However, they're not always cheap, as you can see from our Linksys Powerline HomePlug AV2 Kit review that includes two wall adapters for around. The adapters themselves are ludicrously simple to install − quite literally 'plug and play'. Netgear's Powerline 500 boosts the range of your Wi-Fi Who makes the best Powerline kit? They're also both backwards compatible with 500Mbps AV2 and older HomePlug AV hardware. Both feature MIMO technology, handy power-saving standby modes, auto-connectivity and data encryption. TP-LINK also launched a Gigabit Powerline adapter (TP-PA8010). At CES 2014, TRENDnet announced a new Powerline 1000 adapter kit (TPL-420E2K), which effectively doubles the theoretical 500Mbps AV2 data rate. Powerline speeds are about to get faster. Good, but nowhere near the 500Mbps theoretical maximum. For example, in our Linksys Powerline HomePlug AV2 Kit PLEK500 review, we recorded network speeds of up to 107.28Mbps. In practice, the first wave of HomePlug AV2 products was rated at 500Mbps, although as we've seen the real-world speeds are typically a lot less than this. What is HomePlug AV2?Īccording to, "HomePlug AV2 enables even more powerful performance and coverage for broadband networking over powerline wires, making it faster than ever to handle the most demanding online services and applications." Enter the HD and 3D video-friendly HomePlug AV2, which incorporates MIMO technology to send data over the fastest two wires in a typical three-wire (live, neutral and ground) home electrical system. Most recently, January 2012 saw the release of a newer, faster version of the HomePlug Powerline standard. In 2005, a revamped HomePlug AV boosted the rate even higher, claiming 200Mbps on the box (80-90Mbps in tests) − more than enough to cope with audio and video streaming, hence the 'AV' tag. A 'Turbo' upgrade boosted the maximum throughput of version 1.0 to 85Mbps (real-world speeds of around 20Mbps). The original HomePlug 1.0 standard (IEEE 1901) accelerated out of the blocks at a somewhat pedestrian 14Mbps, although real-world speeds were closer to 5Mbps. As electricity uses 50/60Hz signals, extra data can be transported along the same wiring at much higher frequencies, without causing any interference. The electrical wiring in the average home can support a variety of frequencies. In fact, the power companies have been sending control signals over the mains since the 1920s − it's how electricity meters know when to switch to an off-peak rate. Sending signals across a home's electrical wiring isn't a 21st century idea. Modern Powerline kit also encourages you to password protect your adapters, adding an extra layer of protection. As data is sent across the copper wiring in your home, it can't be hacked or misused from the outside. Powerline technology is arguably more secure than a wireless network too. Powerline is a neat and effective networking solution. It's also ideal for connecting old devices to the Internet that don't have built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, avoiding cluttering up your living room with a tangle of Ethernet cables. Powerline is a bridging technology, often useful for extending the reach of a home network to places where your wireless coverage is poor, or where you need the fastest connection possible − a games console, perhaps, or an Apple TV. But the technology has several advantages over Wi-Fi, namely consistent speeds, reliability, security and ease-of-use. If you've already got a wireless hub, you might not see the point of incorporating Powerline adapters into your home network. But the newest Powerline products now support Gigabit-class networking. When the first HomePlug Powerline standard was introduced in 2001, data speeds were limited to a sluggish 14Mbps. The adapters auto-detect each other (no drivers, no lengthy configuration process) and auto-connect, enabling data packets to whizz from router to TV, travelling along the Ethernet cable, into the first adapter, across the electrical wiring in the walls, out into the second adapter and into the TV.
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