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Netgear XE104G 85 Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Extender Kit [one XE104, one XE103] | List Price: $181.00
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Brand: Netgear
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - Uses existing electrical wiring to extend a home network
- Turns any outlet into a new network connection
- Up to 85 Mbps* data rates for faster file transfers
- Simple plug and play installation
- Predictable and dependable network speeds
Despite negative reviews [Posted on 2007-02-17]
I have to say I'm very pleased with the product. I have two units connected on 2 different circuits and the performance is great- 50-60Mbps.
My building does have new electric wiring so perhaps it helps too.
The heat issue doesn't exist- the units feel barely lukewarm to the touch. And the 4-port switch is sweet- no extra power supplies, no wires. Great design indeed !
My only complain is that software is a bit flaky, seems to freeze and I couldn't change the password to anything but default. But the software is really not necessary anyway- it is a hardware solution. I plugged the units in and they worked !
Just Works! [Posted on 2007-06-06]
We used several of these to wire up Cisco IP phones in our office with zero problems. The builtin encryption (note, you'll need a Windows PC to set the password though any IP device will work after that) means we are happy using the devices on the shared wiring in our office building.
They worked so well I'm buying more for home! Recommended.
aahhhhhh! the solution to unreliable wireless [Posted on 2007-09-29]
We've had interference with our wireless network for well over a year. We have only one laptop on wireless, and it doesn't move around, so the real reason for using wireless was to save routing more ethernet wire through the house. The internal wireless card has poor reception, but even a plug-in Wireless 802.11g PC Card from Netgear was getting knocked off many times a day not just by one our 2.4gig phones, but also, apparently, by our neighbors' phones.
This product, the xe104g, was nearly plug and play. I had to reset the ethernet adaptor on the laptop by using the install CD that comes with the product, but most people should not have that problem. It has encrypted signals (which you can reset with your own password), so it's secure, and it's probably more secure due to its stealth factor...it's unlikely someone is going to tap your AC to listen in to your network.
Finally, it saved me either having to buy a new phone set and/or upgrading my network to a better wireless technology (presumably the new "N" would be more robust).
Performance seems to be based on current electric load and distance to base unit [Posted on 2008-01-06]
The first one of these that we bought acted like it connected, but we could never get an IP address at the remote location. Set passwords, etc, to no avail - netgear support incorrectly told me, (to finally get me off the phone no doubt), that the reason it was failing was because the kit contains an XE104 and an XE103 and that maybe they can't talk to each other - this is completely get-the-customer-off-the-line bogus information.
We returned the first one and bought another one to see if the unit was at fault. IMMEDIATELY the new one started working like a champ! We had almost instant internet and LAN access. However, we were disappointed to discover that our speeds were SLOWER than our wireless!!!!! We have fiber speeds of 50 mbps into our router, and 15 mbps through wireless. We were hoping that this would give us the same speed of 48 or so that we get directly from our router via cable, and so then we wouldn't have to rely on wireless.
We got about 6 mbps with this device. When we plugged the remote unit into the same outlet as the base XE103 unit, we got 22 mbps, but that is still more than twice as slow as we can get with direct Cat 5e from the router.
The interesting thing is that when I started turning off lights in the room where I was getting 6 mbps, my speed went up to about 9 mpbs.
We returned it since it was not worth paying $150 to get a SLOWER speed despite the convenience of accessibility in any room. I will be going the traditional, and cheaper, but uglier route of pulling a cable through the house and attaching a switch/hub at the end of that in the room i need it in.
These apparent electric interferences could be due to wiring issues in our house, but I am out of time and patience to try and track that down.
Easy to Set-Up, Works Great! [Posted on 2008-08-15]
I purchased this item to connect my Direct TV receiver up to my home network as it is not a Wi-Fi capable device. This product did everything it say it would do! Very easy to install (took 3 minutes). If you are looking for an easy way to get a internet port where a wireless connection won't work this product is for you. It does not give blazing fast speeds but it gets the job done!
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