Cisco-Linksys PLEBR10 Powerline To Ethernet Bridge

by Cisco

Product Details

Product Manual [792kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 2 x 4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006B6BS
• Item model number: PLEBR10
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #94 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Network Adapters > Powerline Network Adapters
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 7, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Linksys Instant PowerLine EtherFast 10/100 Bridge offers a complete Internet connection solution for your home power line network. The PowerLine Bridge makes sharing your broadband access easier than ever. Build a strong and simple-to-use home network by taking advantage of the most pervasive home networking medium--power lines.

The PowerLine Bridge is ideal for users who already have a router. It can be plugged into an Ethernet port on a router to equip a network with power line capabilities and take advantage of the router's features. The PowerLine Bridge can also plug directly into a cable or DSL modem to allow Internet access and data transfer rates up to 14 Mbps over home power lines.

With the PowerLine Bridge, create a network in no time at all to share an Internet connection (a router may be required), files, and printers, or even play multi-user network games at blazingly fast speeds. It's easy, convenient, and cost-effective.

What's in the Box
One EtherFast 10/100 Bridge, one power cord, user guide and registration card, quick installation, one setup CD-ROM

Product Description

The Linksys Instant PowerLine EtherFast10/100 Bridge offers a complete Internet connection solution for your home powerline network. The PowerLine Bridge makes sharing your broadband access easier than ever. Build a strong and simple-to-use home network by taking advantage of the most pervasive home networking medium powerlines.The PowerLine Bridge is ideal for users who already have a router. It can be plugged into an Ethernet port on a router to equip a network with powerline capabilities and take advantage of the routers features. The PowerLine Bridge can also plug directly into a cable or DSL modem to allow Internet access and data transfer rates up to 14Mbps over home powerlines.With the PowerLine Bridge, create a network in no time at all to share an Internet connection (a router may be required), files, and printers, or even play multi-user network games at blazingly fast speeds. Its easy, convenient, and cost-effective.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It works... sometimes..., July 17, 2004

By 

James Hayes "technocrat" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys PLEBR10 Powerline To Ethernet Bridge (Personal Computers)

As a networking "internals" guy, I was shocked to find that this product is fundamentally broken at the network layer.

What people are complaining about here is that the device suddenly stops working and must be unplugged and plugged back in again.

This is because the device is trying to be too smart, and is losing track of which power-line modules connect to which computers. Unfortunately, in doing so, it prevents the network-level broadcast facilities from working. The broadcast facility I'm talking about most (ARP, the address resolution protocol) would have automatically corrected the problem if the Linksys box wasn't so broken.

In essence, for all you tech guys and gals, is that a learning bridge should never "learn" the broadcast address.

If you have only PCs, and you load the Linksys driver, they do some magic to keep the devices from falling over dead... But if you mix in a non-pc (Linux, UNIX, Macintosh) using a hub off the end of your power-line device, you're guaranteed to be frustrated.

The symptoms are that some of the network works (whatever was working before the bridge tables got corrupted) and others stop working with no explanation. The box "selectively" forwards traffic, and becomes deaf to other traffic.

It's like being at a cocktail party, and having every third person not be able to hear you, and saying "Over here!" (as ARP does) doesn't help either.

Ugh. In my experience, this is somewhat typical of Linksys products... If you have a windows PC, you're fine. If you have anything else, they won't talk to you.

I switched to the Siemens power-line module, and it has been working just fine for me.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, great product, works great for most part, October 21, 2002

By 

Clint Herschel - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys PLEBR10 Powerline To Ethernet Bridge (Personal Computers)

I had wanted to do a review on this for some time. For my setup, I needed 2 powerline products. One to hook into the Linksys router downstairs and plug into the wall. The 2nd was plugged into an outlet upstairs to get Internet access to the upstairs computer without running ethernet cables all over.

I only received 1 product at first, the 2nd was on back order and didn't show up for a month. When I finally received the second one, I could test them to see if they worked.

Initially I could not get them to function at all. I read in the manual, and found out that the products have to be plugged directly into the wall socket, and not through a surge protector like I had them. (It says in the manual plugging it into a surge protector, or power strip greatly diminishes performance).

So I plugged it directly into the wall outlet just to test it. This is very inconvenient for users who are low on outlets and need a surge protector or power strip for their computer peripherals. Also there is the issue of lightning with having it plugged directly into the wall. I don't know about you, but here in Florida lightning is rampant in the summer, and I have personally had a cable modem directly hit by lightning with blue-sparks shooting around the room. Put me out of Broadband access for two weeks while I got a replacement. I even had the modem surge protected. However the lightning comes over the cable line itself. Since then I had to get a special surge protector that protects the power aspect, as well as surge protection for the cable line.

I don't like the idea of having my powerline bridge plugged directly into the wall because of this. However, the manual claims that the product has it's own surge protection built in, and that it is safe to plug it directly into the wall. How good the built in surge protection is, I yet know not.

Once I had it plugged directly into the wall I was able to get the units to function intermittently. I tried using it with my laptop through various outlets throughout the house. I found that it worked with some outlets, and did not work with others. Upstairs where I wanted to use it, the performance was not good.

After furthur investigations I unplugged the Linksys Print Server that I also have on the network to share the printer with all the computers. This corrected the problem, and I now had sucessful, high-speed powerline networking throughtout every outlet. Even upstairs where I wanted it to be! This product works just as good as using an Ethernet cable direct. It's perfect for broadband Internet surfing.

There are 4 lights on the product (Two for powerline, two for ethernet). One indicates you are connected to the power outlet, the other indicates that data is being transmitted over your powerlines. The 3rd light indicates an ethernet connection to your computer. The 4th light indicates data is being transmitted, over the ethernet end of the device, to the computer. There is also a 5th orange light for collisions.

The product is very easy to setup, and very easy to use. Seemless integration, plus it also has password encryption for when the data goes over your powerlines. This is very easy to set up too.

I would have given this 5 stars, however the inability for it to co-exist with my Linksys Print Server is the reason for the four star rating.

If you are thinking about trying this product but are a little hesitant, I say go for it. It's a very unique product, and a new medium in the field of home networking. I'm satisfied with it so far. (..just have to find a different way now to share my printer with the networked computers)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foolproof and noise free, December 4, 2002

By 

Hugh D. Murray (Humble, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys PLEBR10 Powerline To Ethernet Bridge (Personal Computers)

I am using these in my home to share a broadband internet connection. They (you need at least 2) are easy to install and are not influenced by any other electronic devices in the house (I also have some X10 controlled devices). They even work across legs of the house power, which the X10 will not do. I have tested the speed, and they are as fast as being connected directly to the cable modem. The data is encrypted for privacy. I'd recommend these to anyone desiring to set up a home network who do not want to run cables or depend on the vagueries of wireless. You can connect up to 16 of them.