Netgear's CES lineup bridges and extenders
If you were following our Netgear liveblog, you'd have seen that the networking company's dropping all sorts of gear on CES. We've got a quick roundup of all their bridges and extenders. First up is the gear for those of you looking to get your bits shoved through the network of Romex electrical wiring snaking through your apartment/house/castle. The Powerline AV Ethernet Kit (XAVB101) and Powerline HD Plus Ethernet Adapter Kit (HDXB111) – based on the HomePlug AV and UPA-based standards respectively – feature built-in power sockets so you're not losing your pad's valuable gadget-juice ports and built-in quality of service (QoS) so you're not losing your bits either.
Chances are you've got more copper in your walls that's not being fully exploited and Netgear's not about to let that happen on their watch. They're touting their MOEB1002 as "the first industry-standard and MSO-certified MoCA Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge based upon the MoCA 1.1 specification in the first half of 2008." The target audience is folks that need the extra bandwidth (270Mbps to be exact) for high-def video or "teh gamerz" always looking to keep those ping times down.
Speaking of games, if you've just got to go wireless they're offering the HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit which includes two WNHDB111 units (pictured), marketed for streaming hi-def vids and playing online games. The WNHDB111 can be used as a standalone bridge or a 5-Mhz 802.11n access point if coupled up with your existing router, meaning you can drag that slow, old 802.11b router kicking and screaming into 2008. You can purchase the unit individually for $129.99 or get two of 'em in the WNHDEB111 Networking for $229.99. Check out our hands-on gallery here.
Along the same lines is the RangeMax Wireless Signal Extender (WPN824EXT) which is an "affordable solution" to extend your existing 802.11g network, which may have just a little bit of trouble stretching its way across your entire compound. It's got a bunch of internal antennas and, uh ... that's about it.
Last but not least, if you can't go wireless and your log cabin doesn't have any power plugs or cable lines to sneak your bits through (how are you running this computer system anyways?), they've got the NETGEAR Plastic Optical Fiber Ethernet Adapter (PF101) which is essentially a bridge allowing you to transmit ethernet data at 100Mbps over a very thin fiber-optic cable up to 50m in length. That means it should be easier to sneak under the carpet or run on top of your baseboards ... or that hole you need to drill in your log cabin could be thinner. Whatever.
