Netgear branches into high performance Powerline products with the PL1200
Back in February Devolo rolled out its 1200Mb/s Powerline adapters and, with the appearance of the PL1200 and PLP1200, its Netgear's turn to breing its equivalent hardware to market.
The PL1200-100UKS is relatively small by Powerline standards, and made to extend about 5cm below the wall socket position. The flipside of being unobtrusive is the PL1200 design doesn’t provide through power, so it needs an empty socket all to itself. Those of you reading that and thinking 'I’ll just stick it on a gang socket' had better think again because, while it might work, you certainly won’t get the best performance.
The twin pack provides two identical PL1200, each offering just a single gigabit Ethernet port to connect them to the wired network. As that specification hints, how you could possibly get 1200Mb/s over this technology, when you’ve got 200Mb/s less than that at either end is a conundrum you can solve easily yourself. Maybe with four of these devices, and two pairs talking exclusively to two others you might be able to use all the bandwidth, but we’re talking very hypothetically.
My experience with the Devolo 1200Mb/s equipment revealed that, while this technology is superior to the 500Mb/s and 600Mb/s predecessors, depending on the wiring in your home speed can vary. As a general guide I found adjacent room connections to get more than 300Mb/s, but that over longer distances this can drop to 100Mb/s or less. In my testing, a file transfer using a HP EX2 NAS box resulted in a speed of about 240Mb/s (around 30MB/s), which was slightly shy of what I was expecting. That’s fine, though, and much better than 10/100 Ethernet. It's only around a third of what I can get from gigabit Ethernet, however...
What you’re doing here is trading convenience for performance. This hardware is remarkably easy to deploy, but not as quick at sending data around. It’s also worth pointing out that, while running physical cables does deliver the best results, it doesn’t offer much in the way of flexibility if your plans regarding how to utilise your rooms changes further down the line. In comparison, this kind of Powerline equipment can be unplugged and moved elsewhere – even to a new house – and the time the whole job takes be measured in seconds.
Another plus point for the PL1200 is how competitively priced it is compared with other 1200Mbps specification kit. TRENDnet’s TPL-420E2K kit is just a few pounds cheaper and not as nicely made, whereas Zyxel’s PLA5405 is similarly positioned. Devolo want the same money for a single 1200Mb/s adapter, though that is the best Powerline hardware I’ve tested.
If you want to extend your network, and you’ve no intention of streaming 4K video or moving HD movie files around then 500Mb/s Powerline products are fine for gaming and surfing. Those who want more, or have more users to connect, might be served by this equipment. Just don’t expect gigabit speeds out of it. Mark Pickavance
Affordable, discrete, easy-to-install 1200Mb/s Powerline adapters.
Specifications
• Dimensions: 100 x 56 x 30mm (4.5" x 2.2" x 1.18")
• Weight: 112.5g (0.25lb)
• Power consumption: Standby 0.471W, on-state 2.44W, full power 3.47W
• 1200Mb/s Powerline interface
• 10/100/1000Mb/s Gigabit Ethernet port
• Typical coverage up to 500m2 (5,832ft2)
• HomePlug AV21 compliant
• Works with HomePlug AV and HomePlug Green PHY
• IEEE 802.3 compliant