Customer Reviews

Actiontec MegaPlug A/V 200 Mbps Powerline Network Adapter Kit (White)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Years ago, I purchased one of the first through-power-line Ethernet kits on the market. At the time, the claimed throughput was low (say, 10mbps), and the actual throughput was ridiculously slow. Not to mention the fact that the connection seemed to hang inexplicably with great frequency. In a word: Not ready for primetime, not ready for anything, really...

Fast forward nearly a decade. By now, wireless Ethernet routers are cheap and easy to use and just about everyone has one.

Into this environment, Actiontec has dumped their new MegaPlug "200 Mbps" powerline network kit.

Your first question, and it's a good one, is: "What's the point?" And for many people the answer will be "none, really, in your situation."

BUT there are two sets of people for whom something like this--if it works--is a godsend.

First off, there are those who simply cannot set up something like a wireless router. It's not hard, but there are still a lot of complete tech phobes out there. Think: your Grandparents, or maybe even your parents. Sure, you could go over and set things up for them. But then what happens the first time the router goes down and needs to be rebooted or whatever? Panic calls at midnight are not most people's idea of bonus time.

The second set of people who could use something like this, if it works, are those with wireless dead spots in their homes. There are a lot of people like this, actually. No matter where you set up the wireless transmitter, some places just get no signal, or a very lousy one. Now, you can--if you are technically inclined--set up a wireless repeater to address issue. But it's a bit tricky for most people who don't relish spending their Friday night shopping the halls of Frys, Microcenter or BestBuy. This kit offers a simple alternative to a wireless repeater.

OK, enough on who might want this. On to the more significant question: Does it actually work, and how easy is it, really, to set up.

I'll answer the second question first. It is ridiculously, stupidly, unbelievably easy to set this up. Plug one unit in one wall outlet. Run ethernet cable from unit to your router. Plug second unit into another wall outlet anywhere else in your house. Run either cable from unit to the device you want to talk to router. And you are done. Even if you have trouble figuring out how to open the door of a refrigerator, it can't take you more than 5 minutes to set up.

And how does it work? SHOCKINGLY well. In a three story home with about 20 separate circuits (lines on their own circuit breakers), I was unable to find two outlets that could not communicate with each other at a reasonable speed, and without any disruptions. You aren't going to see 200Mbps in the real world, but I saw between 24Mbps and 34Mbps, depending on where I placed the two outlet plugs. Before you sneer, this compares to a normal transfer rate of about 18Mbps for a GOOD wireless G connection. In other words, the Actiontec kit gave transfer rates that were between 33% and 90% FASTER than wireless G!

I can recommend this unconditionally to those who need an alternative to standard wireless with one caveat (and it's a big one): This kit is quite pricey. It runs over a hundred bucks at the time of this writing, as compared to a good quality wireless G router, which can be purchased for as little as $30. In addition, this kit is good for connecting only one location to another single location, whereas wireless is...everywhere.

But if you can get past the price, this kit is terrific.

Others have already described this product very nicely. So, I'll focus on a few areas that I think merit attention.

# Simplicity

As anyone who has tried helping a parent install a wireless networking product over the telephone can attest to, "networking" has always been synonymous with "complexity". With this product, it took me longer to get over my skepticism, than it did for the product to actually begin working!

# Transfer Rate

This device is rated at 200 Mbps over standard power lines, and 10/100 Mbps over Ethernet. To test this, I connected a notebook to each MegaPlug, both of which were connected to the same wall socket, and transferred a 1.3 GB file. The transfer rate averaged 57 Mbps, over a green Link LED indicating a good line.

[Notebook1 -> MegaPlug1 -> electrical wiring <- MegaPlug2 <- Notebook2]

Checking online quickly confirmed my suspicion that 200 Mbps is probably what can only be achieved under ideal test conditions. In other words, your mileage will definitely vary depending on the quality of the electrical wiring, and other factors such as electrical interference, etc. However, a rate of 57Mbps more than suffices for transmitting high def content, so this is probably as good as it gets.

# Switch Configuration

I also tried connecting one of the wall outlets to my router that is connected to my cable modem, and the other to a separate router in a different room, to which I connected my notebook. That worked just fine as well. So, you really just need one MegaPlug per network access point.

Notebook1 -> Switch -> MegaPlug1 -> electrical wiring <- MegaPlug2 -> Wireless Router -> Cable Modem

#Security

Security can be a problem in a multi-unit building since data signals travel through circuit breakers and stop at a transformer. Fortunately, these units come configured for 128-bit AES encryption.

Unfortunately, the User Guide on the ActionTec web site starts by saying "By default the adapters are NOT encrypted." That didn't jibe with what the MegaPlug QuickStart Guide claimed, "These adapters ship with a generic encryption key."

Since there's no way to tell whether on not encryption is enabled, I chose to follow the User Guide's advice.

However, the little black buttons on all your MegaPlugs must be pressed within 2 minutes of starting the process. (I had visions of an entire family darting around like fireflies if they had a full complement of 16 MegaPlugs installed!)

# Why this rating?

This product works as advertised, and provides the comfort of having a relatively secure and stable connection, making it a solid 4-star ("I Like It") product.

However, if I were buying this for a tech novice user, I'd rate it at 5-stars ("I Love It!") since the ease of setup and use would easily trump the convenience and cost of wireless. Ditto if I were trying to establish a network connection to a wireless dead spot.

Averaging this gives me 4.5 stars, and I'm rounding up.

Good Luck!

- Damodar

# Updated June 24, 2009:

Whoa! Belkin just announced the first Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Powerline product to reach the market (model F5D4076). As would be expected, it costs a tad bit more.

The max transfer rates will again depend on real-world conditions (such as electrical wiring, interference, etc.) But with 1 Gbps, there should still be plenty of headroom to spare.

I tried a different brand of these last year and they were awful. So I saw these offered 200Mbps with no external A/C adapters to mess with, so I decided to give these a try.

The good news is that these are definitely easy to set up. I would suggest using the encryption capability. (These can backfeed up the grid and you never know if your neighbors have one.) I would also suggest erasing the factory encryption key and generating a new one. Go to the Actiontec.com website and the PDF manual will explain how to do it.

After the easy setup, I was unable to get anything above 10Mbps except when using the same circuit. In fact, the manual on their website states:

"NOTE: To insure connectivity between the adapters, all adapters you wish to network together must be on the same circuit in your breaker box."

So for those of you who had better luck obtaining throughput on distance outlets, more power to you. (excuse the pun) I *was* able to get a connection at any outlet and surf the internet... which may suit the needs of many people. However, Hulu and SageTV did not stream video very well at the farthest outlets in my house (about 2300 sqft).

Nonetheless, I think this is a great option for those who need an additional network outlet in their home, SOHO, or rooms adjacent to them, and don't want to mess with wireless or running cables.

The fact they did not require external A/C adapters and do have one button easy setup are a plus.

I was very skeptical of this product and others like it, but I didn't know what else to try other than buying a wireless adaptor for the blu ray player I had purchased, which cost more. I bought this product and have had no problems. It was essentially plug & play. There are reviews on here that make it sound like they had to configure their computer to make it work. I simply took it out of the box, plugged it into a wall socket beside my router, linked the router and the device via an ethernet and did the same thing next to my blu ray player. I configured nothing and it worked immediately. I have been using it for a few weeks now and the connectivity is great. I am getting a great picture and great sound with no delay. As of now, I could not recommend this product more. It was cheaper than the other brands I saw and I cannot imagine that the others work any better.

We just(and not a moment too soon!) got our playstation three and this Mega Plug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Network Adapter kit works beautifully with it! It has a number of valuable reasons to try it out, such as security aspects (the company claims it is more secure than wireless networks) and the fact that it supports HomePlug speeds up to 200 Mbps. Not bad for a rather small piece of easy to install equipment. It is also compatible with other Homeplug AV enabled devices, so if you are interested, I suggest you check it out. Don't worry, it claims it is compatible with all routers and gateways.

It just might be the extra piece of equipment you have been waiting for without even realizing it. Actiontec was previously used by the US government for classified top secret documents. How many adapter kits can breezily mention that on the back of their packages? Try it! We love ours!

If extending your broadband internet to a remote location in your home is desired with out running a Cat 5 wire then try it. It beats G band wireless hands down and most N band from what I have seen most of the time.

The Actiontec comes with very little documentation as it really needs very little. I followed the quick set up guide and the network was up immediately. I use mine to extend my cable modem (modem - Hub - Megaplug to walloutlet - wall outlet to megaplug - hub/G wireless - 2 computers/Samung TV). Trust me it was my easiest solution.

For an apartment or multi-plex where security may be an issue you can encrypt the device (others have covered this situation) the instructions are online and fairly easy to understand. Personally not worried about security yet, when I explain broadband over powerline to my neighbors they kinda go cross eyed.

OVERALL this is a very acceptable unit, the soon to be availble hub model adds versatility. Price wise it beats the other manufacturers.

Corinex Vs Actiontec

I previously have had Corinex 200 Mbps BPL adaptors which I had been happy with but one finally died promting me to search out new options. The Corinex units run extremely hot to the touch; the Actiontec's do not! This leads me to believe that the Actiontec will last longer.

I am now of the opinion that though these brands meet Homeplug AV standards none will talk outside of their own brand (can not universally prove this). The corinex and actiontec's do not see each other. But this may be because my corinex is set up as DHCP. Since actiontec's seem to self assign a network you might think they are already DHCP; they don't say. The corinex units allow you to set the network codes to what you wish or make it DHCP; the actiontec's do not have a set up utility (this to me is a blessing for most of us). This makes setting up the corinex more difficult as all units come out of the box with the same address and atleast one (if you have just two) needs to be reassigned before they can funtion. You can encrypt the corinex at the same time you set up the network. If you set the corinex to DHCP it cannot be encrypted.

The simplicity of the actiontec makes this a no brainer for this no brainer who will struggle far too long in most endevors...

UPDATE; 10/25/2010 - Still working good, put a giga speed hub upstream right after the cable modem and the BPL adaptors sped up to where they run in the Green almost all the time. Now have giga speed hubs on both sides. They now easily stream HD TV signals from my Silicondust networked TV tuner. Have added a D-link 655 N Band wireless to link my laptop and put it on the opposite side of the BPL's from the network tuner and recieved HD TV signal from Silicondust HDHR tuner very well.

UPDATE; 10/31/2011 - still working good.

Powerline networking can be a great solution if you use it for the right reasons. Obviously a CAT5/CAT6 wired network is going to be the best and most reliable way to connect up your equipment, but sometimes that's not practical. Wireless is great for laptops and such, but is subject to interference (at least one of my computers would drop connection for a bit any time someone used the microwave oven) and throughput can drop sharply as you get get farther from the wireless access point.

Right now, I've got two sets of Powerline network adapters running in addition to my wireless access point. I use them to bridge the upstairs and downstairs networks, and to connect a printer that isn't located near the wireless. Two are these Actiontec adapters and the other two are Netgear 200Mbps adapters. I've found the Actiontec units to work just as well as the Netgear, even with encryption turned on. I've been meaning to go through the extra effort to try to get the Actiontec to actually communicate with the Netgear but so far haven't succeeded in doing so. I'll update this review if I do. In the meantime, they're running in parallel with different devices using each, but still on the "same" network.

Once caveat with powerline networking is that most houses have at least two phases coming into them, with approximately half of the outlets on each one. Depending how your wiring is done, it's often possible to find two outlets that simply cannot communicate with each other. I haven't had any problems with these, however, I already have a phase coupler installed because I use X10 devices and wanted those signals to traverse both phases. That might be why it's working well with a variety of outlets, or I might just be lucky but overall throughput has been much higher than my wireless G network and they've been 100% reliable; never dropping the connection once so far.

Since these have worked well, I'm considering putting a file server in the basement and using another of these adapters to link it to the network. I wouldn't want a file server to have only a wireless connection and would prefer to avoid the hassle and expense of fishing CAT5 all the way to the basement (or the ugliness of stringing it across the ceiling or running along the baseboards) so I think these are my best solution for that purpose.

I have prior experience with other powerline products but they have problem in passing signal through the circuit breaker. I am surprised that this one is able to pass signal across circuit breaker easily. Here is my setup configuration:

cable modem ---> router1 (in study room) ---> MegaPlug1 ---> home powerline ---> MegaPlug2 ---> router2 ---> PCs (in kitchen)

The combination of MegaPlug and router2 solve my problem to access internet from PCs in the kitchen. Alternatively, I can solve the problem with a wireless access point. But the MegaPlug provides more stable throughput from router1 to router2 as it is wired.

I am able to get fast and stable speed from MegaPlug, especially if the 2 MegaPlugs are in the same circuit. I do observe slower speed if the 2 MegaPlugs are placed in two seperate circuit breakers. However, I still be able to access the internet with decent speed at almost every plug of my house...even including the one in the backyard.

The setup of the MegaPlug is far more easier than any other network equipment, no software installing, no system configuration, no reset, no additional AC/DC power adapter.

In summary, the MegaPlug performs as expected with easy and expadable capability. I would recommend it to my friends.

Wow--wish I'd known about ethernet-over-powerline solutions earlier! Granted, my situation is simple--but this finally solved my issue after a month of screwing around trying to get my wi-fi connection to perform acceptably.

I bought a Blu-ray player with built-in wi-fi on Cyber-Monday and spent most of the next month trying to get it to connect to my wireless network, consistently. I won't bore you with those details but my situation is this: my internet is DSL and comes into one end of the house and directly into a modem/wireless router; my Blu-ray is at the other end of the house, probably 70-80 feet away. But behind a massive masonry fireplace/chimney and tucked into a corner. Could not get consistently connected to the network--or, if I did get connected--performance was very unreliable (drops, lags, etc).

Bottom line: these plugs worked GREAT! And, they truly are plug-and-play. Even changing the encryption away from the factory default is simple (but will have you running between the two plugs a few times). My incoming signal measures over 100 Mbps; according to the indicator lights on these plugs, I'm getting between 50-100 Mbps over this connection (my light shows orange, not green or red). So, there is loss but nothing like the loss your typical wi-fi connection will have. Also, this connection is traveling through my circuit box and the plugs are on two different power circuits.

Performance for my streaming movies and music is flawless and is perceptively as fast as a direct-wired connection. Also--in my case--the plugs do not seem to be running hot; they are just slightly warm to the touch.

So now I have wi-fi in my Blu-ray player for nothing but, oh well...

This item is really easy to install - just put them into power sockets connect one to the router other to computer or network hub and this is it. It comes with factory configured security. You can change that if you want following easy steps from the manual. Regarding speed - it really makes a difference where you will put them and I guess most of the people buying this to connect stuff that is not located close to each other. In my case I wanted to connect my basement and room on the second floor where I have my internet router. Of course in most cases those power lines will be on different circuits and signal will have to go via circuit breaker. I tried several power outlets in my basement and max speed that I was able to get is 25-30 Megabits per second. I was not able to get "green" link status only "orange". Overall it`s works for me since my internet connection is 25 mbits/sec and it is still better than wireless when it comes to packet drop rate etc.