HomePlug AV Adapter Roundup

[ynohtna]

Nice round up but 200mbps still? I have the XAV101 and it seems the throughput numbers haven't really changed much with the generation 2 ones. Vista reports 4-5MB/s transfers on average.

I'm really eager to get going on something faster, are none of the netgear powerline 500 stuff available yet to be tested or something?

http://www.netgear.com/products/home/powerline-and-coax/high-performance/default.aspx

 

[thiggins]

Nice round up but 200mbps still? I have the XAV101 and it seems the throughput numbers haven't really changed much with the generation 2 ones. Vista reports 4-5MB/s transfers on average.

And you'll never see 300 (or 450) Mbps on N wireless either. You know the routine by now. Vendors quote maximum PHY rates, never actual usable throughput.

I'm really eager to get going on something faster, are none of the netgear powerline 500 stuff available yet to be tested or something?

Not ready yet, no. But I expect it to be as good or better than the Gigle based stuff.
A Work In Progress: Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit Reviewed

 

[ynohtna]

And you'll never see 300 (or 450) Mbps on N wireless either. You know the routine by now. Vendors quote maximum PHY rates, never actual usable throughput.

That's fine, I was referring to my XAV101 to the XAV2something you reviewed. Disappointed that not much changed. Also, today, my wireless N throughput can average 10-15 MB/s those extra 2/3x MB/s makes a big difference in the usable experience factor.

The drop outs you mentioned needs to stop too.

 

[memilanuk]

Tim,

Just wanted to thank you for this article. My last recollection of HomePlug must have been the old 'original' version - not very handy, not very fast, and still gripped in the throes of war with a competing technology.

My last house was not well suited for hard-wiring with ethernet barring some serious remodeling so I went witi 802.11b (at the time) wifi, and was relatively happy for quite a while. Time passed, moved to a new house (this one), and as computers were upgraded the network became 802.11g (with one N device on the newest machine). Worked well, supported speeds well in excess of what I can download content from our fiber/pppoe connection... life was good.

That is... until I started trying to finagle some sort of LAN storage setup. My 'server' boxes were older PCs... with a bit too much noise to be set up upstairs, and wifi reception downstairs sucks in the most convenient locations (sheet metal heating ducts directly in line between the wifi router and the desired spot). I also quickly found that backing up gigabytes of data over 802.11g just wasn't happening - took too long, and the occasional drop-out caused considerable frustration.

After reading your info on HomePlugAV, I swung by the local office supply store (with what passes as a computer section) and found they had a boxed set of HomePlugAV adapters from Netgear. Took 'em home, plugged them in, and voila, I was off and running.

Now I have two older PCs downstairs posing as 'servers' (one FreeNAS, one Ubuntu) running off an equally old 5-port 10/100 ethernet switch that I had in the 'bone yard' box of old parts. The other end is plugged into the Buffalo Airstation upstairs, and I'm planning on adding a couple more Homeplug AV units for basically everything other than the household laptops to use. I haven't gotten around to resolving the backup situation just yet, but I have some confidence it should work better than it did, at least between the machines that are 'hard' wired now.

Eventually I do want to run gigabit ethernet through this house, as it has sufficient crawlspace access to allow it. Until then, at least I have Homeplug AV.

Thanks again,

Monte

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the report. I really do think people should more strongly consider Homeplug AV. You just need to be aware of the pitfalls (AFCI breakers and noise) and countermeasures (better AFCI breakers and filters).

 

[rikd]

Would have loved if you'ld included the Devolo's in the comparison
http://www.devolo.co.uk/consumer/5_dlan-200-avplus_starter-kit_product-presentation_1.html?l=en

I've been running the for some time now and find them excellent..
I found no issues downloading at 30Mbps on one device while watching a HD movie on my HTPC

However in adding a third homeplug adaptor I see the thruput drops drastically - below 50% in both directions. Looking through the article it doesn't look like you tested this - or did I miss it?

 

[thiggins]

As you can see from the roundup, all the HomePlug AV products performed about the same. No surprise since they are using the same chipset.

You didn't miss it. Adding more devices just spreads available banwidth among them. Or are you saying just adding a third adapter knocks down bandwidth even if it isn't passing traffic?

 

[rikd]

Adding more devices just spreads available banwidth among them. Or are you saying just adding a third adapter knocks down bandwidth even if it isn't passing traffic?

I was expecting the former, but saw the latter, and even then the performance drop was much worse than I was expecting..

Had one plugged into main broadband router.. First tap off was to a GbE switch up in the study, and other tap was to my Sony Bluray player.
Having the Bluray tap connected caused performance to drop below 1Mbps from wired laptop on router to my PC in the study even though the Bluray player was turned off so no traffic on the device other than what it would consume (am assuming it will just try to send everything it received out over ethernet anyway in case there is a wake-on-lan device available)

Have just upgraded to latest firmwares - so going to try again soon.

 

[thiggins]

What are these "taps" you are referring to? What are the make/models of all the powerline adapters you're using?

 

[rikd]

What are these "taps" you are referring to? What are the make/models of all the powerline adapters you're using?

Apologies for confusion.
By Tap - I mean each powerline adaptor.. Was viewing my powerline as single data link, and each adaptor as a tap on to the line...

I'm using Devolo Homeplug AV Easy adaptors.
I updated firmware now on all 3, and it seems to have made it slightly better..
However - with all 3 adaptors plugged in with just 2 with connected device powered on, I get about 10Mbps on each adaptor - and not 60Mbps as I'd expect (~200/3).

However pings are another story...
With 2 adaptors pings from device on the other end of the AV adaptor would get to google.com within about 30-50ms.. tracert showing no more than 1ms delay getting through powerline adaptor and router.
Adding in a 3rd adaptor (again nothing power on other end, but connected) and it jumped to 100-150ms.

Am happy enough with the 2 adaptors for most of my needs. Just wish I could use more than the 2 for certain times. Will stick with powerline from modem to router and then wireless N to other devices. Either that or hack away at the walls and put in cat5.

 

[RenaldoZ]

Are the linksys PLE300 and the netgear XAV1004 compatible?

Hi out there.

I have a PLE300/PLS300 kit. Unfortunately, Linksys stopped selling the PLS300 as a standalone. In fact it seems to have been discontinued as no one else seems to carry it anymore.

I need to extend my powerline network and am therefore looking for an alternative that works with the equipment I have.

Does anyone know whether the Netgear XAV1004 will work with the linksys PLE300/PLS300? I assume they do since both are supposedly Homeplug AV compliant. But theory and practice are two different things...

Thanks in advance for any advise!

Regards

 

[thiggins]

As long as it is HomePlug AV certified, it will work. See HomePlug AV Adapter Roundup