After I Buy Powerline Gigabit Wall plug Adapter PLA4225
I'm going to try and add on to the other reviews of this product and try not to repeat. Yes, this is about easy as easy can get to set up. Plug in, and it just works. Great for average joes but what I really want to talk about it PERFORMANCE. I recently bought a 2011 LED TV and although this TV is the flagship product and has built in WIFI, the WIFI performance is abysmal. It could be because of my WAP is on the other side of the house from the TV but even if it was right beside it, WIFI couldn't get the performance of what I intend to do with this TV. I want to stream uncompressed Blu-Rays to the TV. For that, you need hardwire for gigabit ethernet or you need this device!
First off, you're not going to get 500Mbps. Best scenario you will get is 100Mbps which is actually what I'm getting. Now one could argue what you're actually getting is 200Mbps (100 xmit, 100 recv) but 500Mbps is no where in sight. One review said you need 50Mbps to stream bluray and you should be able (barring any crazy wiring, be able to get that).
The first thing you need to understand is you need to 'play' with it and try different outlets. Load the utility on your computer to get your xmit/recv speeds. Then you need to determine which outlet gives you the best performance. The first outlet I plugged my powerline adapter into is the same one that feeds my TV, and also powers my PS3 and cable box. I was in the 60Mbps which turned the indicator yellow which happens when you're below 80Mbps. It did this in either the top outlet or the bottom. Since my entertainment center is in a corner, I tried the outlet on the other side. Voila! In the botton socket I was getting 100Mbps and the top socket I was getting 70-80. This proves that you definitely need to try both sockets and different outlets. If you don't, you could be sacrificing up to 40 Mbps without realizing it.
Now let's talk safety. I have kids and my kids (suspect many kids) love the little blinkin lights. This will not fit in a child-safety outlet cover. It's too wide. At least, not one I've found. If someone knows of a wider child-safety outlet cover, please reply to this. I wish I had a outlet directly behind my entertainment center but I don't. This forces me to use a extension cord which I know you're not suppose to do. The one I'm actually using is a true extension cord rather than power strip. This cost me maybe 2 dollars. I was thinking of seeing if I could find a even shorter thicker gauge wire but I don't know enough to actually understand if that would impede the powerline signal or help it. In the end, I DO NOT see much of a xmit/recv transfer rate difference with a extension cord that I do straight into the wall. If I see one, it may be 5-7 Mbps. So go ahead, sacrifice that so that your kids don't rip out the box out of the wall or break the ethernet connectors. The key is to move it around and find the best performing outlet for YOU.
I can't find many shortcomings of this product. Maybe they could design a power cord for this device so you don't have plug it straight into the wall. One that's tested by them not to impede the signal. That's really all I can think of to improve upon this product.
I'm keeping my set and I already got more on the way to increase the size of my powerline network.
I recently ordered a set of PLA407 adapters off of amazon ZyXEL PLA407 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-Plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 Units) and I fell in love with the plug and play ease of the power-line system. You can see my results and review under that product. I liked those so much though that I decided I would get this 4 Port switch for my basement. Again, it is as easy as plugging it into the wall, and connecting the ethernet cables. Now my Wii, PS3, and DirecTV all have ethernet connections faster than they were getting on WiFi (No more slow PS3 system update downloads for me). I was a little worried since my other adapters were the 200Mbps type that they would have problems talking to the 500Mbps switch, but it is totally backwards compatible. Again, it really is just plug and play.
BalasHapusHow refreshing to find a product perform exactly as it is advertised! Just plug it into any wall socket, connect your ethernet cable to your router and away you go. Plug in another in any room and attach the ethernet cable to your TV, DVD player, or other device and see speeds of at least 10-40Mbs.
BalasHapusI even bought two more for additional Sony Playstations and my Apple TV. I've now had my 4 units for about a month with no problems. I have only one large circuit breaker panel, and my units are in a very large house very far apart. I also found having the extra outlet right in the unit to be essential, since both wall sockets would be covered by the one adapter. Be sure to use at least a Cat 5 CABLE, or unit will not work properly. Tech support was extremely helpful on two occasions--can't recommend them highly enough!
Note, initially had a problem with unit going into 'energy saving' mode and not waking up when there was no ongoing slight power draw. Solved problem by getting an ethernet switch (Datalink 4 port) having something in one of the ports always on standby. Also, when doing a reset, Zyxel tech says to hold in reset button (with paper clip) before and for 10 seconds AFTER replugging Powerlink adapter back into wall socket. Also, if you have an electrical outage and need to reset your router, you may need to also reset each of your Powerline adapters in order.
I've been a network engineer for the last 16 years and I'm questioning the value of a dedicated Ethernet link now. We just moved to a new house with no cabling at all. My first instinct is to run Cat 6 cabling everywhere but I needed something so I could work from my unwired office in the mean time. These things work so great that I might not run Ethernet now. I reliably get several hundred Mbps of traffic through these and I stream multiple HD video streams, corporate VPN traffic and two voice-over-IP streams across this link. It's just as reliable and almost as fast as dedicated Ethernet. I'm seriously impressed.
BalasHapusThis was one of those rare times when a technology just did what it was supposed to right out of the box.
BalasHapusI have an Xbox 360 that sits in the opposite end (on a different floor) of my house from my wireless router and it never got more than 2 bars of signal. I just plugged one of the PLA5205kits into the wall by my router, the other by my Xbox, connected the ethernet cables, and it instantly worked.
Plus, as it advertises, it was a great connection speed for me. Netflix on the Xbox streamed at HD quality and the initial buffer was short. This was a perfect solution to solve the gap in my wireless network coverage.
I've seen a few reviews of this product. My situation is a little different as my install involved getting more than two (i.e. four units) to work together on my Home Network. This requires using the ZyXEL software utility with the ZyXEL unit attached to your computer and giving the unit a Network Name. After confirming the name -- within ten or so seconds -- the unit is supposed to reboot and then be attached to the Network Name you have defined. This needs to be done to each unit. Done properly -- once all units are attached to the Network Name -- they should all be "connected" to each other.
BalasHapusI had issues until I finally figured out that when you are "naming" your Network using the ZyXEL utility -- the first two characters that you type in for the Network name do NOT appear. And yes -- I was and am using the latest revision of the ZyXEL utility. I thought potentially that it was the computer I was using so I repeated the exercise on a different computer and had the same issue. So I "blind" entered the Network name for the first two characters and enter the same Network name defined for all units. Then everything was cool.
The best evidence that everything is good is the fact that my son's XBox 360 is directly attached via one of these units to my Router. He typically is now the HOST for most of his XBox games online where before this never happened with the previous wireless connection to our Home's Router. The advantage of being the HOST for XBox games is that your response time will be faster and in tight gunning situations -- you will typically come out on top.
For those of you upset about not getting the rated 500 Mbps -- my advice is to chill out a little. I typically get around 80 to 120 Mbps on my units which I consider to be BETTER and more RELIABLE than a Wireless network. If you really truly want 500 MBps network speed - then you are going to have to run Ethernet cable in your house.
Good product for the price. Just count on getting 80 to 120 Mbps (10 to 15 MB/sec) with these units.
BalasHapusI bought the PLA4205K from [...] a week ago because it was $15 cheaper that Amazon.com. The kit came in last night. I plugged 1 unit in the upstair den where I have my router/Internet connection and plugged the other unit in the downstair kitchen where I have a VoIP phone. I was able to dial out and receive VoIP phone calls with no problem. Then, I unplugged the VoIP device and plugged in my Macbook Pro to test the effective file transfer speed. I was able to get around 6-7 MB/sec, which is much faster than what I can get from wireless connection through my 5GHz 802.11n Airport Extreme. With the Airport Extreme, I can only get about 1.2MB/sec. Consider the fact that the power outlets are not on the same circuit and signals have to go through the main power panel, it is pretty solid performance to get 6-7MB/sec. Most of the other Powerline adapters can only deliver 1-2MB/sec.
BalasHapus