ZyXEL PLA407 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-Plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 Units)

by ZyXEL

• Plug-and-play design for quick boost of data transfer rates of up to 200 Mbps
• Connects to powerline networks and provides power with extra power outlet
• Built-in Noise Filter for reducing power interference
• QoS supports high-definition video streaming and network applications
• Multi-color LED identifies powerline network performance

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.6 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B003ULOZ5W
• Item model number: PLA407KIT
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (351 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #10 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Network Adapters > Powerline Network Adapters
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 2, 2010

Product Description

Style: Powerline AV w/AC Pass through KIT '2 units'

From the Manufacturer

Powerline Ethernet Adapter kit with Extra Plug for Convenient HD Video Streaming

• Kit contains 2 Powerline Adapters
• Data transfer rates of up to 200 Mbps*
• Connects to existing Powerline networks and provides power with extra power outlet
• Built-in Noise Filter for reducing power interference
• QoS supports high-definition video streaming and network applications
• Power-saving mode saves energy consumption
• Encrypt button for easy network security setup
• Multi-colored LED identifies Powerline network performance
  

---

Easy Setup and High Performance

The PLA-407 streamlines network setup by turning your house’s existing electrical wiring into a high-speed network. With the PLA-407 plugged into an electrical outlet, use an Ethernet cable to connect it to your existing broadband modem. From there, the second PLA-407 unit will easily and instantly convert any electrical outlet in your home into an Ethernet port for your PC, game consoles, or any other device requiring Ethernet connectivity. With advanced HomePlug AV technology and data rates of up to 200Mbps*, the PLA-407 provides stable, high-speed Ethernet connectivity throughout your entire home without the mess or hassle of running complicated wiring.

---

Convenient Extra Power Outlet

Using its AC pass-through design, the PLA-407 enables Powerline network connection without the inconvenience of sacrificing an electrical outlet. As an additional safety design, the PLA-407 has been designed to prevent electrical shocks caused by children inserting foreign objects into its outlet.

---

Built-in Noise Filter for Reducing Power Interference

With its built-in noise filter, the PLA-407 can optimize network performance by reducing signal noise to 1/1000 of its natural level. With this noise reduction technology, network performance will no longer be diminished by electrical equipment such as driers, lamps, or mobile phones plugged into other power outlets in your home. With the PLA-407, you’ll always have a clean, stable signal throughout your network.

---

QoS for High-quality multimedia

The PLA-407 prioritizes multimedia services like HD-video streaming, data transmission, and VoIP with advanced QoS. This allows for high quality voice, video, and audio even while your network is under heavy use.

---

Green Product Saves Energy

Using next-generation green technology, the PLA-407 is up to 30% more energy efficient than previous-generation Powerline network adapters. With its new Power-Save mode, the PLA-407 senses when your network is not in use, and reduces its energy consumption by up to 60%, saving valuable electricity.

---

Encrypt Button for Easy Network Security Setup

It’s easy to set up a secure connection between the PLA-407 and other HomePlug AV products within seconds. With a simple push of the encryption button, a 128-bit Data Encryption Security service is activated, providing a secure network connection for Internet access and network resource sharing without complicated setup procedures.

---

Powerline Comparison Chart (PLA407kit) [Print Version]

*The theoretical maximum data transfer rate is 200 Mbps. The actual data transfer rate may vary depending on the quality of electrical installation.

---

300 Mbps Wireless N Access Point, Ethernet Client, Universal Repeater, and Range Extender (WAP3205)		Wireless N 450 Mbps Concurrent Dual-Band Gigabit Router (NBG5715)
	802.11n with data transfer rate of up to 300 Mbps Backward compatibility with the 802.11b/g standard Easy to extend the wireless network coverage		Compliant with 802.11n, wireless speeds of up to 450 Mbps over concurrent dual bands Simultaneously video streaming smoothly and data access with extreme speeds Beam forming technology widely extends the effective wireless coverage
High Performance 2-bay Network Attached Storage and Media Server (NSA320)		WHD6215 4-Port WiHD Home Theater Wireless HDMI Kit (WHD6215)
	Superior performance for simultaneous file transfers and multiple HD streams Faster data backup with NTFS support Intuitive user interface integrated with media player		Interference free 60 GHz technology Transmit 1080p video and 7.1ch audio without lag or loss of quality 4 HDMI input ports for multiple devices

 

Product Description

The powerline solution simplifies network setup by turning the existing power lines into a high-speed network. Just plug a PLA-407 with Ethernet link to a broadband modem into the power outlet in one room, and plug another with link to a PC or any devices requiring Ethernet connection in the other rooms, you can easily and instantly connect to the network without laying complicated wiring at home. With advanced HomePlug AV technology and data transfer rates of up to 200Mbps, the PLA-407 provides users with stable and high-speed network environments to enjoy HD video streaming and sharing.With the AC pass-through design, the PLA-407 provides both powerline network connection and power supply to multiple electrical devices at the same time.The PLA-407 enables users to easily get Internet access without the inconvenience of insufficient power outlets. For children safety, the power outlet has been designed to avoid electrical shocks caused by children inserting foreign objects into the receptacles. With a built-in noise filter, the PLA-407 can suppress noise interference level down to 1/1000 and optimize powerline communication performance. The noise filter can effectively reduce noises generated by surrounding electronic equipments such as dryers, vacuum cleaners, lamps or mobile phone chargers plugged into the power outlets and ensure clean and stable signal quality on the powerline network. Inherent advanced QoS improves the quality of multimedia services like high-definition video streaming, data transmission and VoIP by prioritizing the applications. QoS provides users with high voice communication quality while other network applications are being intensively used.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy setup but with some things to know January 17, 2011

By Al

Style Name:Powerline AV w/AC Pass through KIT '2 units'|Amazon Verified Purchase

Out of the box, I plugged one into an outlet near my router, and another near my computer and got instant internet access! The company claims 200 mps max and currently getting right now according to their utility software between 75 and 80. That works for me as right now I have Comcast's 50 mps internet service and really don't do file transfers between my network computers so it's perfect.

Okay things getting a little more tricky if you want:

1. Encryption
2. Setting up a network name.

Encryption; followed the instructions to the letter and I could not get the encryption setup. Lights wouldn't blink as they should. I was pressing the encryption button on the controller adapter (the one plugged to the router) and then pressing the encryption button on the remote (the one plugged into my computer). I have both of them plugged into outlets next to each other in the same room but I could not get the remote adapter to pick up on the encryption. After first pressing the encryption on the remote and then the controller, it seems to take although I don't have a way to verify if encryption is implemented as there is not indication in the utility software or on the devices themselves. Would have been nice to let you know that encryption is active.

Setting up a network name; don't do it. After getting the MK Password on the remote (controller) adapter, I tried to setup a network name but ended up each time making my remote adapter not being able to join the network because the network name was not assigned to the remote adapter even though I indicated to apply the network name to all connected managed devices. I've given up since it is buggy to me.

All in all happy with the HomePlug device and will continue to use them. If it works good for the next 6 months, I am going to buy more adapters to add to my HomePlug network.

UPDATE: After reading the user guide several times, I finally figured out I was reseting the adapters by pressing the encryption button for more than 10 seconds, which would wipe out and reset the network name. I finally figured out both setting up the network name and the encryption. Press the encryption button only for 2 seconds on each devices. My take on this, if you do want to setup either encryption or a network name or both, read the user guide very very carefully. The user guide does not have the most intuitive directions and before trying to setup security on these adapters, read the guide very carefully before proceeding, apparently something I will do in the future.

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Works brilliantly - plug and play! May 30, 2010

By J. York TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Style Name:Powerline AV KIT '2 units'|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've had this product for a couple of months and am pleased to report that it works brilliantly. Installation couldn't be simpler. I plugged each of these into an outlet in the same room/same circuit and attached one end to a RJ45 Ethernet wall jack and the other to my DirecTV HR22 DVR. The DVR immediately saw that it had Internet access and was able to stream high definition movies (DirecTV's "whole home DVR" feature) anywhere in my house.

I had previously tried to stream high definition movies using aTRENDnet Wireless N Gaming Adapter TEW-647GA (Black) connected to my 802.11G network. The trendnet over 802.11g was not able to stream high definition content. Even when the trendnet was able to connect reliably, high def content streamed so poorly that it was unwatchable.

With the ZyXEL, high definition streams without any glitches! We are quite pleased as we had no other way to get an Internet connection to our HR22's location. The connection has been 24/7 reliable- we've never had to reset these or touch them in any way. It really was as simple plugging them in.

Note: I haven't tried running this over different circuits.

--------------------
9 month followup:
This product has worked flawlessly since the day it was installed. I've never had to reset them or mess with them in any ways. It's refreshing to find a product that "just works" in this age of complexity and "beta quality".

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one you want - plus power user tips from an EECS January 12, 2012

By I care about quality

Style Name:Powerline AV w/AC Pass through KIT '2 units'|Amazon Verified Purchase

[EECS = Electrical Engineering & Computer Science]

Powerline networking products are often hit or miss and mixing brands can be problematic, so as an engineer I have to figure out every few years which ones are going to give problem free operation.

These work great with zero software setup and even worked with other brands. Only the linksys 10mbit ones were as flexible. I also did distance testing and these sent signals the farthest and fastest. Putting a 'scope on the leads also showed very nice signal, so these seem well built.

POWER USER TIP #1: Put your powerline to router bridge close to the fuse panel! Basically, distance is the enemy here and two plugs in adjacent rooms or even on different walls of the same room may actually only connect through wires that go all the way back to your electrical panel, leading to funny effects. If you have a cable modem, for example, put the cable modem near the electrical panel and put your first powerline wall plug adapter right there. This cuts the distance between internet and your room powerline wall-plugs in half, versus putting the internet point in a room somewhere.

POWER USER TIP #2: Set up additional wireless routers as access points. You likely have a router or Wi-Fi near where you first put your network into the powerline. All other Wi-Fi points/routers that you might want to hang off the network need to be access points and not dueling for control. Typically you do this by deactivating DHCP service on the router, changing the address on the router so it is different from the router (e.g. 192.168.1.2 instead of 192.168.1.1), and plugging the powerline wall-plug into a numbered port NOT the "internet/WAN" port. Amazon cuts links in reviews but if you use goo.gl link shortener and go to "/JpqDD" instructions are there.

If you take these steps you can build a very large network with these ZyXel units and I have built several. Put one router right at the power panel with the internet connection and one wall-plug adapter here then a ZyXel unit at various parts of the building, each with a Wi-Fi hanging off it in Access point mode. I've spread internet access across multi-acre sites this way. Other powerline units can't do this but it's easy with these and I see clean signal and good performance.

I can add more detail if people have questions.

More details after questions and more experience:

TIP #3: Don't put the ZyXel units on a powerstrip if you can avoid it, especially those with filtering. A filtered powerstrip can cut your speeds from 100MBit/sec to 10MBit/sec. I have observed this and it's not the ZyXel's fault. So try to get these units a spot on the wall.

COMMENT: I finally found a downside to the range on these when two networks I set up in DIFFERENT BUILDINGS started interfering with each other even though their nearest connection point was a utility junction ~400ft away. Amazing. The trouble was that the buildings also had a direct network line between them so the result was a loop. I adjusted the locations of the ZyXel units in the second building and all was well.