ZyXEL 500Mbps Powerline Networking $50 shipped

[Zap]

ZyXEL PLA4225 @Buy.com
$49.99 with free shipping (5% Shop Discover cashback)
4 port gigabit switch built in
supposedly all 500Mbps powerline networking devices use the same Atheros chipset

This Amazon review is quite thorough for an end user review.

Not only is this the cheapest 500Mbps device with gigabit port, it has a built-in gigabit 4 port switch. A quick search shows recent hot deals at $67 for this item.

Note that this is for a SINGLE device. You need MULTIPLE devices, one at each endpoint. Unless, that is, you just want to use this as a 4 port gigabit switch, which it'll do just fine on its own.

 

[gigahertz20]

All of the 500Mbps powerline networking units were too slow when I bought them and tried them out a few months ago. The MOCA units I bought fly though, nothing beats wired. It's to bad Netgear discontinued their MOCA units, I bought 4 of them a few months ago from Amazon for $150 total and used them to network my cousin's house. Reviews were great:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-MCAB10...cm_cr-mr-title

The 500Mbps advertised speeds are a joke for powerline networking, you get no where near that. If you're lucky you'll get 5-7 MB/s, with MOCA you should get 9 MB/s or better....and the best thing is no interference like there is with powerline networking adapters.

Smallnetbuilder had a review on the MOCA units:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...thernet-adapter-kit-reviewed?showall=&start=4

"Simply put, MoCA is the only "alternative networking" technology that I have laid hands on that can reliably stream HD video—even 1080p."

 

[PingSpike]

All of the 500Mbps powerline networking units were too slow when I bought them and tried them out a few months ago. The MOCA units I bought fly though, nothing beats wired. It's to bad Netgear discontinued their MOCA units, I bought 4 of them a few months ago from Amazon for $150 total and used them to network my cousin's house. Reviews were great:

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-MCAB10...cm_cr-mr-title

The 500Mbps advertised speeds are a joke for powerline networking, you get no where near that. If you're lucky you'll get 5-7 MB/s, with MOCA you should get 9 MB/s or better....and the best thing is no interference like there is with powerline networking adapters.

Smallnetbuilder had a review on the MOCA units:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...thernet-adapter-kit-reviewed?showall=&start=4

"Simply put, MoCA is the only "alternative networking" technology that I have laid hands on that can reliably stream HD video—even 1080p."

270Base2 LOL. That's pretty interesting, sort of a blast from the past and the future. My house isn't really wired for cable TV either so its really the same problem but that would probably be the better way to go if you had it.

I have some low speed powerline network devices, they do have fairly lame speeds but that is acceptable for some things. I wish it was easier to wire my upstairs after the fact.

 

[etrin]

I got a pair of these when Egg had them for 59
they are not bad. I even tried playing some BD from my nas and I only saw a couple of hickups.
BUT there are soooo many variables, same circuit, same phase etc.
overall I like them because its not a 1 to 1 but it has a switch in the destination so I have 4 tv devices plugged into it.

would I do it again..probably.
worst thing is watching friends saying SOON we will have wireless to the tv and all will be well.
SURE but I think it will be 7 years after the rapture.

 

[Zap]

Here's my question... do the powerline stuff have dropouts like wireless can? Or is it a pretty steady connection?

And yeah, I've considered the fact that it has a 4 port switch. I can probably put 3 of those ports to use already.

 

[Hardlin]

I use these throughout my house and have never had dropouts. I switched from wireless to them for the better reliability in the house.

 

[Dravic]

great deal if these are at least as good as the 200mbps last gen. I was able to get all of my FIOS speeds (25/25 at the time) in my office with these.

I also used MOCA bridges in the basement to deliver networking to the Home entertainment center over the RG6 cable.. Worked pretty good with the belkin Moca Bridges along with the FIOS router.

Id go with these over wired for a LAN connection all day every day. Wireless should be left to mobile devices that don't have an option IMHO.

Blessing and a curse... my new house is only 1 floor (moved from DE to CA) and under 2k sqft so i just home ran every room with cat5e to a gigabit switch in the garage., and have an wireless AP in the center of the house.

no more trying to get solid net connections throughout a 3 floor 5k sqft mcmansion....

 

[AFurryReptile]

I've had three of these Zyxel powerline adapters (although they were different models,) and two of them completely burnt out after just a year of use.

Even before that the connection was flaky, packets were dropped all over the place, and the overall experience was unimpressive. Buy at your own risk, imo.

 

[kmmatney]

Here's my question... do the powerline stuff have dropouts like wireless can? Or is it a pretty steady connection?

And yeah, I've considered the fact that it has a 4 port switch. I can probably put 3 of those ports to use already.

I have WD powerline adapter going from by basement to the family room and while I don't get dropouts, it is too slow to stream higher resolution movies from my server to my WD player. It could just be a problem with my WD player, though. If I copy the movie to a USB stick and hook it directly to the player, then it plays fine. I don't have any trouble playing lower bandwidth stuff like Youtube videos. I do like the fact that it has 4 ports - I have a blu-ray player and DirectTV box also hooked up to it.

I'll run a speed test and see what I get...

 

[donfm]

It's sold out the deal is DEAD!

 

[kmmatney]

Well, maybe my house has bad wiring, but the performance of my powerline adapters absolutely sucks. I ran some speed tests to broadrandreports:

1) Using ethernet (through 2 switches) to the router:

latency: 20 ms
download: 24000 kb/s
up: 4100 kb/s

2) Going through powerline adapter in family room (about 20 feet away)

latency: 755 ms
download: 313 kb/s
up: 56 kb/s

3) Using my laptop wireless at same location in family room. G-speed

latency: 22 ms
down: 15000 kb/s
upload: 5100 kb/s

Wholy crap, the powerline adapter is slow! No wonder I can't play high-res movies through the powerline adapter. This really sucks. My whole house was wired for ethernet by the builder, but the line going behind the TV in the family doesn't work. I wish they still sold that coax-ethernet adpater as I do have a spare coax line going right there. I haven't had any dropouts in the powerline adapter in over a year, but it's just really slow. I'm nnot trying to knock the deal, but just be aware that there are things that are beyond your control that may limit the speed to these devices.