XAVB5004 Powerline Question

[robgold]

I am considering purchasing the Netgear XAVB5004 4-port powerline kit for use with my home theater setup, which has several devices that need reliable internet connections (PS3, Apple TV, Mac Mini, TV). While I was researching the product, I saw that the 4 ports in the back are rated different speeds (priorities?) -- one high, one medium, and two low. I don't want to sacrifice speed on any one device. Am I misunderstanding the purpose of the different ports? Or, am I better off just using a one-port Powerline and plugging that into a 4-port ethernet switch for equal bandwidth distribution to each of my devices?

 

[stevech]

I haven't read the product specs, but I'd think the four ports are merely an ethernet switch - all same speed. These things are layer 2 devices so I wouldn't think they'd have QoS to differentiate ports (no router microprocessor to do so), but I guess they could hack something.

You could choose a device with ONE etherenet port and connect that to an ethernet switch. That's what I did with my MoCA device pair ($125 or so for two). A year ago I had only D-Link and Netgear to choose from. To my amazement the D-Links are running without a glitch.

The switches I use are the cheap but works fine gigabit Ethernet switches sold by Fry's with their brand name. They work, and run cooler than the Netgear, D-Link and Linksys switches I had (all of which failed in the first 6 months due to overheating).

 

[thiggins]

The product just incorporates a normal switch. The GUI optionally allows you to assign priority to traffic. By default, priority is the same on all ports.