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Belkin Gigabit Powerline adapters boast 'ideal' speed of 1,000 Mbps
Home networks, formerly the territory of geeks only, are now as common as microwaves — just set up a Wi-Fi base station and you're done. Still, anyone in need of serious bandwidth may lament any compromise in performance that a wireless connection might bring. But stringing cable is such a hassle. Is there a happy medium?
Belkin thinks so. Its $150 Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit, available now, promises the convenience of wireless with the performance of a wired connection. The kit transmits data over your home's existing electrical lines: Just connect one adapter to your network hub, and the other wherever you've got your game console, PC or HDTV. Data transmission over power lines is nothing new, but Belkin's new toy brings to the table high speed, boasting an ideal transmission rate of 1,000 Mbps (by comparison, the new iPhone 3GS is capable of 7.2 Mbps over 3G networks).
Of course, that "ideal" caveat lets Belkin get away with a lot. But after using an 802.11n Wi-Fi base station for a few months and never getting close to its ideal data rate, this kit is actually looking pretty good. Anyone else disappointed with wireless tempted to make the switch?
Via Belkin
By murc at 6:29 PM ON 06/22/09
interesting...
so no matter which outlet I choose...every outlet in my house become essentially an ethernet jack...???
By MacBeth at 6:33 PM ON 06/22/09
Thats how it sounds to me and if its true it would be awesome! I need to get a new router anyway, since D-link sucks so bad, and this would be perfect.
By BugBomb at 10:38 PM ON 06/22/09
High speed LAN is ONLY usefull for LOCAL applications (LAN partys, network file transfer, HD streaming within a network). The fastest broadband speed I have ever seen advertised is 20Mbps. If you're only getting 20Mbps, then a 300Mbps (wireless N) or 1000Mbps (Gigabit) pipe is just wasted for internet purposes. So It's a weird subject, if you have a lot of movies saved that you watch localy, then bandwith would matter a little. Otherwise, it a silly argument.
By Bite_Me at 6:08 AM ON 06/23/09
BugBomb: This is Precisely what this is meant for... LANing purposes and and overall speed between modem and device. Ideally for streaming media (especially HD media) across a home network. Plus the boost in back-and-forth speed for internet doesn't hurt your chances in gaming either, does it?
And I had more but it got deleted when i tried to post -_-
By BoxerFanatic at 1:15 PM ON 06/23/09
This is basically a gigabit remote hub for your house. To put Gig-E in your house without running Cat5e or Cat6 all over your house.
In old houses, this can be quite useful. But of course it is not an ISP-connection device. It is a home network distribution device.
I only wonder about it's security... is the network visible further 'up' the line than your home's circuit breaker box...
How is the transfer speed between two separate circuit runs, compared to whether the devices are plugged into the same circuit run...
By DougonIPComm at 4:56 PM ON 06/23/09
Dont' know what neighborhood you guys live in but, Verizon FiOS is being advertised at 50 Mbps speeds on the high end.
And Cox has launched 50/5 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem speeds in the Northern VA area, so you can/will be able to get faster broadband pipes, depending on where you live and who wants your dollars the hardest
By Wild Handyman at 5:49 PM ON 06/23/09
Would this unit actually give you internet access throughout your whole house or, since most houses have two different 110V circuits, just the half of the electrical circuits that the master unit is plugged into?
By slomo at 4:27 PM ON 06/29/09
the units are horrible. THey are hot and slow. THey cannot sustain video streams for 1 second. I heat my cassarole on them. the name should be 10Mbps
By kingtat at 3:35 AM ON 07/05/09
ok so i can see some benifits for LAN setups i have 5 tvs and 46 computers hooked up on att u verse....sometimes things get a bit glitchy, so the boost in ability would help...true test would be the LAN i set up with 8 SOCOM players in my house....check that then well see
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kingtat:
ok so i can see some benifits for LAN setups i have 5 tvs and 46 computers hooked up on att u verse....sometimes...More »