Comments on: Belkin Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:40:49 +0000

I held out hope for this product because I have always regarded Belkin as the most reputable player in the consumer networking space. Looks like they let us down with this product.

By: Gordon B.

Gordon B. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:27:37 +0000

I got the last box in my store as well, and waiting to re-sctock. They work pretty good for me… I get better performance than my older (also Belkin) units…. I live in an apartment (rental) so I cannot drill holes for CAT-5, so powerline is my solution. I have been streaming video with these, and I dont have any complains so far.

By: Jeff Trio

Jeff Trio — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:34:35 +0000

I’m not for Government Regulation at all – But it is complete crap how Linksys/Belkin can advertise such high speeds when it doesn’t come even close. (FCC?)

They need to have standards like in the car industry. When you buy a new car it tells you the estimated MPG – not the MPG of the vehicle in a clean room wind tunnel on a treadmill that is perfectly smooth.

Essentially, these networking eqt. Manufactures need to publish real world results, not their best of best of best of best lab conditions.

Thanks for the heads up drew!

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:26:37 +0000

So I ran out and got them at Best Buy and tested them at home and in the office. I used 2 notebooks with gigabit ethernet to transfer a 2GB zip file. First as a control I transferred the file through a linksys gigE switch ($80) and got 220 Mbps at home and through a Cisco gigE switch ($2,000) and got 480 Mbps at work. Then I connected one of the Belkin adapters to the switch and connected one of the notebooks to the second Belkin. I got 68 Mbps at home and 50 Mbps at work. Not very impressive for a “gigabit” product. Also not very impressive performance for the Linksys switch but I guess when it comes to gigE switches you get what you pay for.

By: Nuria

Nuria — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:01:05 +0000

I got units and they work great, easy to use and the speeds are faster (350Mbps application measured with the windowns network performance tool) than any other product wireless or other powerline adaptors, it is true that you must do SW upgrade (and probably more coming) and the performance is not the same around the home, not all houses may not have my power cable, I’m not a guru of these type of technologies. But it is great and when I was back to pick another pair up, they told me that they were all sold but they are expecting more to come soon.

By: Drew

Drew — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:37:12 +0000

Oh and heard from a friend that works at Best Buy that this Belkin product has been pulled from the market. He is not sure why as his store never got the initial shipment and now they are not going to.

By: Drew

Drew — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:33:14 +0000

My girlfriend lives in an 1880’s victorian with plaster and lath walls and rock wool insulation. Basically the house is a giant Faraday cage. WiFi is a complete failure there. For now we run a CAT-5 cable from the living room DSL gateway to her office upstairs. Trust me she is not happy about that.

By: Jeff Trio

Jeff Trio — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:10:22 +0000

have you tried WiFi signal boosters before?

By: Drew

Drew — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:49:25 +0000

My experience with HomeplugAV has been horrendous. Spotty connections and a claimed 200 Mbps that is at best 30 Mbps and when things get noisy (hair dryers, A/C blowers, cell phone chargers) it drops to 10 Mbps or less. Generally I trust Belkin so I am interested if their implementation is substantially better or does 1 Gbps really mean 50 Mbps?

By: Jeff Trio

Jeff Trio — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:21:52 +0000

I haven’t tested this exact model, but I have used other power line models and I can say this: realistically you will get speeds of 300-500Mbps in optimal conditions. Even though its 60% less than advertised, this is often the case for powerline adapters from any manufacturer.

Also, as your house/apartment increases in size speed will decrease even more.

The powerline adapter is good only when Wi-Fi doesn’t work – like in my NY apartment where the 2nd story floor is concrete and Wi-Fi signal can’t get through from the downstairs router, to my upstairs bedroom.

Hope that helps!