Netgear kit when I moved in and tried, but it wouldn't get connection from any socket in my man cave. Adapters were plugged directly into wall sockets and I tested with all lights off, power adapters (cell, etc...) unplugged. No connection whatsoever. Since the Netgear kit failed to connect, I had to use the Asus RT-AC66 in media bridge mode to the U-verse gateway, and have been using it that way for almost a year. After some disconnects and flakiness of DHCP over the wireless bridge, I decided to give powerline another shot.

Cue the Extollo LANSocket 1500's. Plugged directly into the exact same wall sockets as the Netgear kit had been when previously tested, the LANSocket pair connected immediately, initially with the connection LED lit green, then falling back to orange when I turned on all fluorescent lamps in my man cave. In the man cave, I moved the LANSocket to another wall outlet and it's been fully green on the connection LED all day long, even with my computer, fluorescent lamps, TV, etc... powered on. It's solid!

I may fire up something like jperf or NetStress to see what data rates the LANSocket can really handle.

edit: both the ZyXEL and TP-Link PowerLine utilities work with the Extollo LANSocket.

 

[Trip]

Another thing of potentially huge importance: the underlying chipset being used; ie. Qualcomm-Atheros (QCA), Broadcom, Intellon, etc. While each manufacturer's ability to execute on its firmware quality will effect connection performance and stability, I'm starting to notice a link between the brand/platform of chipset and connection reliability/performance. Case-in-point, Netgear has built most of their models on Intellon or QCA, and the Extollo LanSocket 1500 is built on Broadcom. And in Clint's case, the latter seemed like night-and-day. I'd argue it could be the difference in chipset more-so than simply brand/model.

So a note to those out there who have tried and failed with one model -- try buying a competing model of not just a different brand, but a different chipset altogether. It could very well make the difference in stability, speed or both. FYI, SNB's powerline review comparison lists the brand/model of chipset at the bottom of each reviewed model.

 

[mrQQ]

I've read somewhere something about 68Mhz vs 87Mhz being used?

 

[Trip]

@OP - No anecdotal use-case to add, but I plan to have a pair on order soon.

FWIW, the LanSocket 1500 appears to be a re-branded WS859-AP63 by GigaFast -- not necessarily a bad thing as long as the product performs and they support it well enough.

 

[RogerSC]

@OP - No anecdotal use-case to add, but I plan to have a pair on order soon.

FWIW, the LanSocket 1500 appears to be a re-branded WS859-AP63 by GigaFast -- not necessarily a bad thing as long as the product performs and they support it well enough.

Not sure about that...the WS859-AP63 also seems to have wireless built in (2.4GHz.), while the Extollo is only powerline networking.

I'd also like to see the Extollo reviewed here, by the way. I'm interested, but would like to see them tested in the same environment as Tim has used for testing other powerline networking hardware.

 

[Trip]

Oops, you're right. Was browsing a few of their pages, and meant to quote the PSG959-EB6.

I'd like to see the adapter reviewed on SNB as well. Hopefully Tim can arrange for that in the near future.

 

[mike_carton]

So I ordered a pair of the Extollo and a pair of the TP-Link 8010 from Amazon so I can test in my specific set up. I used one large file of 36,993.140625 megabits (I want to keep everything in Megabits or Megabits per second). The source is a Windows desktop connected to the router with a GbE connection. I tried each test 3 times with the median value being reported below. The other values were not too far away from the median. I used the cables from the Extollo package for both tests. The destination test location is across the house and one floor above and the Wifi connection there delivers less than 20 Mbps. The house is less than 15 years old.

Local USB 2.0 Copy
186 Mbps

Powerline - Extollo 1500 - Across House, Higher Floor - SAMBA
59 Mbps

Powerline - TPLink 8010 - Across House, Higher Floor - SAMBA
71 Mbps

 

[Trip]

Thanks for this data. The 8010 obviously appears to win on speed. Another important factor to pay attention to is connection reliability over time. I often find that it's not the fastest adapter which stays "nailed up" the most consistently. Certain sets have a tendency to lose their integrity over time, often due to data load and/or interference levels. I'd definitely be interested in your observations in a few months' time in that area.