Rating: Summary: Sets up in minutes. Works like a charm Review: I was up and running in 5 minutes. No software to install. I favor the powerline networking over wireless for the following reasons: 1) easier to setup. No settings to config. 2) more secure. No need to worry about broadcasting a signal over the air 3) faster than wireless. I would typically get weak signal and poor speeds, even though I was not located far from my Wireless A/P. The powerline adapter blows away my wireless setup any day. Sure the novelty of being wireless is cool, but I prefer the speed, reliability and security that the powerline provides. When I want to work from another room, or my patio outside, I take the powerline adapter with me and plug it into the nearest outlet. Great product.
Rating: Summary: It worked great right out of the box Review: I've been using wireless networking for a couple of years with good, but variable, results. When it works, speeds are fine and I have no complaints. Depending on which room of the house I'm in, however, the signal is spotty and sometimes drops out altogether. I'll reach behind my computer and move the antenna a little and everything works again, but it's annoying, especially if it happens in the middle of a big download.I bought three Netgear XE102 Adapters from amazon and plugged them in last night. They worked on the first try. I didn't even take the manuals out of the shrink wrap. These were truly plug-n-play. Performance was excellent in every room. I did have to use the Windows XP network wizard to reconfigure things -- this took about 30 seconds and worked flawlessly -- but that was the only setup required. I tested download speeds from the Internet and they were the same as with my wireless setup (75 kbytes on a DSL connection), but the connection was rock-solid, which resulted in a much better surfing experience. Also, the room-to-room connections were MUCH better, making file transfer, etc. much faster. By the way, in one room I'm plugged in via a 3-in-1 plug. In another I'm connected through a surge protector. In the third room the adapter is plugged into an extension cord. None of these things hampered the performance. If you're dissatisfied with spotty wireless performance, give these a try. They worked for me.
Rating: Summary: Simple extension to Wi-FI Review: I've got a large old house, with a Wi-Fi router in the basement. It provides fine coverage in the basement office and throughout the ground floor, but there's no way to reach another home office in the attic. Moreover, there was no viable way to pull ethernet cable vertically since the walls are solid plaster. These Powerline adapters from Netgear were just what the doc ordered! They were remarkably easy to install, and allowed me to extend my broadband to an attic office where there's a Mac (the rest of the house is Windows-based). Unfortunately, Netgear's software doesn't provide security for the Mac, but the broadband connection via powerline is remarkably strong -- and has no noticeable effect on the rest of the WLAN.
Rating: Summary: Not as good as HPNA Review: I've had a phoneline (HPNA 2.0) network running fine for a couple of years but need to go to two bridges because Linux support for the HPNA NICs is difficult. Two powerline bridges was cheaper than one more HPNA bridge, so they were worth a try, especially since the phone wiring in this house is pretty screwy. I guess the power wiring is worse, because these two bridges couldn't maintain a connection over more than a few rooms' distance. They were about as good as HPNA 1.0, which isn't very good in a big house. I found another Linksys HPB 200 on EBay and expect that should work.
Rating: Summary: Not as good as HPNA Review: I've had a phoneline network running for a couple of years with no problems, but Linux support for HPNA NICs is difficult so I needed a second bridge to link Cat-5 hubs. Two of these powerline bridges were cheaper than another HPNA 2.0 so I tried converting over. ... Our big house must have even worse power wiring than our screwy phonelines, because the bridges couldn't maintain a connection more than a few rooms apart. They worked about as well as HPNA 1.0 did, which isn't good enough.
Rating: Summary: It works! Review: It bridges two point. Never drops signal like WiFi. Near theoretical speed 13.4M. No brainer. Just get it if you need to run CAT5 cable at home.
Rating: Summary: Great product . . . and solves an 802.11b issue Review: Like pretty much everybody else reviewing the XE102, I've been very happy with this product. Ease of setup is unmatched, and the performance seems to be better (and more reliable) than 802.11b. With wireless, I frequently had to wait for the microwave to finish before my signal would return, and my wife was getting sick of my telling her to switch the channel on the 2.4Ghz phone. But ultimately, the powerline adapter became a necessity for me. Once a month, I handle technical support for my company's software package. And support means accessing customer sites via VPN if problems arise. There are a half dozen different VPN packages that all conflict with one another, so we've had to use Virtual PC (formerly from Connectix, now from Microsoft) to keep everything separate. Unfortunately the required networking settings to make Virtual PC work with the VPN clients are NOT compatible with 802.11b. It has to do with a part of that standard that doesn't let the adapter transmit packets with other MAC addresses. In any case, for about $140 for pair of these, I resolved the issue. And I saved a lot of money I would've spent to run Cat 5 or get a new phone jack installed so I could move my DSL router. I still use the wireless for my laptop, but my desktop machine stays hooked up with the XE102. I'm also planning on buying another one for my TiVo.
Rating: Summary: Powerline Networking Rocks!! Review: My wife wanted a computer on the kitchen counter with Internet access (connected to my cable modem). My WiFi access point didn't have the range to make it clear across my house to the kitchen. Bought two of these Netgear powerline adapters and it worked like a charm. Took more time to unwrap the package than it did to get this to work. Just plug one on each end, and you're done. I don't know why more people haven't discovered powerline networking.
Rating: Summary: Discontinued. Review: Netgear actually is recalling this particular product. Think it is kind of obvious why, "What happened when you try to plug a low voltage wire into a High voltage wire?" it starts on fire. The recall is on this product because they can be a fire hazard. That aside the issue with these items is that they have to be on the same circuit in the building. If the two rooms that you are trying to network are on different circuits these will not work. Other than it being a brilliant invention I would not use these in my house. I suggest using two wireless network card "Wireless B" and set them up for "AD-HOC" mode so they connect to each other.
Rating: Summary: Awesome, and then some. Review: Plug it in and you are done. No joke. It is the easiest thing to set up - it couldn't get any easier. It truly is that simple - use 3, 4, or even 5 units in your home. The CD is needed only when you want to, at your leisure, put in a password. At 14 Mbps, it is faster than most wireless networks, and the signal is more reliable. Also, this is perfect for GAMING - the signal will be more consistent than those with wireless.
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