Customer Reviews

Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

ActionTec plug Av

Very Easy to set up if you had all the instructions.

A quick review and as typical for me an update will follow. I had everything set up and truly believed the Quick Start Guide when it said no configuration required. Unfortunately.... I first disabled my wireless card in the Windows Control Panel just so I would not have any conflicts. Then I plugged in the two devices as described above. The LEDs on both boxes were green and red, sometimes green and yellow. The Guide said "Make sure both lights turn solid green". The guide warns you not to plug the devices into any outlet that is surge protected or filtered, which I did not. Oh well I said, I started moving both boxes into different outlets and could not get both "link" lights to turn green unless they were plugged into the same outlet. Rats I said. There is no explanation in the guide at all as to what to do when the lights are not both green. NO troubleshooting guide at all. I tried to hook up to the Web, but nothing happened.

Here I will save you the trouble of the hour long process that followed, and just tell how you can save yourself the trouble I had

1. It does not really matter what color the "link" light is. It is only the quality of connection indicator. Please go to the [...] website and download the user manual for the HPE400AVP. There is no manual and no CD with the box you buy and in my case it was the critical missing step. Here is the lights portion of the manual

Red means the condition is poor and less than 50Mpbs,
Orange indicates a fair line condition of 50-100Mbps,
Green means the line is in good condition with over 100Mbps throughput.

Of course since I was using wireless previously in a remote location with a 18 Mpbs transfer speed, even a Red light meant a vastly improved connection. The connection speed varies for me between yellow and red, and always is better than the wireless. My wireless was a Linksys WRT54G with the power setting at 75mw, the distance involved was about 50ft with 3 walls in between.

2. There are small black buttons on both boxes, but NO explanation in the User Guide as to what they do. You have to download the manual for that. They are the security enable keys, and you have to go thru a sequence of four timed presses to set it up. In my trials of various outlets in the house, I must have pressed one or both, but in a wrong sequence and must have messed up the communications, hence even with the connection established, I could not connect to the web. At the time I still thought that it was because I had red lights and they needed to be green. I had to reset both boxes using a pin.
3. At this point following the reset, even though the link light on both boxes was red, the Internet magically appeared. So the setup is truly plug and play, unless like me you believe the dreaded step #13 in the quick setup guide "Make sure both lights are green " or you accidentally press the security buttons.

Finally when set up, and even with my troubles it only took an hour. The connection speed to the web as judged by [...] was 50% faster than my best wireless connection and 3 times better than my worst connection. Great product, and only a one star downgrade for no packaged in manual or CD.

Lastly you may also try the following steps to improve your speed at lower costs.
1. Get an antenna with gain for the router and your wireless card (10-30$, 50% improvement)
2. Change the wireless channel in the router utility (G networks conflict with 2.4 ghz cordless phones)
3. Move the antenna even slightly for possible improvement, Use a utility like network stumbler to fine tune the position
4. If available for your wireless router, get an open source custom firmware for it which will allow you to fine tune the antenna transmit power (I use Tomato).
UPDATE
5. Get an inexpensive N standard router with multiple antennas (used to be called MIMO multiple in multiple out). I have picked up one recently and now all my remaining computers have a better signal as well. While you will not get speds higher than G standard of 54mb, you will get closer to nominal. You would ned a N adapter in the pc as well to get all the benefits.

Happy Powerline and Wireless networking.

Well folks, any of the Actiontec products based on the HomePlug AV standard work great out of the box (either the kit with two one-port adapters, or the kit with a one-port adapter and a four-port switch). As you can see in other reviews, the average user who just buys one kit and plugs them in to an outlet will find they work as advertised. But there are some things to keep in mind:

(1) While the HomePlug AV standard is listed as 200 Mbit/sec, this is nowhere near what you'll actually see. With two systems on the same ethernet hub, normal transfer rates are around 11 - 12 Mbit/sec. Two HomePlug adapters in the same room, on the same electrical circuit, may see around 7 Mbit/sec. When you plug them in further apart, the actual transfer rate averages around 5 - 6 Mbit/sec. Please note this is still faster (and arguably more secure ) than a 802.11g wireless connection, and a big improvement over the previous HomePlug 1.0 "turbo" standard (which averaged out at around 1.5 Mbit/sec).

(2) Unlike NetGear, Actiontec does not provide any software utilities for monitoring and configuring the adapters; instead, you end up using a cryptic set of button pushes on the actual adapters. This is really only an issue if you have more than two of these adapters on your network, but then it becomes kind of a pain.

(3) Which leads to the biggest issue with the Actiontec products specifically: Unlike similar HomePlug-compatible devices made by other manufacturers, these are apparently sold paired to each other, even prior to establishing an encrypted network. That means that the two in the box will talk to each other, but if you buy a second kit, the pair in the second kit won't automatically connect to the pair in the original kit. This can be fixed, but the technique for doing so is NOT listed in the instruction manuals, nor is it even listed on the manufacturer's web site for these products. The default process for setting up an encrypted network won't fix this, and I was on the verge of returning both sets before I discovered a one-sheet "readme" in one of the kits which covered the procedure for adding new adapters to an existing setup. This vital set of instructions was only included in one of the kits (and I'm not sure which it was: the kit with the two one-port adapters, or the kit with the four-port switch) so I'm guessing there are people out there who bought two of one kit type, only to be mystified why only two of their adapters don't work.

Overall, I would recommend you find a manufacturer other than Actiontec to buy your HomePlug AV-compatible adapters from if you need to set up more than two of them. Many other companies include an optional configuration utility which makes the process so much easier.

I've tested the Actiontec MegaPlug with a desktop PC, a Slingbox and also an Xbox 360 (which I use to play online games) and its performance has far exceeded my expectations. It's like having a second router/internet connection in the far corner of my home where my wireless network does not reach. I don't notice any difference in terms of bandwidth compared with a direct connection to my downstairs router.

I was a little concerned that I'd have to configure settings in each device in order to get it to work. To my great relief this wasn't the case. Connect it and it works. Period.

I simply plugged the base unit into an outlet (a wall outlet is recommended -- the directions warn that it probably won't work with a surge-protector) near my router and then connected the two with the included Ethernet cable (it comes with two Ethernet cables).

Next I plugged in the bigger piece of the Actiontec set -- the one with the four Ethernet ports -- into an outlet in the area of my house where I wanted to place my desktop PC, my Xbox and my Slingbox. I then connected all of the devices with Ethernet cables and they were instantly connected to the Internet. It was a wonderfully elegant customer experience.

Two thumbs up for this product.

The Good - Setup is a breeze. No software to install or code keys to input. Plug into the wall and connect the cables.

The not so good - Actiontec recommends that the ports be on the same circuit for the best performance. I am not an electrician, but I doubt that a first floor outlet and a second floor outlet are on the same circuit so you are most likely not going to get the highest speeds. Also I had a library that uses a touch sensor to turn on the lights in the same room as the hub that I was using. Every time the hub sent data it would turn on the lights. This was aggravating especially during overnight situations when I would discover the lights had been on all night. I am running a new precision desktop computer with Win7 hooked into the hub and at times it seems like it is from 1990 running windows 3.1. I have to click 2-5 times on an 'ok' button to get it to perform the function. When I disconnect the network cable the system returns to blazing speed.

Unfortunately for me I think I may have to return to either a hardwired solution which would require drilling through floors or find a wireless solution.

I already have Actiontec HLE200AV0-01GK MegaPlug 200 Mbps Powerline HomePlug A/V Gaming Adapter Kit (White) and recently relocated my kids computers to the living room (right next to each other) so they could concentrate on homework after school. I was able to connect both computers to the Internet using the hub that is included with this kit, but yet still use the older models connection between the router and the wall in the family room at the other end of the house. I had read that 200 Mbps ethernet adapters are not downward compatible, but I'm happy to report that at least within the same brand, same speed, these are 100% compatible and work flawlessly.

The connection only took a couple of seconds to be live, and the green lights helped me to ensure that everything was connected correctly and working.

If you don't like messing with wifi, wep codes, and Internet dongles, and dropped signals, these are the way to go. Not only that, the speed is exceptionally fast and that's why gamers like to use either these if they can't have their computer plugged directly into their router.

These really are just plug and play across multiple platforms, devices, and throughout the house. Despite running a security camera system on Ethernet adapters and using two different models of this Ethernet kit, and having computers with various os including Linux and Windows, it all just worked perfectly by plugging in the adapter to the wall, and the Ethernet cord to the device. There is no software to install and the system can easily be upgraded by buying additional powerline adapters of the same speed. I cannot comment on brand-mixing at this point, since I haven't tried other "compatible" brands yet.

Creating a wireless network has never been easier! I don't know why, but I was a bit skeptical that it was possible to create a reliable network connection through my home's electrical wiring. My doubts were fueled by the reality that my electrical wiring is a bit screwy, to say the least. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but suffice to say, my house is old and so is the electrical wiring. If something can go wrong with it, it usually does. And often times it has inexplicable quirks so I figured I'd likely be within the percentile where creating a network through my wiring wouldn't work. But I was happily proven wrong.

The Actiontec MegaPlug Powerline Ethernet Adapter works like a charm and is literally plug and play. This kit comes with a 4-Port Hub and an Adapter. Just plug your devices into the hub and then the adapter into your internet router and that's basically it, you're good to go! I used this kit with my entertainment system and plugged in 2 DVRs and a Blu Ray player into the hub, creating a network connection to the internet and also connecting my DVRs to my computer for Media Share of music, video and pictures. I did have everything connected already by running 50' Ethernet cables from my entertainment system to my computer, but I never got around to neatly tucking the 50' wires away out of sight. Now I don't have to worry about it! I pulled up the cables and am using the Actiontec MegaPlug instead.


-->A word about Surge Protection:

The instructions suggest not plugging the hub or adapter into a surge protector. I already knew this could be an issue since good surge protectors filter out feedback in electrical wires, which in this instance, could effect the network connection. And seeing as I'm using this in an entertainment system, I was concerned about damaging expensive equipment. But the solution was rather easy:

Just plug the Actiontec Hub and Adapter directly into the wall as suggested BUT plug the network cables coming out of the hub and adapter into an Ethernet port on your surge protectors. I already had multiple surge protectors behind my entertainment system so I had enough network ports to surge protect all 3 devices I was hooking up. This way, way my entire entertainment system is still completely protected but the network connection remains unimpeded. It's a very simple solution really so if you're worried about surge protection - don't! There's an easy workaround. And if you're serious about surge protection then you probably already own surge protectors with Ethernet ports so there's nothing extra to buy.

Like I said, my electrical is screwy, so I already have top of the line surge protection in every outlet in the house. No joke! So I was good to go on both ends of this Actiontec setup. But I understand most people aren't as militant about surge protection as I am, so I gave 4 stars instead of 5 for that reason. Maybe a future model can include built in surge protection on the Ethernet ports.

This product does what it says and is easy to setup. I can't ask more from it than that. And it's more reliable than a wireless connection with faster speeds. If you need to expand your home network, you can't go wrong with this one!

I bought this pack in May and have been using them to connect my ASUS O play media player, Harman Kardon DMC1000 media (Music) server, and PS3 to a Dlink DIR825 router, which connects to a Acer Easystore WHS server where all my movie, music and photos are stored. I have about 1.5 TB of movie files in various file formats, incl. MKV, AVI, RMVB, DIVX, etc. I used to use PS3 and WiFi to stream movies, but any files bigger than a gig will run into problems from time to time. Now I can enjoy upto 9 GIG MKV movies on my 106" screen without any glitch: picture quality and DTS sound quality are fantastic. I don't have any 1080P MKV files due to my projector is only 1080i/720P, and therefore can not comment if the adapter can handle files bigger than 9 gig.

I plugged it in and it didn't work. The power light wouldn't even come on for the 4-port switch. I called their technical support and they were not very helpful and really didn't know the product. At one point they told me that the 4 port switch had to be connected directly to the router - which is false. Switching it didn't help. I tried it with multiple routers in multiple rooms, in the same outlet - nothing worked. I am sorry I waited so long for it to arrive and then spent so much time trying to get it tor work. The product must have been defective. Not sure quality control is what it should be.

I returned it this morning and went to Best Buy and bought a Cisco powerline with a 4 port switch and it works great. The documentation in the box is much better and the instructions for understanding the lights on the adapters is also much better than Actiontec.

I am a huge fan of powerline networking. I have been using the Netgear XAVB101 powerline ethernet adaptor and have been extremely happy with it. The bottom line of powerline networking is that you get network connection if there is a power outlet. It uses the electrical wiring of your home as network cables. It is more stable and faster than any wireless network connection on the market. I can watch an HD video in the basement streaming from the corner of the second floor. My Wireless N network could not handle that much bandwidth with distance like that.

This Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV powerline ethernet adapter is the icing on the cake. It comes with 4-port hub so you can connect 4 devices at the one end. It constantly gives more than 50 Mbps real speed, and I have never had a single problem with it. And it works together with the Netgear XAVB101 since these devices comply with the HomePlug AV Standard. So I mix and match these powerline ethernet devices without any problems. From my experiences, the Actiontec MegaPlug 200 is slightly faster than the Netgear one, however, it is not significant.

The beauty of the powerline ethernet networking is that you do not need to read the manual and no driver installation is required. You plug it and it works. I have never read anything to use the device and it has been working solid. The lights on the adapter shows the speed of the connection and this is the only thing you might need to know.

I highly recommend this product to anyone who wants to have a solid and wired connection at any place in your house. I definitely would buy this product again if I need more connection points. I love powerline networking. It is a real blessing to me.

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When it comes to setting up any kind of networking, it's usually intimidating; however, if you know how to simply put a plug in, it's that easy. Seriously.

This is great for:
1) if you get bad connections from your WiFi (whether something is interfering or can't reach) and want to connect more directly to your router.
2) if your main router is located in another room, but you want to connect up to 4 devices (such as gaming consoles, printers, Blu-Ray players) via ethernet -- without putting holes in your walls or spending more than you should on long cables.

I really have not noticed any difference from using my wireless.
The design is really simple and nothing fancy.
It also comes with 2 ethernet cables.

The manual really isn't necessary to read, but it does NOT recommend plugging it in a surge protector (recommends directly to the wall outlet)--however, I tried it any way and I haven't encountered any difference/or a problem.

What the Quick Start guide manual really should have covered is about the LED colors (if the plug sign LED turns red, it means it's getting less than 50MBps; orange is 50-100; and green is 100+). I'm on regular DSL, and it is always RED.

It also does not really cover much about the small button on the back with the "lock symbol" (this button is also on the smaller MegaPlug adapter), which allows the 128-bit AES security data encryption. However, I have no idea if encryption is properly being enabled or not. The guide briefly notes on the back that it comes with a "generic" encryption key, so if you want to change it to something of your own, you have to visit their website for "further instructions", which I could not find.

Overall, I give it a 4 for it's simplicity, and so far, it has done what it is intended to do, but it would have been nicer if it came with some kind of software to monitor the connection/speeds/security/bandwidth control/etc. Basically, it's really simple.