Customer Reviews

NETGEAR XAV101 Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased 3 of these units (the 2 unit kit plus one additional) for my home media distribution. Originally I had planned to use only wireless, but found too many signal disruptions causing HD video to become choppy or drop completely. I have one connected to a Linksys DMA2100 extender, one to my DirecTV HD DVR and one to my Vista Media server. DirecTV VOD works flawlessly, as does the extender. This solution is more expensive than running CAT6, but it is so easy to set up and use that I didn't mind the extra cost. Another thing: one of these units is in my family room, and I was worried about the green lights being a distraction. There is a utility that comes with these devices that allows you to turn the indicators off if you desire. Overall, I've been very happy with these units.

Plugged it in and it just worked. I added a media center extender out in our garage so we can watch live tv, recorded shows, listen to music while running on a treadmill. Used this adaptor to get network connectivity in the garage since the wireless signal was not good enough to stream video reliably. Powerline adaptor worked perfectly.

Plug and play set up. I use this to stream HD content from my PC to our TV in the Family Room. It was flawless, not a single hiccup for 1080p content. Anyone who has tried to stream HD content over wireless knows that won't work well. This is a much easier way to get Ethernet to rooms that aren't wired. Great product!

I bought the twin set from Best Buy and that worked well. I was worried only the pair would work, but I finally found a manual from NetGear that mentioned multiple units could be used in the same house so I bought this and it is working great. I have one unit plugged into the network and the other two act as extensions of the network. Speeds are fast and I do not notice any decline. I use cox high speed internet. Streaming videos, music on one unit and Xbox 360 Live on the other.

Found this item at a nearby big box computer store. I was having a problem making WiFi work to our home office in our 50-esque, ranch-style home. Bought these, plugged them in, connected them up and, voila, network. Good thing, too, because the software that comes with it only works in Windows and we're a 100% Mac house.

I have one local (master) unit and two remote units. At first they worked reasonable well to transmit HD video from Netflix on our Roku HD players. Lately they started to hang up and stutter (red light = < 50 Mbps). Even SD picture quality fell dramatically (two dots out of four on Roku) due to low data rate. I went to the netgear website to see if the FAQ might help. Although extensive, there wasn't anything there that solved my problems. No free human support available by phone or email. They offer a software configuration utility to perform a factory reset (can also be done by pushing a reset button on each unit). The software also can update the firmware in the units. Unfortunately their US download site is buggy and you can't get the file to download (they have an extensive download support page explaining how their website is great and that the inability to download files is the user's fault, not their bad website). Fortunately I found the same file on their German website, which was working and I was able to easily download it like any normal file. Once I got that software installed, the factory reset worked but the firmware update failed. You could see it start to update the firmware, then the software would say "failed to update the firmware" with no further explanation. I tried plugging each unit right into the network. Even with a direct ethernet connection at 200 Mbps, they still couldn't update. Right now I am getting link rates of ~100 Mbps on one remote unit in the bedroom and ~75 Mbps on the other one in the kitchen, which is not really very good considering the high price of these adapters.

I was looking for a solution to attaching an x box 360 and computer upstairs to my modem downstairs. The wireless network works well, but it is not fast enough for game transfer. The thought of using hardwire was a logistical nightmare. I read about the Powerline AV, and the ability to transfer files rapidly. I was amazed at how easy it was to simply plug in the adapters into a wall outlet followed by the ethernet cord, which fits in a slot. The system has worked flawlessly-almost like a direct connection. The speed has been excellent and the quality likewise. I have Comcast cable which helps.

I bought the two-pack to connect my wife's PC to our Linksys router. I had tried various methods of getting a reliable, consistent high-bandwidth signal to my wife's PC at the other end of our house, and was planning to fish network cable down the walls (and dreading that)...

I found about these devices and decided to give them a try. Wow these are the easiest PC devices I have ever installed, just plug them in, connect the network cables and your are done.

Very good, very reliable, and highly recommended. I'm getting ready to purchase a third unit for my PS3 in our basement theater.

-- Cain

Netgear XAVB101 Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit
I have one to transmit from the router to the powerline and three scattered throughout the house. They are plug and go - no software required unless you opt to update the firmware which is done from their CD. I had a laptop connection going within 2 minutes of unboxing them. I'm using them for security cameras and a DVR. I've had them for two months and they've been doing an excellent job.

I purchased these powerline adapters to remedy the unreliable wireless connection I had with my Linksys WRT54G2V1 router (greatly varying signal strength and very slow speed).
The Netgear XAV101 adapters worked after I installed them and improved the connectivity speed by a factor 10 over the Linksys wireless router.
However, when I returned from a business trip, I found I had no internet connection because the Netgear XAV101 powerline adapters no longer were communicating with one another (no powerline light).

Netgear's Help desk is absolutely HORRIBLE : I was passed around to three different agents, they took the serial numbers and my name, and wanted me to connect my computer directly to my DSL modem to check my IP address. After over 40 minutes I finally gave up.

Interestingly enough, the powerline adapters started working again without me having done anything to the equipment after I hung up from their Help desk.......I am disturbed that I don't know the root cause of this outage.

Bottom line : the product is great when it is working, but Netgear's Help desk is not helpful at all. The user manual is also not helpful at all to troubleshoot such problems which seems to be typical for this industry.