Homeplugs/powerline network adaptors

[saabw]

To cure a problem with the location of a wireless laptop connection ( laptop located in bedroom above the kitchen and losing signal when the microwave is working) I'm thinking of installing a pair of Homeplugs/powerline network adaptors.

I want buy 200mb ones so my question is which make is the best netgear,zyxel,belkin or devolo?, has anybody any preferences.

[HPsauce]

No preferences, but one of my (non-IT-literate) customers got some Netgear ones recently and set them up themsleves with no issues at all.

[silversurfer44]

As far as my experience with them goes, watch out for the physical space they require. You will lose a socket for each end and if they take up too much space and you use a trailing extension, or double socket,  you can lose two sockets, one for the homeplug and one at the side of it.

[saabw]

Well I've a Netgear 4 port one and single for the router, brill connection wel pleased.

[geep]

Hi,
When I used a Netgear HDX101 my wireless mouse stopped working.
When I unplugged it the mouse was OK again.
Admittedly I was using it on an extension cable, which I seem to remember
is not recommended. The HDX101 worked fine, but I only tried it over a short
distance.
Cheers,
Peter

[general disquiet]

I've used Netgear HDX101's since they first hit the market and think they are wonderful.  I'm using them on a fairly complicated power set-up, with the remote plug on a spur from the meter and not on the main ring circuit.  Absolutely no problems.

Equally, some homeplugs have been implicated in wifi problems.  No sign of that whatsoever.

[Adder]

I bought the 200Mbps Devolo when they first came out, (a 2 pack starter kit) and they were great. It eliminated all of the problems I had streaming from one room to another, (I used to use wireless). I recently bought another 3 so I've got 5 around the house now and they all work flawlessly.

I can't comment on the other makes you mentioned because I haven't seen them, but I expect they're all quite similar. I like having the 200Mbps ones as it gives that bit of extra bandwidth in case any is degraded over your internal cabling. I know that some of them have a pass through so you don't lose your power socket but the Devolos don't. This isn't really a problem for me, but if you're short of power sockets, it's worth noting.

[roseway]

There's one little caution I should perhaps mention, although I don't really know how significant it is, if at all. As homeplugs become more popular, there is in theory at least an increasing possibility that a neighbour who is also using homeplugs could inadvertently connect to your network and use your internet connection, or vice versa. Most homeplugs are, I believe, set up by default without encryption, so I think that it would be sensible to configure them to use encryption.

[torqpoc]

Hello,
I am using the Comtrend Powerline 902, which I believe come free with the BTVision setup. Bought a threesome from Ebay for 50 pounds and can't fault them. They are not 200Mb however, they are 100Mb full duplex, 200Mb half duplex. That is worth noting.

With regards the comment above by Roseway, I believe the range of the Powerplug variants is limited to the local circuit, ie the junction box (or however it is known). Most vendors products state they cannot go across the junction box. It is however as Roseway mentioned a very good idea to use the inbuilt 3DES encryption which is almost impossible to crack.

Cheers,
T