Comtrend PowerGrid 902 Powerline Ethernet Adapters Comments

Talk about false advertising, the 200mbps their on about is the physical connection to the network card. 100mbps upload and 100mbps download. I doubt it would reach that speed, even if plugged in right next to each other in a double adapter. Maybe you should try that to see if it reaches anywhere near that speed.

I've got a similar setup at home and it's incredibly useful for kit that doesn't come with wireless access. I already had a hub hanging around so adding something like this to my network gave me a quick (well, quick enough) link to let a 360 and PC access the net quite happily without any of the setup quirks or potential security issues of adding another wireless bridge. Not a solution for everyone but for those who either can't or don't want to use wireless they work very well (just check everything's on one fuse board!)

Any comments regarding how these compare with the Solwise equivalents that you have previously reviewed?

Any word on when those Belkin AV+ units are coming to the UK? You know, the one with 3 ports at the bottom. Been waiting for those to show up (a TR review would be great)

@Justin:

Right next to each other is even worse. They don't actually use the mains cabling as a direct connection; instead they use it as a big aerial to transmit a wireless signal.
That's why it works even if you put it on a different ring main.
It still worries me though, putting that much RF into a power circuit used for sensitive devices (PC, TV, BD player etc.).

The speed isn't that bad to be honest - 32-38 Mbps is more than fast enough to share an ADSL broadband connection without bottlenecking, and for LAN gaming, streaming audio and video (maybe not high bandwidth HD) and transferring all but the largest files at reasonable pace. Yes you'd get better performance by hard wiring CAT 5 all round your house, but that's a slightly bigger job than plugging in a pair of these.

It is significantly faster than the real maximum throughput seen on most so-called "54 Mbps" 802.11g wireless networks, and in a house with decent wiring the signal should hopefully reach further with less drop in speed than Wi-Fi. And to cap it all, they're a breeze to install.

I have a couple of the 85Mbps Solwise plugs and a Solwise ethernet + Wireless plug and I absolutely love 'em. So easy to install, brilliant, consistent results and I never have any problems streaming HD content over 100ft away. Highly recommended...if you've got good, solid house wiring - great for a block of flats too.

I got these like many others with my BT vision package. I am very impressed and find them a godsend compared to my previous set-up.

I have a studio at the end of my garden and I used to use a wireless network to get internet access down there. It was never a perfect set-up, even with wifi boosters etc..

since using the powerline, I now have my router in the front room sharing the telephone line for the SKY box, I plug my BT vision directly into the router and the other LAN connection goes into the powerline. I simply turn on the power in the studio and within seconds Im ready to go.

The speed is very similar to what I get up in the house. My studio connection consists of 1 laptop, 1 PC and an XBOX, the power line in the studio can host all of these by connecting to an Ethernet hub/switch to it.

In conclusion, the powerline is a great solution.

Laugh if you want, but I have an old Netgear XE102 Homeplug setup, with a blistering transfer rate of 14Mbps. I find it fine for web surfing!

Ed, thanks. The point i was trying to make was that 100Mbps Ethernet Adapters are actually 200Mbps when in full duplex mode, ie you can transmit and recieve at 100Mbps at the same time, so their not actually lying, they are just using the ethernet connection statistics to say what you connect to the individual point via lan cable at, knowing full well that you will never reach the full 100Mbps upload and 100Mbps download at the same time. That said I do think that this is a very good product, and very reliable technology. Much better than wireless, as in my experience it is much more stable a connection than wireless, just wish that companies would be more honest with their connection statistics.

Power Line Adapters (PLAs) whilst seemingly a good solution to home
networking are essentially a very poor technology. They pollute the
radio spectrum, interfere with your neighbours radio (preventing
reception of Short Wave broadcasts) and do not adhere to the European
EMC directives.

They rely upon your internal house wiring to pass signals between
units. Unfortunately, your house wiring is a good ariel and these
signals go far beyond your house, many 100s of yards and in some cases
get into external telephone lines and street wiring and have even been
known to radiate from lamp posts. The units effectively become the
same as an illegal radio transmitter.

The government and OFCOM know the problems regarding PLAs and will
respond when complaints are made by your neighbours, by removing the
devices, so please ensure that the retailer has a sale or return
policy. In a lot of cases involving BT, this translates to BT
replacing the PLAs with CAT5 cabling.

Home networking has a perfectly good wireless system based on the IEEE
802.11 standard (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11). This
is commonly called WiFi and operates at frequencies (2.4GHz) that do
not interfere with other equipment. It is legal, adheres to all
European EMC directives and allows you to transfer your broadband and
gaming system throughout the house.

There are campaigns afoot both at local and governmental level to have
PLAs removed from the shops and banned. Australia has already taken
steps to ban PLA devices.

So in reality, they are not such a good idea after all.

Steve Redway :
Power Line Adapters (PLAs) whilst seemingly a good solution to home
networking are essentially a very poor technology : I believe that the 50mbps (real world usage) I manage to get from my powerline adaptors demonstrates that this technology is very far from poor. I get 4 times the performance I had from my old 802.11g network.

Unfortunately, your house wiring is a good ariel and these
signals go far beyond your house, many 100s of yards and in some cases
get into external telephone lines and street wiring and have even been
known to radiate from lamp posts : Whilst maybe true, maybe not - As the signals are encrypted why would this worry me? I cannot comment on the legality but the hundreds of thousands of these devices that are currently being used in the UK demonstrate that perhaps the legality issue that you raise isn't quite the issue you make it out to be.

In a lot of cases involving BT, this translates to BT replacing the PLAs with CAT5 cabling : So why do BT still sell them? and can you quantify this please? I find it hard to believe BT have replaced many (if any?) houses powerline installations with CAT5.

Home networking has a perfectly good wireless system based on the IEEE
802.11 standard (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11) : 802.11g (which was the best avaiable when i constructed my network) was woefully inadaquete when streaming HD video, Powerline does it fantastically. A brief trial of 802.11N has shown it to be just about satisfactory, however as soon as other traffic goes over the network i get frequent stuttering /buffering of video.

Australia has already taken steps to ban PLA devices : I do not live in australia.

Hello, Can you help me with a question please? If I connect 1 Comtrend PLA to my modem (sfr-neufbox .. I live in France and these have just become available here)and I plug the other in downstairs, having configured them both as you describe; will I be able to connect my Linksys WRT54GL router to the EP and configure the Linksys as an access point to extend my wifi network? We live in an old stone house and the wifi won't reach from one end to the other, despite the modem being at the highest point I can get it!
Thanks in advance - any suggestions gratefully received.