Powerline Network Adapters

I used to have powerline adapters to get wired network from downstairs, where my cable modem and router are, to the upstairs, where we have various devices requiring connectivity. I did this because the wireless signal wasn’t as good upstairs, but I also found that the powerline adapters were somewhat slow and flaky. Better than wifi at the time, but not as good after updating the wireless signal.

When I had powerline running, part of that was an access point to improve upstairs wifi. That was removed.

Netgear XAVB5101 500MBps

My primary link from downstairs to upstairs is via a pair of Netgear Powerline 500 Nano XAVB5101 units. These work at a peak speed of 500MBps, which is more than enough to satisfy some HD streaming.

While these are supposed to work alongside the XAVB1201 adapters, after adding them into the mix the XAVB1201 adapters became unreliable, as though the signals were incompatible.

Netgear XAVB1201 100MBps

I have some Netgear XAVB1201 units for less-frequently used connections like the master bedroom. These work at an effective speed of 100MBps and are just fine for HD video to a single room.