Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys PLE300 PowerLine AV Network Adapter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We've struggled getting wireless to work in our home - a 2-story with the router upstairs and a second computer downstairs. We tried different vendors in both G and N but all had limited / sporadic connectivity (must be some undiagnosed interference).

The Powerline kit is hands down the easiest thing I've ever set up. In fact, it was so easy I thought I must have been doing something wrong. Plug it into your router, and plug it into the wall. That's it - your network is connected to your electric circuits. There are no software drivers, no utilities, no setup programs. Being a long-time experienced PC user, this was alarming at first, but given how well it works, I'm not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth!

I understand that performance will depend on your particular wiring, and that performance is better when both adapters are on the same circuit. However, running a network performance test, I am consistently getting 22-26 Mbps across different circuits which is more than adequate for our needs.

I already had a 2-adapter Powerline kit running, and was so happy with it that I bought this item as a third adapter, so we could hook up our DVR and Wii in the living room.

I wish I hadn't spent so much time, money and effort trying to get wireless to work - this device is fantastic.

This is a product for men who don't read manuals. I literary took the device out of the box, plugged it in and it worked. If you are like me and have a house with a cement slab floors then you know laying wires is almost impossible. Also our house is very long so it is difficult to get wireless to work in all areas of the house. A couple of notes for this device, don't plug it into a surge protector of any kind, you think you are protecting the device from electric spikes but IT WILL NOT WORK. Surge protectors isolate the electrical signal which will prevent them from communicating, these devices have their own surge protection built in so nothing to worry about there. This is in the manual if you take the time to read it! :) Also these devices run at 200Mbps which is faster than wireless G, and while wireless N can run at 300 Mbps you will rarely get close to that, typically it is hard to get better than 50% throughput on wireless but these devices can be run up to 100% with no risk of interference that can occur with wireless. I use these devices where I have fixed equipment such as Tivo's, PS3's, workstations, printers, and I use my wireless where mobility is needed with items such as my laptop and iPhone. You may also want to us the 4 port version of this product.Linksys PLS300 PowerLine AV 4-Port Network Adapter

I have to say this is the easiest Ethernet appliance I've used. Even a switch has more user complexity.

I have one base and 2 4-port remotes at home, and installed them for my sister. Both went seamlessly and have been very reliable for the last few months.

I visited a friend who lives on a farm and tried to install the same set up to a building about 600 feet away. Linksys customer service was prompt and knowledgeable, said it should be good to 1,000 or maybe it was 1,200 feet, but nothing I did got it working. Same set up went to my sister so it wasn't a hardware issue.

Bottom line when it works it's both easy and reliable.

I use this adapter to link my two DirecTV HR-22s together so I can use the beta multiroom sharing features and I have no issues streamining HD video between the two. My rooms are fairly close but I have a co-worker with these same adapters and he's having equally good luck going from one floor to another. The 4 port is nice in that it can allow me to also hook up my PS3 and Xbox. They were idiot proof to install and they are much more reliable then wireless. I ran a quick speed test and found it to be faster than my wireless N connection. No brainer... get this and try it if you don't want to run Ethernet.

I installed these units about 3 months ago and so far, I've not had a problem with them. They work as advertised. Every electrical outlet in my house is now capable of broadband access. If you have a home that's 2 stories or better, and you need to install broadband access through out the house, this is the quickest, easiest solution that I know of.

I tried both the netgear and former linksys version and neither worked. This was the first I got to work. I opened the box, followed the simple quickstart guide and it just plain worked. No hassles, no settings to configure, and no web interfaces to manage... I will be adding more and dumping my wireless.

The PLE300 was easy to install and setup. But it stopped functioning in less than a year. The product support technician said that the device was defective and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, he told me, it was no longer under warranty. Now, I am stuck with two PLS300 adapters that are useless without a functioning PLE300!

Great product. Easy to install, great performance...Would've made it a 5 stars save for one small (but important) detail:
I love music, and I've bought the product to make it easier for me to sync/stream music between my macbook pro and my Apple TV (walls in Brazil are made of bricks and mortar, which reduces the efficiency of wi-fi networking). This worked exceedingly well, and I'm able to stream not only music but also transfer videos with great speed. However, when I plugged my headphones to listen to music while working on my macbook pro, I noticed some cracking and popping, which disappears if I disconnect the PLE300.

Plug it in and it works. That's the best thing about this. If you're hooked up to DSL or any of the lower-tier cable modem speeds, you won't notice that the bandwidth through your electrical system isn't as fast as with ethernet. If you're transferring large files between PCs on your LAN, you'll notice but it's still fast enough to stream video. I have a fiber connection to the net at ridiculous speeds but for ordinary surfing, YouTube, Pandora, etc - this item saved me HOURS of stringing wire and drilling holes through walls and floors. That alone justifies the somewhat high price.

Cisco PLE300 is dirt easy to setup and use, "just plug into wall outlet and connect to ethernet device) DONE
I use it to stream video from my PCs Windows Medai Center to Samsung LED TV, easy and great.
Compared to wireless n network - power line Ethernet is faster and easier to setup.
Tested on electrical outlets in same room, different rooms, on different branches of circuit panel and on different phases of circuit panel. Very little difference in speed when outlets on same side of circuit panel and just a little difference when outlets are on differnt sides of circuit panel.
I have been using this for over 6 months - no issues
Pros: Easy setup fast data speeds.
Cons: Needs to be only device plugged into outlet socket. Did interfer with "touch control" lamp.