Comments on: Powerline Adapters – I’m sold!

By: John Bennett

John Bennett — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:53:53 +0000

It may be getting late to comment on this piece, but I just purchased a set of these, and they easily outperform my wireless-G network. I can now use my XBOX 360/Media Center Extender to stream HD content without any issues. With wireless-G, this was basically impossible — at least in the room where the XBOX was located.

Phenomenal throughput, well-made and well-priced. Tiger Direct recently had a $40 off coupon for this specific model, so I was able to pick the pair up for $79.

Netgear recommends that you do not plug them into a power bar or surge protector.

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:14:13 +0000

@Ben, no these sorts of adaptors cannot be plugged into surge protectors normally so if you’re in a high-strike area for lightning you might be better off with something else.

By: ben

ben — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:27:16 +0000

I’m curious if the powerline adapter must be plugged into a wall socket or can it be plugged into a surge protector?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:54:14 +0000

Interesting. Perhaps I’m just lucky then and the outlets I’m using all fall on the same phase. We’re in an apartment rather than a house so the wiring is probably a lot simpler.

By: Robert Taubert

Robert Taubert — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:36:33 +0000

No, I believe most houses are two phase. That’s how you get 220 for your dryer and range. Look in your Circuit breaker box. There should be two large cables coming in at the top. I use several x10 controllers to turn lamps off and on. I had to install a phase coupler before I could get them all to work.

If the x10 signal were strong enough you might be able to go through the outside transformer to get from one phase to another. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere when powerline adapters first came out that if your outside transformer fed more than one house you could have security issues.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:50:51 +0000

Hi Robert,

Not too sure what you mean here. I thought most household power was single-phase?

To get the full speed (100mbps) of the adapters they need to be on the same physical circuit. If they’re not then it’s hard to say what the performance will be – it could still be better than you would see with a wireless-G connection for example.

I’ve discovered that running my microwave creates some form of interference that causes the speed-indicator on the adaptors to turn red (< 50mbps). What’s interesting is that they still perform more than fast enough to stream 720p HDTV.

At the end of the day the problem with powerline adapters is that the results are highly variable. If you’re going to try them, find somewhere that has a good return policy

By: Robert Taubert

Robert Taubert — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:30:25 +0000

Don’t they both have to be on the same phase of you electrical circuit. I know I have to use a phase coupler to get x-10 to work on all outlets.