Customer Reviews

NETGEAR XEB1004-100NAS Xeb1004 85Mpbs Switch

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Before trying the Netgear Powerline 85MBPS kit, I was highly skeptical of its professed ability to use home power lines for computer networking. Having tried earlier attempts of this technology, I assumed the worse. Only a few reviews I had read led me to try it again.

Once you have two units plugged in, and connected to your computer and router, it can take anywhere from a couple minutes to nearly an hour for communication to be enabled. Over the next half-hour or so, speeds tend to increase as the units filter noise and find the best methodology for communicating over your home's electrical system.

Now that I've installed this kit in a number of homes, I can attest that it works largely as advertised. But keep in mind that it won't work in all homes, and rarely in a commercial building (not recommended). It all depends on the topography of the electrical system and the amount of noise on the lines. If large electrical motors are in operation, for example, throughput can greatly decline or cease entirely.

Do keep in mind that this is not a fast, reliable solution to your networking needs. For connecting to the internet for simple browsing or transferring small files between computers, it's a great solution. But forget about streaming video or moving large files - this system will choke if you try it.

I highly recommend this product for simple, straightforward installations in the home where wi-fi or running a CAT5 cable just won't do.

UDPATE: It's been 2.5 years since I bought these and I am happy to report that they are still working after several lightening storms in our area.



I bought this item since I needed four network connections near my entertainment center. One for Dishnetwork DVR, one for Samsung LCD, one for PS3 and one extra for streaming movies from my PC. I connected one of the switches in basement to my router and one near the TV. That is all it takes. It works great. My only concern is its capacity to withstand power surges since this needs to be connected directly to the wall and not through a surge protector. Only time will tell.

I usually avoid Netgear products after bad experience with my old wireless-G router and I had since switched to a basic Linksys N-Router. My house is pretty big and the router and my living room and master is over 100 feet and 2 exterior walls apart. So when I got the Linksys N router I thought my wireless hiccups will finally go away.
Despite the hype about N, I still can't get excellent connection using N routers (not dual band) and G/N-cards. So I decided to switch to wired PowerLine adapters and given them a try. I needed to also connect my Blue-Ray player and Sling-Box which only afccepts ethernet connection that i don;t have in my living room.

So I started looking for Powerline products and I found in this area NETGEAR leads LinkySys in innovation and quality. The products have matured a lot since those slow 14Mbps adapters. I had a special need in that , I wanted both Transmitting and Receiving ends of the kit to have more than 4 ports.

XEB1004 is the only product I found that has 4 ports both in the Tx and Rx adapters. So if you have your modem far away from your office/living room that your wireless does not connect, you can do something like this:

1. Connect your Broadband MODEM LAN cable output to any one of the 4 ports in one of the 2 adapters in the kit
2. Connect any of the other 3 ports in the Tx adapter to say your LAN PC, NAS, Network printer etc etc
3. Connect the other switch in the klt in your office/living room. You can biu another single adapter as well.
4. Connect your Work PC, Sling box, Blue-Ray player, PS3 etc to any of the 4 ports in teh Rx adapter.
5. Optionally you can even connect your old wireless router to ANY one of the switch that gives you best coverage.

Its has been running PERFECTLY for multiple weeks now. Streaming non-HD video like a charm. Download movies , sling box , everything works great and fast. You don't need the 200Mbps version unless you are moving large files between PCs in your household often. I also trialed and tested the new 200 Mbps Powerline adapter from Netgear and after repeated test found no diff in performance for what I do and hence i returned and it didn;t have 4 port in teh Tx, only in the Rx side. Linksys doesn't even have a 4 x 4 powerline powerline adapter.

Advantages over wireless product:
1. NO SOFTWARE TO INSTALL (all thoughthey gave a CD, god know for what)
2. NO CONFIGURATION NEEDED. JUST LITERALLY PLUG AND PLAY (wow I thought only APPLE can do that)
3. NO 192.168.0.1 login and debug problems
4. NO SECURITY PROBLEMS, NO WEP2 vs WPA debates, NO PASSWORDS TO REMEMBER, NO INTERFERENCE WITH PHONES
5. NO MORE LONG "WAITING TO CONNECT" wireless card when coming out of Standby mode.
None of that junk.

EXCELLENT PRODUCT. JUST WHAT THE NETWORK DOCTOR PRESCRIBED. I THINK THIS PRODUCT LINE HAS GREAT FUTURE EVEN THOUGH THE NEW DRAFT 11Z P2P Networks CLAIMS TO FIX WIRELESS PROBLEMS but ALWAYS REMEMBER (I AM A COMPUTER ENGINEER from HP) :

WIRED ALWAYS BEAT WIRELESS PANTS DOWN.

I was dubious of this product for a while, it seemed to good to be true. The Price is high, but it does exactly what I needed. I wired my 360 and will be wiring my wii. Its made a big difference in connection speeds and for that matter it was a breeze to set up. At first I was worried it wasn't working right, but so far so good. If you want to secure your wireless network, and connect game consoles to your wired network this is the ticket.

Also its worth knowing that this comes with two 4 port units, so you could buy a single port and have 2 4 ports to use...

I have my Qwest DSL wireless modem/router upstairs with the 7Mbs download internet service; One ethernet cable connects from the router to our home PC and another connects from another ethernet port on the router to a powerline adapter plugged in nearby. Three split levels below in the basement sit our Panasonic HDTV and BluRay player. Both have internet access and both are connected to the 2nd powerline module plugged into the wall. I also have my laptop temporarily plugged into another port on the powerline adapter upstairs. All three -- laptop, HDTV, BluRay -- seem to be happy essentially sharing one ethernet port on the router.

Not being familiar with this technology, and not looking at some of the diagrams for typical setups that was included, I was a little confused at first. I had thought that whatever I connected to one port on the powerline adapter downstairs corresponded to a similar port on the powerline adapter upstairs, which then connected to my router. Since I had both my HDTV and BluRay connected to the powerline adapter downstairs, I thought I needed to connect both corresponding ports upstairs to the router. Whenever I did this I essentially had the powerline network connected to 2 seperate ethernet ports on the router, causing everything on my network to lose connection. After my "duh" moment, I removed the excess connection from the upstairs powerline to the adapter and that resolved the problem.

This kit has 4 ethernet ports on one adapter and 4 on the other, essentially allowing you to connect 7 devices to your network, saving one ethernet port for the connection to the router itself. I believe I read that you can add other powerline adapters and have up to 16 devices sharing this single ethernet connection. There may also be a way to have more than one powerline network by using the included cd (only needed if you want to secure your network), but things were working fine for me already so I did not look into that. I still have 2 open ethernet ports on my router along with the remaining open ports on the powerline adapters. That's more than I need, but as of this writing a similar 85Mbs kit (Netgear 85Mbps Powerline Network Adapter Kit - XETB1001) but with only one connection is $15 more expensive. Might as well get the extra ports.

We have a Panasonic HDTV Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV which has internet access and allows you to stream HD content from Amazon. We watched a 45-minute high-def TV program last night and had no problems. These powerline adapters are advertised to be 85Mbs, and our internet service is 7Mbs, so if there were problems I would expect any bottlenecks to be the internet service unless multiple devices are having heavy internet traffic at the same time. As it was, we were able to watch the streaming HD content without any problems.

Your Prayers Have Been Answered!

OK, this story dates back about two years or at least it feels that long. I have a long ranch style home and Comcast cable with a router. My issue has always been getting one of our three Xbox consoles to connect and all three from getting kicked off periodically. Needless to say, the one console that has a hard time connecting is the farthest away from the router. I would say it is 60 to 70 feet away and up stairs. So let's go through the check list of things I purchased that did not work:

Routers -
Linksys G, Linksys G MaxRange, and Linksys N routers.
Belkin N+N Dual Band
Same problem. Bad of no connection to Xbox Live.
And yes, I purchased the new Xbox N adapter and it improved the signal but it did not fix the problem.

What a failed to tell you is that about 1 month into the problem a guy at Best Buy told me about the PowerLine adapters that use the wiring in your home to send your network connection to any outlet where you plug in a second PowerLine adapter and connect something to your network. At the time, it was over $100 and it sounded like crazy talk, so I dismissed the idea. Stupid of me bigtime.

Yes, you guessed it. After months of sitting up late reading, trying this and trying that, talking to dang technical support reps. from third world countries that have no clue how to speak English, I finally went back and purchased the PowerLine adapter.

Before I tell you how that went, one more major deal I learned along the way. Attention Comcast Customers......how about a free N router newsflash?

If you are a Comcast customer and you are using a Comcast Modem which you are charged $5 a month for like it or not, it comes with a Netgear N wireless router at no additional cost. You heard me, no additional cost. The old billing system was that Comcast charged $3 a month for the modem and $2 a month for the router. Now you are charged $5 for the modem period and it is up to you to figure out that you also get a Netgear N router at no additional cost. Isn't it funny how Comcast does not volunteer that information? No telling how many folks have gone out and purchased a router when they were already renting one from Comcast but not getting it.

OK, back to my story.

So I go home with my long overdue purchase of the PowerLine adapter. (For just $79 now.) In the box was two adapters and two Ethernet cords. They are interchangeable. I plug one into the outlet close to my FREE Netgear router from Comcast and connect the Ethernet cord from the PowerLine adapter to one of the four ports in the back of my FREE Netgear router. Then I walked upstairs and to the other end of my house to the problem Xbox and unhook the piece-of-poo Xbox N Adapter from the back of the Xbox. I took the second PowerLine adapter and plug it into the electrical outlet close to the Xbox and then connect the Ethernet cord from the Xbox to the Powerline adapter I has just plugged into the wall outlet and the lights on the PowerLine adapter came on. I am thinking that that time.....NO, it can't be connected. No way, not after all these months of trying to figure this out. My son, quickly turns on the Xbox, goes to the connection set-up screen and what did it say? Xbox Live us up and running! Hallelujah! No weak bars of signal, it was not connecting and disconnecting, that baby was direct connected via a wireless signal being sent through the power lines in my house. He quickly cranked up Modern Warefare 2 and the rest is history. Online playing bliss. No more, Dad, the Xbox kicked me off again. No more spelling my name out to a person that does not understand English. It just works.

Let my pain be your gain. Go get yours and enjoy.
!

I've used powerline home networking now for 3+ years. I replaced 3 14MB powerline units with these Netgear units. My purpose was to increase in-home internet speeds to two PC's (Wife and Son). We have a newer home (10 years old) with good wiring). Prior to changing I was getting 3MB/Sec download and 1MB/Sec upload on both PC's using www.speedtest.net. I compared this to my PC which is connected directly to the router and I was getting 30MB/sec download and 8MB/s upload speeds. Installation of the Netgear products was truly "plug and play". I simply plugged in the primary unit that was plugged into my router and then installed the unit for my wife and it only took a few minutes to identify the network and her Internet was up and running. Same issue with my son's PC (both homemade with onboard NIC cards). NIC cards were fast ethernet (100MB/s). I then performed the same www.speedtest.net test on both and upped the speed to 10MB/s download and 6-7MB/s upload. Both now handle online video much better. I was hoping for higher throughput, but the speed increase is noticeable and that's what counts. Would it handle HD video streams from say a media center PC? I believe so, but have not tried it (as I said, internet streaming video is much improved). Overall I would say I'm happy with this purchase, but would prefer they cost $50 each (per set) max since you need at least one set and in my case I bought two sets (to allow for a possible expansion). I think this is one of the easiest methods to establish a "wired" connection within your home. Also they provide encryption software on a CD, but I haven't used that. Also worthy to note- you can still use the upper plug in a wall outlet with these plugged in. Not sure why the manufacturers don't tout this as some cover up both sockects. Also it's a plus that you can plug more than one device into this unit in case you have a need for that for your application. In my case it worked well since my wife has both her PC and sometimes a work PC she plugs into it at different desks in her home office.

Installed this in a split level 1960's era home that has a combination of old 2 wire (non grounded) wiring, and remodeled sections with 3 wire (grounded) wiring. Router is upstairs, and I wanted to hook up an "Apple TV", and TiVo downstairs using the Powerline XE104 to cut down on wireless signals that were interfering with my LG Home Theater System's wireless rear speakers and subwoofer (caused annoying sound fade in and out).
Wiring involved was all in 2 wire part of the house, but on a different circuits. Was able to get an immediate "downstream" signal and internet connection going through a 6 outlet (wall) surge protector at the Router end, but only got .5 Mbps throughput speeds downstream (testing speed with laptop and online speed test). Removed the surge protector (as Instructions state), and speed went up to same speed as when the laptop is directly connected to my Netgear (Wireless N) Router. This product is rated at 85 Mbps, but obviously not getting that from my ISP (15 Mbps max.). No need to get Netgear's faster products (200 or 500 Mbps) if you're not getting a lot more than 85 Mbps input from your ISP, right?
Movie streaming speed to Apple TV is good. Will probably connect the LG BluRay player up too (which can also stream Netflix or Vudu movies wirelessly) once I get a longer Ethernet cable (now using Wireless N with good results).
One other note: Those that are saying they get two 4 port units must be getting re-packaged or a mis-packaged Kit, as Netgear's specs for the "XEB1004-100NAS 4-port Powerline 85 Adapter Kit" specifically states one unit has one ethernet port, and only the receiving unit has 4 ports. Came with 2 5ft. Ethernet cables. BTW, sound fading problem has disappeared, thanks to this great product!

I purchased this to connect my DirecTV HD DVR to the Internet so I could access the ON DEMAND features. I originally tried connecting the NetGear units through a surge protector (even though the directions said not to) on both ends but it did NOT work. Then I tried connecting directly to the wall outlet on both ends and it worked PERFECTLY. No setup required...just a true plug & play. It would get 5 stars if it worked through surge protector. I am a little concerned that if a big surge occurs that my equipment will get damaged. Guess I will unplug it if there is a big storm.

My house single story was built in the 70's. So I was not sure if this would work. I wanted to connect my xbox 360, and ps3 both in different rooms. I'm using a linksys wireless-g rounter. Both gaming systems were using the wireless network, but seemed to be slow when downloading. I purchased this kit from bestbuy but took it back because Amazon is cheaper. Sorry BestBuy. Anyway right out of the box up and running. I did notice a quicker download time then before. The xbox connected without any problems as did the ps3. The ps3 is the furthiest away from the router and it had a weak signal. This chaged that. I'm happy this fixed a weak signal problem and has quicker downloads. Maybe the 200mbs is faster, but this works fine for what I do.