ZyXEL NBG-318S 200 Mbps Powerline HomePlug AV 802.11g Wireless Router
| Brand | ZyXEL |
| Model Name | ZyXEL |
| Wireless Communication Standard | 802.11g |
| Compatible Devices | Personal Computer |
| Connectivity Technology | Wireless, Wired |
| Item Weight | 1.25 Pounds |
| Control Method | Voice |
| Data Transfer Rate | 200 Megabytes Per Second |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 9.75 x 6.25 x 2.5 inches |
About this item
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- The NBG318S uses existing power lines in the home to create a network accessible from any power outlet
- With a 200 Mbps channel data rate, one can stream high-definition videos on the power line while accessing the Internet at the same time
- With MBM (media bandwidth management) quality of service support, the NBG318S is the ideal gateway for online gaming, video streaming
- With built-in QoS features, the NBG318S provides a smooth gaming, IP telephony and data transfer experience
- Supports IP Alias
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
From the Manufacturer ZyXEL NBG318S features both wireless and HomePlug AV connectivity for access to the network anywhere in the home. HomePlug AV provides a reliable network connection through the power lines in your home to any power outlet in the home.Thanks to the advanced HomePlug AV technology, the NBG318S is capable of transmitting data at up to 200Mbps allowing you to share network resources while enjoying Internet access through the secure high-speed data connection.The advanced QoS features make the NBG318S an ideal access tool for service providers to deliver "triple play" multimedia services such as high-quality digital video streams, high-speed Internet access and voice services.With the 128-bit Data Encryption Security (AES) feature, the NBG318S provides a secure network connection for Internet access and resource sharing.Taking advantage of ZyXEL’s Wireless Super G Technology, users can achieve wireless data rates of up to 108Mbps, which is twice the speed of conventional 802.11g standards. With this performance, users can streaming applications like video or audio broadcasting wirelessly.
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Product information
| Product Dimensions | 9.75 x 6.25 x 2.5 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 1.25 pounds |
| ASIN | B000VY72PQ |
| Item model number | NBG318S |
| Customer Reviews |
3.0 out of 5 stars |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | September 17, 2007 |
| Manufacturer | ZYXEL |
| Language | English |
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Both replacement units have failed in their HomePlugAV modules, so I have no HomePlug connectivity. In fact, scanning for Homeplug devices from the managment UI causes both units to crash. Downgrade to one star.
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UPDATE 7/2010
My 2nd unit has failed as well; it began spontaneously rebooting and wouldn't stay working for more than a few minutes at a time. However, I got pretty good service from ZyXel: they replaced BOTH units under warranty. Still working 11/2010.
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UPDATE 5/2010 :
I reduced the rating to 2 stars after one of my two units quit working after about a year. The Powerline connectivity evaporated after about 9 months and the wifi connectivity started to get intermittent after a year or so. Now the unit will only boot sporadically.
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I bought this unit to set up a Homeplug network connection to a home entertainment system that's poorly located for Wifi access, and after some fiddling I'm getting very good performance out of it, nearly 40Mb/sec in real-world circumstances.
When I ordered this router for thirty-nine bucks, it was much cheaper and more capable than the ZyXEL PLA-401 200 Mbps Powerline HomePlug AV Wall-plug Adapter that it's intended to be used with- so I bought two NBG-318S's instead, and configured the 2nd one as an access point. That gave me the benefit of having a 4-port switch as well as a Wifi extender in the access point - why buy the PLA-401? (It's still listed a comparable price.)
Wireless strength was comparable with the D-Link WBR-3210 that it replaced. The router's in the basement and I still have decent signal quality two floors up in our wood-framed house. Plus having the 2nd router configured as a Wifi access point using Zyxel's "roaming" mode (Wifi clients are seamlessly handed off between the two radios as they migrate around the house) has effectively extended our Wifi coverage.
Be forewarned: it takes some arcane BPL voodoo to achieve maximum Homeplug network bandwidth across your A/C circuits, even if it is brand-new shiny code-compliant wiring like at our house. I spent an afternoon juggling the topology of outlets and power strips amongst my appliances while running iperf() between my client and server to monitor the network throughput. I don't think there's any way around the trial and error approach if you want to get good performance out of these things. By some simple, free (but time-consuming) rearrangements of the router, access point and appliance connections the bandwidth at my desired location went from 1Mb/S to 40Mb/S. Here are some tips:
* Homeplug AV performance can be good, but don't believe the 200Mb numbers the vendors throw around; I couldn't even get that bandwidth when the router and access point were plugged into the same outlet next to each other and connected to gigabit Ethernet clients.
* New adopters should be aware that the router and its access points can be on different circuits but pretty much need to be on the same 110V leg of your 220V house service to work. You'll have to check your circuit breaker panel to figure this out for sure.
* The Homeplug network's signal quality (and hence the achievable bandwidth) is extremely sensitive to noisy appliances plugged into the same circuit. For instance, at one point my bandwidth went from 25Mb to 8Mb when I plugged Apple's spiky Powerbook A/C adapter into the same outlet as the access point, and I still take a 5Mb/S hit if someone turns on the dimmable incandescents in our office. I may try putting ferrite chokes on the supply lines of some flourescent fixtures that are still on the common circuits.
* Having the access point plugged into an outlet wired closer to the breaker panel didn't necessarily help. I'm getting the best performance with the access point plugged into a different outlet than the home entertainment appliances, but further in wiring distance from the router - go figure.
* I thought that using surge-protected RF/EMI-filtered power strips on my appliances would help keep noise off the power lines carrying the network signal, but if the noise-filtering power strips were plugged in too close to the access point they actually seemed to filter out the network signal and my bandwidth dropped. Also, some power strip's LED indicators actually put more noisy spikes BACK INTO the line and made the throughput worse; after I quieted them down by clipping out the LEDs, the noise filtering seemed to have some positive effect.
* The Homeplug modems appear to use adaptive signal processing to operate in noisy home environments - the bandwidth can take a big hit when noisy appliances are initially introduced onto the circuit, but then you will see it slowly improve over 30 sec to a minute. (In my experience it was best to reboot the access point in the presence of the noisiest possible signals.) So let your bandwidth measurements settle down before making an evaluation of the benefits of a change to your topology.
* Find a software utility that will allow you to accurately measure data throughput on your network while you are making changes. You'll be chasing your tail if you try to use subjective evaluations of, for instance, how long it seems to take to load a web page. (You'll typically be looking for better LAN performance than your WAN's internet bandwidth anyway.) I used the the iperf utility (Google for it) available for MacOS, Windows and Unix-type systems.
I got good - if not super-prompt - feedback from a customer service technician in response to my prepurchase questions when sent through ZyXel's web site, but haven't heard back from my latest query by regular email. I'm also giving only 4 out of 5 stars because the latest manual available from ZyXel STILL doesn't mention features that are clearly available in the router's standard web-based configuration interface (their Windoze-based configuration "wizard" never functioned properly for me under Parallels) and it took me an hour to figure out how to enable simple WEP wireless security (hint: make sure WPS is turned OFF.)
All in all, I have had little problem with them; other than the firmware issue. Of course, I've only had them from one day. These units do get warm to slightly hot, so longevity is always a question (one reviewer claimed that they failed in some respect after one day.
So far, these work better than the Cicso/LinkSys 85Mbps units that I previously tested. Not much, but better. Streaming Mpeg DVD quality video through them produced some minor jitter occasionally in the playback; especially bright desert scenes (Ironman). The Cisco/Linksys 85Mbps units would pause for .5 - 1 seconds every 5 seconds unless both units were in the same room on the same plug; fine for internet but not streaming video. The Zyxel units worked almost adequately. Considering I got a bargain on the Cisco units @$75 for a one port and a 4 port unit, two of these Zyxel with all the extra features and better performance is a steal! Unfortunately, Powerline just has too many issues with noisy transformers and devices in a typical house. Great for an extra port or a port in every bedroom without rewiring, but difficult to use with video streaming/playing; especially if you are going HD (all my semi-successful tests involved DVD quality). You need to filter everything else to get the best results. For that time and money, I'll just wire the whole damn house. You can alos play the outlet game and move the device from outlet to outlet to hope for bette speed. This can work but negates convenience of an outlet near a desk or TV. However, considering the additional features, the Zyxel pack much more bang for the buck than any other unit that I've seen or used; the Cicso units had no wirless at all. The Zyxel's have great security and are very compact.
You can shut off most anything; the wirless, dhcp server, .... Some of these are set for you based on the unit mode you choose; router (option only on the AR.2 firmware, but same settings can be set manully in the AR.0), access point, or WAN router. I have not had a chance to really play with much of the wirless security and internal address routing features. They look either very good or adequate.
All in all highly recommended, but NOT plug an play.
Update 5/25/09:
These units have functioned without a failure. One major issue is that they do get HOT. In an ambient temperature of 24C (75F), the units running continuosly show a case top surface temperature maximum of 44C (111F) and bottom surface temperature of 49C (120F); that's not the chips themselves but the radiant heat that is warming the plastic. That's not excessive as compared to PC processors and modern graphics cards that peak at 60-80C under full load. However, for this unit, it was the best case scenario with little load. These units have no fan which makes them silent (I love that), but staying at the this temperature without air momvement, other than natural convection through the slits in the two sides, still gives me some concern about longevity. These are the hottest to the touch units of this nature that I've owned. In fairness, the Linksys/Cisco powerline units also got very warm to the touch, but not as hot as these.
The only thing that I miss with this router is a built-in PPTP VPN server and no DD-WRT (open source firmware) support as an alternative. The firmware that's on this unit appears to be robust and stable, so the latter is not a big concern. I have seen at least one person who apparently has done some work getting the DD-WRT project running on a 318S, but I have not seen a simple install bin file with which you can just flash the unit to DD-WRT. The VPN server can always be software base, but that again requires another unit/PC running to handle that task; I prefer one piece of hardware to handle as much a possible. Normally, DDD-WRT added the VPN server feature.
What I love most about these units is that you tell them do something and they just do it. They just work.
As far as the units themselves, I have a couple pairs of the Panasonic Powerline Adapters, and the ZyXels are *much* faster in terms of speed. It's pretty noticeable. Even with basic web browsing/downloading. I haven't measured out the speeds but I can tell the PLAs are slower. Unfortunately, I'm stuck using them until the ZyXels come back. I'm just hoping I'll some from a good batch that won't fail in 1 month or even 1 year! A bit disappointing considering I bought THREE of these. Arg... we'll see how long their tech support puts up with these issues, before dropping all communication :P





