Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001)

• Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001)
• Performance

It?s hard to beat the convenience of a home Wi-Fi network but it can?t touch wired connectivity when it comes to throughput speed. Unfortunately, wiring your home with CAT-5 cabling can get expensive and messy if you don?t know what you?re doing. Enter Netgear?s Powerline AV 500 Powerline Adapter Kit ($159.99 list), an incredibly easy to use solution that turns every power outlet in your home into a Gigabit wired Ethernet port. In my testing, the AV 500 delivered almost ten times the transfer speed of my Wi-Fi router. While that's less than a wired connection, it's just fine for streaming movies and transferring large data files and folders.?

Features and Design
The AV 500 kit consists of two XAV5001 Powerline adapters, two 6.5 foot Ethernet cables, and a Resource CD containing a Powerline Utility and an Installation Guide. Unfortunately, the disc does not include a user manual; instead, it provides a link to an online manual, which may be inconvenient if you?re having trouble getting the adapters to work for some reason. However, the odds of that happening are slim to none as Powerline technology is the epitome of plug and play.

Each adapter measures 3.3 by 2.5 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a little less than half a pound (0.4 pounds). The front of the housing has a glossy white finish and has the Netgear logo etched into the center and a blue Powerline AV 500 label at the bottom. At the top are three LED indicators; the power indicator glows a solid green when electrical power is on and blinks green when the adapter is starting up and running through the security setup process. An amber light indicates that the adapter has gone into power saving mode, which happens when the port is not linked for more than ten minutes. The Powerline indicator is solid green when a connection is made to the network, and it blinks when the adapter is receiving and sending data. It remains unlit if a compatible adapter with the same encryption key cannot be found, or if the adapter has been disabled via the Powerline Utility. This indicator also tells you how strong the link rate is for each electrical outlet. A green light means the link rate is better than 80 Mbps, amber means less than 80 Mbps but greater than 50 Mbps, and a red light means less than 50 Mbps.

On the right side of the adapter are a security button and a recessed factory reset button. The security button makes it easy to set a private encryption key that can be used across your entire Powerline network, and the reset button returns the adapter to its original factory defaults. On the bottom of the adapter is a single Ethernet port. Despite the vented casing designed to prevent the adapter from overheating while plugged in and running, the adapter was still quite warm to the touch after 15 minutes of use.

Installation
Powerline AV 500 installation is as easy as it gets as long as you follow a few simple rules of thumb. Always plug the adapter directly into the electrical socket; do not use extension cords, power strips, or surge protectors. Try to use an outlet that does not have power hungry appliances plugged into it, such as a washer, dryer, or refrigerator, and make sure that the outlets to be used are on the same circuit and use the same breaker box, otherwise they will not be able to communicate with each other.? For this reason Powerline adapters may not work in large apartment complexes or office buildings. You?ll also need an existing network and a router.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/1h4m5KY74z8/0,2817,2398207,00.asp

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