NETGEAR 85 Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Switch XE104 - Bridge - 4-port switch - HomePlug 1.0 - wall-pluggable

When I bought my first WLAN router in 2002 I was the only one in my neighbourhood and everything was fine. Now I see 14 other networks and got constant connection breakdowns.

I replaced my WLAN with a pair of XE104 and the world was in order again. Very simple setup, no connection trouble, and good transfer rates. I measured 20-25 Mbps net (transferring files between two Windows-PCs) - slightly slower than my 802.11g WLAN - but STABLE.

Make sure you plug them directly into use wall sockets on both ends, the fewer components in between the better for the transfer rates!

I bought one of these to connect to my Solwise HomePlug 85Mbps Turbo Adapters (ASIN number B000I7J85I) and they worked together brilliantly. The XE104 is slimline and, to my mind anyway, looks very good.

I live where I work, so the network I use to connect to the internet / e-mail already has a network router. I couldn't make any wireless routers work as they had their own IP addresses which always conflicted with the one on the network router.

This is "invisible" to the network; it doesn't have its own IP address, it just acts as if the network cable was extended around the house.

Although I haven't measured speeds exactly, I can see no difference in my internet speed and the Windows Media Player 11 download (24 MB) came through in under 4 minutes; you do the working out!

One word of advice; you can buy two of these to link together, but if you don't need 4 ethernet ports on every adapter, then the Solwise adapters (as above) are better value; 1 adapter, 1 connection.

Also, be aware that if you get the Netgear XE102 adapters (ASIN B000ENQSJ0) , they don't match this in terms of design, but more importantly, they are only 14mbps not 85mbps, so although they will work with the XE104, they won't be as fast as they might be. Netgear confirmed to me that the Solwise products are compatible, which is what I have found.

If you are thinking about using these to stream audio / video, there are a couple of glitches about SSDP; there is a firmware update that will sort it, but you will need to get it from netgear direct.

Apart from that, they "do just what they say on the tin". I am no network expert (although I have a little experience); but these really were, quite literally, "plug and play".

Enjoy!........

NETgear XE103 & XE104 Power over Ethernet

BOTTOM LINE: These babies were the answer to my IT prayers

REALITY vs. EXPECTATIONS: much better than I expected.

DETAILS: Well. I have never had such a bad time with my computer and internet as i did trying to hook up my windows vista ultimate RTM 6000 PC with MCE to my xbox360. It's been a nightmare. I have messed around with the ports, firewalls, wires, wireless, routers, splitting routers, access points and ethernet switches. If you have the same problem as i did, STOP! It's not worth the trouble. I was trying to get a wireless signal through a router to a wired connection and in all scenario's i had limited success of streaming media. Quick outline: 3 storey 1 yr old house. Wireless/wired router on ground floor, at front, xbox360 in lounge on first floor at back and Vista PC in office on top floor. I bought one xe103 for the router. 1 xe104 for the lounge (just for future proofing) and 1 xe104 for the office. I was worried they wouldn't work as the house was split to 2 socket ring mains and the adverts for these products state 'on the same ringmain'... Rubbish, they work on the earthing system (a complete circuit). I plugged in and all lights lit up i have 79mbps speed throughout streaming MCE and HDTV from the office to the ground to the lounge. I can permanently connect xbox360 to xbox live and the computer to the net. These are a must for ease and portability. If i move i take my network. its so damn easy! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I am impressed (big time) oh and vista MCE is fantastic with a NOVA-T-500 Hauppauge dual DVB-T card it works a dream.. Oh and one last thing.. Transcode 360 worked straight away with these babies, i have my divx and HD divx streaming without a fault! Matt