Netgear intros 2-in-1 Powerline Network Extender

Netgear's looking to make powerline networking a tad more convenient with its new XEPS103 Powerline Network Extender, which will let you spread your network from any old router to any electrical outlet in your house. What's more, if you also happen to have a compatible Netgear router, you can simply ditch your old power adapter and replace it with the extender. While it won't give you a 200Mbps transfer rate, you'll still get a decent 85Mbps, which you can put to use with any HomePlug 1.0 Powerline device. Those that just need the extender can get one now for $80, with a bundle including Netgear's XE103 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Adapter set to follow later this summer for an unspecified price.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jun 11th 2007 6:42PM]

Brilliant concept, but Powerline is still terribly overpriced :(

[Juaquin @ Jun 11th 2007 7:00PM]

Very cool. If I somehow had a need for it, it's a great solution given I have a Netgear router.

[OddManOut @ Jun 11th 2007 7:21PM]

"While it won't give you a 200Mbps transfer rate, you'll still get a decent 85Mbps..."

No...I don't think you will. You'll get maybe 20 - 25 mbps tops at any kind of distance that makes it worthwhile.
In my house I tried for a brief time to use the old 14mbps gear, it averaged about 6mbps...decent enough to share broadband in 2002 - 2005, but the bridges didn't like being plugged into switches (so you needed one per machine), and the whole thing was pretty succeptable to noise (you couldn't plug the bridges into the same outlet group that your PC was plugged into, unless you were using a UPS...the DC conversion blocked all the noise from the PSU, otherwise it would obliterate your signal).

I tried upgrading a few months ago to the backward compatible 85mbps stuff. Accross the same segment it averaged 900kbps, and it was highly unstable (cutting out all the time).

Admittedly, we have poor wiring and a lot of electronics on the line at my place, but when you consider how much noise your house wiring picks up and the fact that the very nature of this tech is basicaly a hub architechture it's not really reasonable to expect to get the theoretical limits of devices like these...

Still, it was and is better than wifi in my house. I've got so much stuff running in my room alone, I'm barely able to get a connection accross the room.

HPNA was better in my opinion, I sure hope version 3.0/3.1 makes a comeback after the sad demise of version 2.0...

[Paul @ Jun 11th 2007 8:17PM]

My apartment complex is fairly new and has 4 pairs of copper running to each apartment. It comes in the kitchen, goes to the first bedroom, then goes to the second bedroom. A quick addition of female rj-45 connectors and we now have a gigabit connection between our two rooms..

Anyone with a screwdriver to take the faceplate off can do this, and you only need 2 pairs for 100mbps so if you are in an older building that doesn't have 4 pairs, or you need one pair for a phone line, you can still get 100mbps ethernet out of the existing copper infrastructure

[telepheedian @ Jun 11th 2007 9:52PM]

I once setup a powerline network, where nothing else was feasible, it's a great way to spread the internet in your house, if your cable line and wireless router are in a concrete covered basement, and you need internet upstairs.

[Travis @ Jun 12th 2007 6:20PM]

I don't see how this is better than the Powerline stuff netgear already has? Other than the fact you can use the DC cable to power your existing router? What market is this for exactly? It seems to me the stand alone powerline stuff netgear offers is the same, only a lot better.