Netgear Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter review

It was only in What's New, Shopper November 2006 that we reviewed 85Mbit/s HomePlug adaptors that let you run a network over your existing power cables, but faster products are already being released.

This month we have competing products from Devolo and Netgear, with both claiming to run at 200Mbit/s.

Devolo's DLAN 200 AVdesk Starter Kit includes two adaptors and all the cables you need. This version has desktop units that look a little like wireless routers, but Devolo will also be selling all-in-one plugs. Netgear's Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter is available as individual packs, so it works out a little more expensive than Devolo's kit for two. Netgear has gone for an all-in-one plug design, with the Ethernet port placed neatly on the right-hand side of the plug. You'll have to be careful plugging them in, though: if you have double plug sockets, there's not enough room to plug the Ethernet cable into the Ethernet Adapter if you already have a large adaptor in the socket on the right.

Both products are incredibly simple to get working and just need plugging in. The adaptors then find each other over your power cables and make the connection. Netgear's Ethernet Adapter shows it's connected when a blue light turns on; Devolo's AVdesk adaptors have a dedicated status LED that turns on when the products are connected.

At this point you can plug your PC, router or other network equipment in and you've got a network. You can also do some configuration. Both companies provide simple tools to password-protect your connection, which stops your neighbours from hopping on your network.

For Devolo this is as much configuration as you need to do, but Netgear's software offers an extra choice: a coexistence mode. This is because Netgear uses a proprietary standard instead of the HomePlug AV standard. The coexistence mode makes sure that Netgear's Ethernet Adapters can work in the same environment as HomePlug kit. It doesn't make it compatible with HomePlug certified kit, though, and Netgear's Powerline HD Ethernet Adapters cannot work with Devolo's DLAN 200 adaptors.

Devolo has used the HomePlug AV standard for its adaptors, so they'll work with any other 200Mbit/s HomePlug-certified equipment. They're not backwards-compatible with older 85Mbit/s and 14Mbit/s standards, but they'll happily coexist together.

Both products performed well. Negear's Powerline HD Ethernet Adapters outperformed Devolo's adaptors slightly when running in proprietary mode. However, in the coexistence mode, the performance dropped to 27.1Mbit/s, which is worse than some of the 85Mbit/s HomePlug kit we've reviewed. Plugging a lamp into the same double plug socket and turning it on also caused the performance of Netgear's adaptors to fluctuate widely, while Devolo's adaptors handled the interference well.

The only problem we had with Devolo's kit was that when we were running our throughput test it interrupted our wireless mouse's signal. We had to move its receiver in front of the adaptors to sort it out.

Powerline networking has come a long way and the 200Mbit/s kit is faster than wireless and suitable for streaming HD video. You're likely to see faster throughputs at home, as our office has a lot more plugs and equipment connected, which degrade performance. Netgear's Powerline HD Adapters were slightly faster in tests, but are hard to recommend as they use proprietary technology. Devolo's DLAN 200 AVdesk Starter Kit is better value, only slightly slower in our test and will work with any HomePlug AV-certified devices, making it our Best Buy.

Author: David Ludlow