NETGEAR HDXB101 Powerline HD Ethernet Kit Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought a pair of HDXB101 boxes in the hope that they might offer a reliable replacement for the 802.11g boxes I'm currently using. Boy was I disappointed.I live in a recently refurbished apartment, with all new electrical wiring. In principle, this should offer an optimal environment for powerline networking.
While setup was as easy as the box claimed - it was literally a matter of plugging the two boxes into the wall, and everything worked immediately - it quickly became clear that the performance was not going to work out.
A quick word of caution before I continue: please read most of the positive reviews of this device, and notice that they are doing very unchallenging things, like streaming music. Music streaming is extremely tolerant of both poor bandwidth (bytes per second) and high latency (time it takes data to get from A to B). If all you want to do is stream MP3s and browse the web, this hardware is perfectly decent.
However, for even the most slightly challenging application, the performance is horrifying. I measured the latency between my two HDXB101 boxes, and it was consistently atrocious, even when the two were plugged into two sockets of a paired wallmount.
To give you an idea of "atrocious", my 802.11g network consistently gives a latency of 1.2 milliseconds. My gigabit ethernet network is more like 0.1 milliseconds. The *best* number I got out of the Netgear hardware was 3.5 milliseconds, and the *average* was 55 milliseconds. Holy cow! That means my bedroom and living room are as far apart, in terms of latency, as California and Germany! This is an amazingly bad number.
But what's much worse is that the number is extremely jittery. There were constant stalls of up to one second in duration, with delays of 150 milliseconds or more happening several times a second. This is the sort of thing you won't notice at all if you're playing music or viewing web pages, but it makes gaming incredibly frustrating.
The unpredictable latency has a strong negative effect on bandwidth, too.The box advertises 200 megabits per second. At no time have I measured more than 3.3 megabits per second, slightly over 1.5% of the advertised peak performance. This isn't even enough to saturate my DSL line, and is perhaps 50% slower than my wireless network. Needless to say, there's no way you're going to stream anything more than Youtube-quality video (i.e. really cheesy low bitrate) over a link like this.
In case you're interested in tinkering with configuration options to improve performance, forget about it: there are no tunable options to tweak.
In summary, the bandwidth and latency on this hardware are just shockingly bad. Unless you live in a house with lead-lined rooms and have literally no other option for getting a network signal from one place to another, you should avoid this hardware like the plague.

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The NETGEAR HDXB101 Powerline HD Network Kit turns any electrical power outlet into a network connection. This kit comes equipped with two HDX101 Powerline HD Ethernet Adapters. If you're looking for a fast, easy way to provide Ethernet connectivity to just about any device in your home, then this handy adapter is an excellent solution. The HDXB101 gives you the bandwidth you need for high-quality video streaming, gaming, and VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), without the headaches of running expensive Ethernet cables all over your home.With simple plug-and-play installation, this device turns any electrical outlet into a network connection. This compact, handy device delivers up to 200 Mbps to any outlet, and with no software required, you'll be ready to network your home right out of the box.
This is an ideal solution for connecting PCs, game consoles, digital media adapters such as NETGEAR's EVA8000 to your home network. Here's how it works: plug one HDX101 into your router and a nearby electrical socket, then plug the second HDX101 into any electrical socket that is conveniently located near the device you want to network. Each HDX101 has a built-in Quality of Service (QoS) that enables smooth streaming, awesome gaming performance, and uninterrupted VoIP telephone calls. The bottom line is, you get a powerful, seamless home network that runs on your existing wiring.
The Powerline HD Network Kit makes it a breeze to transfer large files to a network storage device, such as the NETGEAR Storage Central Turbo SC101 or the ReadyNAS NV+ RND4250. It supports up to 16 HDX101 units on one home network; and it easily coexists with a host of NETGEAR's HomePlug compatible products. Additional HDX101 units are available and can be purchased separately.
System requirements include a device for connection, e.g. an available RJ-45 Ethernet port, and Microsoft Windows Vista, XP or 2000 to modify encryption and settings. Microsoft Vista drivers are available at www.netgear.com/vista.
Note: Although the HDXB101 may coexist with HomePlug 1.0 products, it is not compatible or interoperable with NETGEAR's XE104, XEPS103, XE103, XE102, or WGXB102 Powerline products.
In addition, this device can deliver up to 200 Mbps of throughput. The actual data throughput will vary depending on network conditions and environmental factors, such as network traffic volume, building material and construction, and network overhead.
What's in the Box Two NETGEAR HDX101 Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter, Ethernet cable, installation guide, setup CD, warranty card, and support and information card.

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